Joyful punctuation: birthdays galore!

We all love to celebrate happy occasions. They are the joyful punctuation of life. And this week, on Vivace, we have plenty to celebrate.

Several distinguished composers have birthdays this Friday and we will hear their music. They include Carl Czerny at 7 am, and at 7:30 am, we'll hear a selection of music from another birthday composer, Leo Delibes. Here's a little something to whet your appetite!

Have you heard about world-famous piece of music that was accidentally composed during a golf game in Scotland, 100 years ago? I didn't think so, but you will on Friday.

After 8 o'clock, we have another wealth of treasures to share with you, including music by Piacentino, Carulli and Ziehrer, as well as Charles-Marie Widor's most famous composition -- played by the composer himself in celebration of his birthday.

At the end of the program, Dame Kiri te Kanawa will spare a few minutes from her Downton Abbey commitments to give us a short "listener request" encore from last week, and we'll invite you to dance along to another favorite love song.

There are plenty of great reasons to join me for Vivace this Friday, 6-9 am EST. I hope you will.

You can also replay the program anytime from the WTJU archives. This program will be available for replay through 3/4/14.  

A concert on Vivace this Friday morning ...

This Friday, we have an action-packed Vivace

After a peaceful first hour, we'll celebrate the birthday of the ballet Sylvia by Leo Delibes at 7:00 am. At about 7:30 am, we'll celebrate the 236th birthday of the Star Spangled Banner as the flag of the United States and the 238th birthday of the US Army. Included in that celebration, I'll have a very rare recording of the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff himself playing the national anthem.

Then after another of Mozart's apocryphal symphonies and a visit to the world of operetta, we'll devote the final hour of this Friday's Vivace to a live concert by Avery Waite (cello) and Fitz Gary (viola) from Music Feeds Us

They will also be appearing in a kids concert on Wednesday (June 12) at 4 pm, at the Gordon Avenue Library, where they will perform "Carnival of the Animals", on Thursday evening (June 13) at 7pm at The Bridge PAI, on Saturday morning, 9am-11am, at an outreach performance at the Charlottesville City Market, as well as their two main concerts Saturday afternoon at Trinity Episcopal Church in Staunton and Sunday afternoon (3 pm) at First Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville.

Avery has performed on Sesame Street and solo at the Lincoln Center, and is an extraordinarily talented cellist.



Please feel free to stop by the studio and be part of the audience. And if you can manage a small donation for the Blue Ridge Food Bank, I know they'd be grateful. This should be fun!

I look forward to your company on Friday!