The Poulenc Trio, Nadia Boulanger, and more on WETA Classical this week

​It's a variety of music that takes us on a journey through time, and also includes poetry by Lia Purpura with the Poulenc Trio!

A pioneering oboe, bassoon, and piano ensemble, The Poulenc Trio has garnered international recognition over its 20-year history. With performances in 47 U.S. states and at prestigious music festivals around the world, including the Ravello Festival in Italy, the San Miguel de Allende Festival in Mexico, and the White Nights Festival in Russia, they have firmly established themselves as one of the most active and sought-after touring piano-wind ensembles in the country.

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John Banther and Evan Keely explore the life of one of the most influential musician, composer, and teacher, Nadia Boulanger. Her students span the breadth of Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Quincy Jones, and more.

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Benjamin Britten dedicated his Symphony for Cello and Orchestra to his great friend Mstislav Rostropovich, who premiered it in Moscow in 1964.

Rostropovich would later become the NSO’s Music Director. Rostropovich appointed cellist David Hardy as associate principal cello in 1981. The following year, he was the top American prizewinner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Rostropovich’s successor, Leonard Slatkin, named him Principal Cello in 1994. The NSO’s current music director, Gianandrea Noseda, spent 10 years as principal Guest conductor at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. All of this history comes together in this performance of Benjamin Britten’s Cello Symphony, featuring David Hardy, and conducted by Gianandrea Noseda.

Maestro Noseda will also lead the orchestra in Bruckner’s Symphony No.6. Brahms once compared Bruckner’s works to “symphonic boa constrictors.” Not the most appreciated of composers during his lifetime, his sixth symphony, which he had called his “cheekiest” wasn’t performed until 1901, unfortunately he was no longer alive to enjoy its success. 

American composer John Adams returns to the Metropolitan Opera after a decade for the Met premiere of his acclaimed opera-oratorio, El Niño, which incorporates sacred and secular texts in English, Spanish, and Latin, from Biblical times to the present day, in an extraordinarily dramatic retelling of the Nativity.  This live broadcast from the Met is conducted by Marin Alsop.

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Sacred music by Tchaikovsky on this weekend's Choral Showcase, with the All-Night Vigil and the Nine Sacred Choruses, all from performances by the Latvian Radio Choir under Sigvards Klava.

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This broadcast introduces musicians from rural areas around the nation. Audiences will meet young musicians from Maine to North Dakota and learn about the challenges and benefits of pursuing serious musical study in their communities. Rolling farmland, local butcher shops, woodlands, bayous, and red brick general stores provide the backdrops for this week’s bucolic episode.

Violinist and bluegrass fiddler Tessa Lark will co-host this episode with Peter Dugan, drawing on the musical traditions of her native Kentucky.