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Osvaldo Golijov
LISTEN (Running time: 10:18. 9.4 MB) The award winning composer of "Passion According to St. Mark", "Yiddishbuk", "Oceana" and the opera "Ainadamar" talks with Christopher Purdy.
Golijov has been called the rock star of classical music. He was born to Eastern European Jewish parents in La Plata, Argentina in 1960. His fiery music is complexly original, at the same time using his South American, Jewish roots.
Brian Kellow
LISTEN (Running time: 15:13. 13.9 MB) CHRISTOPHER PURDY WITH BRIAN KELLOW ABOUT ETHEL MERMAN
Opera News Features Editor Brian Kellow has written a new biography of Broadway Legend Ethel Merman (1908-1984). He discusses the dramatic life of the lady whom George Gershwin advised to "never take a singing lesson", the star of GIRL CRAZY, ANYTHING GOES, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN and GYPSY. The contrast between Broadway then and Broadway now is beautifully set out in
LISTEN (Running time: 14:17. 13.0 MB) CHRISTOPHER PURDY INTERVIEWS WILL ALLISON
Will Allison’s new novel "What You Have Left" has been lauded by the New York Times and is a Barnes and Noble Discover New Writers choice and a Border’s Original Voices choice for 2007. His short stories have been published in Cincinnati Review, Interview and Glimmer Train. Born in South Carolina, Will Allison holds the MFA degree from the Ohio State University’s Creative Writing program, where his teachers included Lee K. Abbott and Michelle Herman. He is at work on a new novel for the Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. See www.willallison.com
Praise for "What You Have Left": “The moving account tells of a South Carolina family struggling to survive despite a mother’s death, a father’s abandonment and a grandfather’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease—and a host of risky behaviors by others left behind.” --Columbus Dispatch, 6/26/07
“A remarkable, understated novel…Allison has a precocious knack for detail…and for plain, old fashioned storytelling.” --Entertainment Weekly (an EW pick) 6/8/07
Baritone Nathan Gunn's new CD, 'Just Before Sunrise,' is a collection of standards by Jimmy Van Heusen, Tom Waits, and Billy Joel, combined with new songs by Ben Moore,Gene Scheer, and Sting. It's a winner, neither full classical nor pop, nor crossover, but a new expansion of American song.
Nathan Gunn has been a leading artist with the Metropolitan Opera since 1995; he sang Papageno in Mozart's 'The Magic Flute' in the Met's first HD cinema presentations beamed into movie theaters worldwide. He returns to the Met in New York and in the movie theatres next season for Mercutio in Gounod's 'Romeo et Juliette.'
'Just Before Sunrise' is published by SONY Classical and hits the stores on August 7th. We spoke on the phone from his hotel in New York on August 2, 2007.
--Christopher Purdy 'Thanks' as always to Eric French
Clara O'Dette
LISTEN (Running time: 1:52. 1.7 MB) BOYCE LANCASTER TALKS WITH CLARA O'DETTE
Former opera singer and loyal, longtime volunteer at WOSU FM, Clara O'Dette shares with us her personal stories about her performance at the White House. O'Dette, like Earl Wild, performed for the President under adverse weather conditions.
When she and her husband lived in Washington, D.C., Clara was an eight-year member of the chorus of the Washington Opera Society and performed for several luminaries. In addition to the Kennedys, Clara sang under Igor Stravinsky's direction in "Chant du Rossignol," and on another occasion met Samuel Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti backstage when the two friends attended rehearsals of Barber's Vanessa.
This interview is part of Return to Camelot, a retrospective of the Kennedy years in the White House.
"There was this horrible blizzard...." So begins Earl Wild's tale about the night he performed at President Kennedy's Inaugural Concert. When he finally arrived, his reward was a chance to talk to the President and his wife backstage for twenty minutes before the show. "I found Mrs. Kennedy to be most charming..."
This interview is part of Return to Camelot, a retrospective of the Kennedy years in the White House.
Frank Corsaro Recorded June 28, 2007
LISTEN (Running time: 39:00. 35.6 MB) CHRISTOPHER PURDY TALKS WITH FRANK CORSARO
Frank Corsaro is one of America’s foremost stage directors. His credits include Broadway runs of A Hatful of Rain, Tenesee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana, and Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha. In June of this year Corsaro staged a new opera to his own libretto, Frau Margot, for the Ft. Worth Opera, with music by Thomas Pasatieri. Corsaro served as Artistic Director of the Actor’s Studio, and his productions for the New York City Opera include Madama Butterfly, La traviata, Die Tote Stadt, and Janacek’s The Makropoulos Affair. His book "Maverick" is a must read for anyone interested in music theater.
Frank Corsaro talks about his new opera , plus his work on Broadway, at the Actor's Studio, Lee Strasberg, Tennessee Williams, Bette Davis and more.
With thanks as always to Eric French!
Kaye Ballard Recorded June 1, 2007
LISTEN (Running time: 36:56. 33.7 MB) CHRISTOPHER PURDY WITH KAYE BALLARD
Eric French, the indispensable engineer who helps me with these interviews, said to me the other day: "Dude. What's up with all the death and politico stuff?" And I realized that we’ve been heavy on grief counselors and amnesty advocates and death penalty opponents and the wonderful but serious conversationst hat go with those subjects.
Then a new book caught my eye in the library, "How I Lost 10 Pounds in 53 Years" by Kaye Ballard. Born in Cleveland eighty-one years ago, Kaye Ballard (Caterina Ballotta) has done TV series (The Mothers in Law, The Doris Day Show), Broadway (The Golden Apple; Carnival; Molly; Nunsense) Vegas, clubs, pictures, you name it. She talks about her life in show business going back to her days with Spike Jones and His Band in the 1940s, and mentions her big break at Columbus’s Club Gloria. We’ll hear about her famous friends with whom she worked: Bette Davis, Desi Arnaz, Fred Ebb, Doris Day, Marc Blitzstein, Lenny Bruce, Jimmy Durante, and Lucille Ball among them, and she reminds us of great entertainers forgotten today: people such as Billy DeWolfe and Virginia Graham .
If you love showbiz you’ll love this conversation. If you don’t love showbiz, get over yourself, listen anyway and find How I Lost 10 Pounds in 53 Years.
With thanks as always to Eric French!
Christopher O'Riley Recorded May 8, 2007
LISTEN (Running time: 7:39. 14.0 MB) BOYCE LANCASTER TALKS WITH CHRISTOPHER O'RILEY
Christopher O’Riley is a classical pianist who studied at the New England Conservatory of Music. He has received awards at the Leeds, Van Cliburn, Busoni and Montreal competitions, as well as an Avery Fisher Career Grant. O'Riley has made many recordings of classical music. including works of Maurice Ravel, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Jean-Philippe Rameau, John Adams, Igor Stravinsky, and Alexander Scriabin. He is also the host of the weekly National Public Radio program "From the Top," on which young musicians are heard and interviewed.
He was in Columbus preparing for a live taping of the show when Boyce Lancaster interviewed him.
LISTEN (Running time: 16:12. 29.6 MB) CHRISTOPHER PURDY TALKS WITH PHYLLIS R. SILVERMAN
Phyllis R. Silverman is a researcher, teacher and author whose primary interest is bereavement and how death is dealt with in our society. Her early work was focused on the needs of the widowed and this led to the development of the Widow-to-Widow program. Dr. Silverman talks about society’s reaction to the recent shootings at Virginia Tech, explaining death and bereavement to children and the challenges facing men widowed after long marriages. We spoke form her home in Massachusetts on May 2, 2007.
LISTEN (Running time: 13:56. 25.4 MB) CHRISTOPHER PURDY talks with MIKE FARRELL
I’m an American citizen first Actor Mike Farrell enjoys wide popularity for his role as B.J. Hunnicut in the long running TV hit "MASH," as Dr. Jim Hansen in NBC’s "Providence," and most recently in "Desperate Housewives." Farrell’s new book, "Call Me Mike," covers his years before the cameras and his life of community activism behind the cameras. He’s been an outspoken supporter of human dignity and human rights, with strong views on capital punishment. We spoke on the phone on April 30, 2007.
LISTEN (Running time: 24:08. 55.2 MB) CHRISTOPHER PURDY TALKS WITH ROBERT MEEROPOL
Robert Meeropol is the younger son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed by the federal government on July 19, 1953 on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage. Mr. Meerpol is the author of two books, We Are Your Sons, with his brother Michael, and the recent An Execution in the Family. In 1990 Robert Meerpol founded the Rosenberg Fund for Children. Based in Massachusetts, the fund has an international reach. Its mandate is to provide financial assistance to the children of people jailed or incapacitated for their political beliefs.
To date, the RFC has awarded over 3.5 million in grants. See www.rfc.org for more information.
Robert Meeropol spoke with me from his office on April 25, 2007, about the legacy of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, about the case itself, his memories of visiting his parents on death row, and the Rosenberg Fund for Children.
With thanks to Kevin Petrilla.
Norman Lebrecht Recorded April 19, 2007
LISTEN (Running time: 15:17. 34.9 MB) CHRISTOPHER PURDY with NORMAN LEBRECHT
Norman Lebrecht is a widely read commentator on music, culture and politics. He hosts Lebrecht Live for BBC3 and writes a column appearing each Wednesday in the London Evening Standard. Lebrecht’s latest book, The Life and Death of Classical Music, is a top seller in Britain and is published in the U.S. this week. The concluding chapter, "20 Recordings That Should Never Have Been Made," is Lebrecht at his most provocative. We spoke by phone from London on April 19, 2007.
Alessandro Siciliani on Toscanini Recorded March 28, 2007
LISTEN (Running time: 19:26. 44.4 MB) Alessandro Siciliani, Conductor Laureate of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, grew up amongst Italy's great concert halls and opera houses. He shares with us his impressions of Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957). Over a long career, Toscanini was Music Director of La Scala, Milan, the New York Philharmonic, and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Toscanini's many recordings are well over sixty years old. Find them! Maestro Siciliani discusses his own favorites among the vast Toscanini archive.
Licia Albanese on Toscanini Recorded March 26, 2007
LISTEN (Running time: 16:59. 38.8 MB) Soprano Licia Albanese shares her memories of the great conductor Arturo Toscanini, who died fifty years ago. Mme Albanese sang Mimi in "La Boheme" and Violetta in "La Traviata" on Toscanini’s broadcasts with the NBC symphony in the 1940s. These recordings have never been out of print. She sang at the Metropolitan from 1940 to 1966 and continued her career for years afterward. Today, at 94, Albanese gives master classes for, and financial assistance to, young artists through the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation. We spoke from her home in New York on March 26, 2007.
See also www.lapfny.org for the Albanese Puccini Foundation
Interview with Dr. Margarita Mazo Recorded March 15, 2007, WOSU studios Interviewed by Christopher Purdy
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich born March 27, 1927, affectionately known as Slava, is a Russian and American cellist and conductor, considered by some to be one of the greatest cellists ever. Cellist, conductor, teacher, political activist, and humantarian, he celebrated his 80th birthday recently, and is recovering from cancer surgery in Moscow.
Dr. Magarita Mazo is a professor of music at The Ohio State University, and has worked with Rostropovich. She gives valuable insights into this artist.
Part 1. (MP3. Length - 4:27) Rostropovich as conductor, and his collaborations with great composers.
Part 2. (MP3. Length - 4:39) Rostropovich and Russia. His exile from the Soviet Union, 1974-1990, when he and his wife, soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, were ordered out of the country for sheltering Alexandr Slozhenitsyn.
Part 3. (MP3. Length - 4:53) Rostopovich, Vishnevskaya, and their lives, and the perceptions of them in Russia today, and through the world.
See www.rostropovich.org to learn more about the Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation
Interview with Kathryn Koob ('kobe') Recorded March 13, 2007, over the phone from her home in Iowa Interviewed by Christopher Purdy
LISTEN (Running time: 24:11. 55.3 MB.) Kathyrn Koob was one of the 66 Americans held hostage by Iranian students for 444 days, from November, 1979 to January, 1981. The hostage crisis convulsed this country. Miss Koob is the author of Guest of the Revolution (1982). Today, she is adjunct professor of theater at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, and continues with a full schedule of speaking engagements.
Patty Duke on Mental Illness Academy Award-winning actress Patty Duke ("The Miracle Worker") has long been an advocate for the mentally ill. Her struggles with depression are powerfully told in her books "call Me Anna" and "A Brilliant Madness." Today, Mrs. Anna (Patty Duke) Pearce is busier than ever as an actress, advocate, wife, and mother. She spoke with WOSU's Christopher Purdy in the summer of 2006 from her home in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. See also www.officalpattyduke.com
Boyce Lancaster talks with Maestro Albert-George Schram, the beloved conductor of the CSO Pops, about composers, conductors, and the art of music-making. more...
