Answer this question: What composer(s) would you invite to dinner? Nicholas McGegan is one of my favorite people. He's an incisive creative conductor and musicologist, and a hoot. He was here recently for a program with the Columbus Symphony in the Southern Theater. The great thing about interviewing Nick is that you just hand him the mike and off he goes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2skDisDor30 To the question-which he asked himself-of which composers he would ask to dinner:: "I think if I were asked to invite certain composers to dinner, there are those you wouldn't want. Wagner would have been absolutely awful, he would have talked only about himself. Bruckner would have prayed all the time. Nothing wrong with that but it's not great dinner conversation. Mozart would have been fun, he would have thrown bread rolls at the pretty girls. Mendelssohn would have been wonderful, and he would have answered your questions in any language. Haydn would be the best dinner companion for his elegance and his wit. Handel would have eaten your food and everybody else's, and Bach would have wanted more beer." It's always a great show, on stage and off, when Nick McGegan is in town. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA0Ykk5RsKQ
Christopher Purdy is Classical 101's early morning host, 7-10 a.m. weekdays. He is host and producer of Front Row Center – Classical 101’s weekly celebration of Opera and more – as well as Music in Mid-Ohio, Concerts at Ohio State, and the Columbus Symphony broadcast series. He is the regular pre-concert speaker for Columbus Symphony performances in the Ohio Theater.