Rarely-heard music, Evgeny Sudbin ... and HM The Queen!

Have you ever heard of Joseph Jongen? No, neither had we, but our first hour will feature his Piano Quartet Op.23 on this week's Vivace. 

At 7 o'clock, we have a well-known trio by Mozart to enchant you.  Then, after selections by Lumbye and Ponchielli, we'll feature a work by CPE Bach played on a rarely-heard instrument, the tangent piano. And just before 8 o'clock, we have a super-special royal birthday to celebrate.

During the 8 o'clock hour, we'll start a few days of celebration to mark the visit to Charlottesville next week of the great Russian-born pianist, Yevgeny Sudbin, whose concert on Tuesday, April 29 at the University of Virginia will be the season finale for the Tuesday Evening Concert Series. He will join us on Vivace to play one of Beethoven's great piano concertos.

As ever, I hope you'll join us for Vivace, three hours of entertaining and interesting music, this Friday, 6-9 am, right here on WTJU-Charlottesville.

PS.  If you also tune in Sunday morning at about 8 am, Mr. Sudbin will be interviewed by Deborah Murray on Classical Sunrise.  In fact, why not start your Sunday on a gentle note by tuning in from 6-9 am.

Raise a glass as you tune in this Friday!

We often celebrate musical birthdays and anniversaries, but I don't recall ever doing an entire show before in which every single work has significance in that regard.  This Friday, that's exactly what we have on Vivace.

We'll celebrate some major birthdays this week.  The first hour will be taken up with an entire performance of the ballet Daphnis and Chloe, as we celebrate the birthday of French composer Maurice Ravel, and later, we'll hear a short work performed by the composer himself.  We'll also celebrate the anniversary of the first performance of The Nutcracker Suite, with an unusual arrangement for classical guitar. 

At about 7:30 am, we'll begin a major celebration to mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of CPE Bach.

Just after 8 o'clock, we will reach out to the people of Ukraine with some special music, and in the final hour we'll also raise a glass to Dame Kiri te Kanawa, who celebrates her 70th birthday this week.

Party hats and champagne are not required, but are always useful to have on hand as you enjoy a sparkling, celebratory edition of Vivace this Friday, right here on WTJU-Charlottesville.  I look forward to the pleasure of your company.