WKCR 89.9FM NY

Momenta Quartet performs a program of modern works for string quartet at the WKCR studios in advance of their performance at the 2015 Mata Festival this Thursday, April 16. Featured composers this evening include: Eric Nathan, Guy Barash, Matthew Greenbaum, Julián Carrillo, Philip Glass and Arthur Kampela.

The director of the Barnard College Music Department and the Barnard-Columbia Chorus, Gail Archer is particularly famous as an organist. Tune in to Friday's Bach Hour for an exclusive interview on her recording of the Great 18 Chorale Preludes, as well as for her upcoming appearance leading the Barnard-Columbia Chorus in the St. Matthew Passion.

Last year, the late Robert Ashley's final opera Crash premiered to sold-out houses and rave reviews at the Whitney Biennial. Audiences will have another chance to see the opera when it returns to Roulette next week. Tune in to Thursday's Cereal Music to hear Mimi Johnson, Ashley's wife, and members of the cast come discuss this fascinating, final work. Stepan Atamian hosts.

Tune in on Wednesday, April 8 at 8PM for an interview with writer and educator Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin, author of If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday (2002), as part of WKCR's weeklong Billie Holiday Centennial Festival. Dr. Griffin will be a part of "When the Moon Turns Green: The Myth and Music of Billie Holiday", a panel discussion with other Lady scholars Dr.

Tune in tonight at 8PM for an interview with vocalist and educator Christine Correa on the lasting influence of Lady Day as part of WKCR's weeklong Billie Holiday Centennial Festival. As an avant-garde jazz vocalist, Christine has studied, performed and recorded with Steve Lacy, Ran Blake, John LaPorta, and Jeanne Lee, among others, and has appeared at numerous festivals and clubs in the US, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India.

Tune in to Saturday Night At The Opera for our annual Parsifal broadcast over Easter weekend. In many ways, Parsifal is Richard Wagner's true magnum opus, a final work that represents the culmination of his entire operatic career. This year, we will be playing Rafael Kubelik's often overlooked 1980 recording that features the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Chorus.

Tune in Wednesday evening from 6-9 PM to hear this week's edition of the Musician's Show, where we will be joined by drummer, composer, songwriter, and producer Nate Smith. Smith was born and raised in Chesapeake, Virginia and came to the drum set at age 11. He was recruited by jazz vocalist Betty Carter to be a part of her Jazz Ahead program, alumni of which include Jason Moran, Cyrus Chestnut, and Jacky Terrasson. While attending graduate school at Virginia Commonwealth University as a member of the Carpenter Fellowship Program, he met jazz bassist and composer Dave Holland.

Tune in to is Raag Aur Tal this Sunday, March 29th from 7pm to 9pm where we will premiering selections from the new release from the Brooklyn Raga Massive. Next, we will be joined by special guests vocalist Anurag Harsh and raga pianist Utsav Lal who will be performing at Carnegie Hall the following weekend. Hosted by David Ellenbogen.

Tune in Saturday for WKCR's guest, Robert Parks, who will present a selection of recordings related to the 150th anniversary of the premiere of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde -- comparing landmark performances, including the Liebestod in Italian and French; looking at possible influences on Wagner, some passages in Liszt piano music and songs and the very long-phrased finale to Bellini’s Norma, which Wagner conducted when he was a young man; and noting its influence on other composers, including Liszt’s piano transcription of

Tune in this Wednesday at 11pm on Som do Brasil to listen to a live set and interview with Joanna Nova York, winner of the 2015 Brazilian Press Awards.

Tune in Wednesday evening from 6-9 PM to hear this week's edition of the Musician's Show, where we will be joined by guitarist, composer, educator, and theorist Miles Okazaki. Okazaki grew up in Port Townsend, Washington, and at a young age, developed an interest in music and, in particular, playing guitar. He was first exposed to recordings of Charlie Christian at age 12, and was inspired to learn to improvise.

Tune in this Wednesday at 11pm on Som do Brasil to listen to a live set and interview with Estrela Leminski and Téo Ruiz, who will be performing songs from their new album "São Sons."

Columbia Baseball returns to our online streams this weekend! Tune in as the two-time defending Ivy League champions begin league play in 2015. The Lions face Dartmouth in an ILCS rematch on Saturday and Harvard on Sunday. Coverage of both doubleheaders will begin a few minutes before noon.

Tuesday, April 7th, marks the 100th birthday anniversary of the one and only Billie Holiday. We'll be celebrating this milestone with a weeklong centennial broadcast in Lady Day’s honor, featuring her entire 1933-1959 discography, as well as on-air interviews with musicians and scholars. WKCR has a precedent of commemorating Holiday and her incredibly important contributions to vocal jazz, jazz as a whole, and Black music in our annual birthday broadcast schedule and in a special 360-hour Billie Holiday Festival that aired in 2005.

Revolutionary French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez turns 90 years old on March 26th, 2015. In celebration of Boulez's 90th birthday, WKCR will be dedicating all Classical Department programming on Wednesday, March 25th and Thursday, March 26th to this renowned musician's compositions and performances.

Though largely overshadowed by Henry Purcell, John Blow was one of England's most important composers of the Baroque era. The choirmaster of St. Paul's Cathedral, Blow is perhaps best known for his masque Venus & Adonis, a landmark work that greatly influenced Purcell's own Dido & Aeneas.

Tune in Wednesday evening from 6-9 PM to hear this week's edition of the Musician's Show, where we will be joined by Rudresh Mahanthappa, an alto saxophonist and composer who masterfully and inventively fuses jazz with Carnatic music. He has been named saxophonist of the year multiple times in Downbeat’s International Critics Polls, Jazztimes’ Critics Polls and by the Jazz Journalists’ Association, and he is the recipient of a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships.

Join us as we honor the life and work of Lew Soloff, who passed away on Sunday, March 8^th at the age of 71. We will preempt regular jazz programming on March 12th.

Tonight's Musician Show, Wednesday 6-9PM, will feature guest host Michele Rosewoman.

Music lovers in New York and around the world- Tune in to WKCR 89.9 FM-NY at 7PM, Sunday March 8. Samarth Nagarkar has been invited as a guest to a special show, Raag Aur Taal, on the radio channel. An interview in which he will be speaking of his musical journey so far and sharing great music of legendary masters who have influenced his musical growth.

Cornetist, pianist, and composer Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke was one of the great musical innovators to emerge in the 1920s. One of jazz’s earliest soloists, he is of enduring importance to the dynamic history of jazz. This Monday, WKCR will dedicate 24 hours of programming to Bix in honor of his 112th birthday anniversary. Young Bix taught himself to play cornet, listening to his brother’s Victrola phonograph and records of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.

Tune in to WKCR as we dedicate a full day of programming to the celebration of the 85th birthday of Ornette Coleman! Ornette Coleman is and has been pursuing the untouched horizons in music since the beginning of his career. Emerging from the Texas blues tradition (all of his music has the gutbucket wail of the blues in there somewhere), Ornette took L.A. and then New York City by storm with his visionary quartet in the late 1950s. His revolutionary concept placed melody, not harmony, at the center of improvisation. That's the key to really hearing Ornette--it's all in the melodies.

Join us in a conversation with Christian Wolff, Robyn Schulkowsky, and Joey Baron
as they discuss their upcoming concert of Wolff’s music celebrating his 80th birthday
at Roulette. Although perhaps best known for his work with the New York school of
the 1950s, where he composed alongside the likes of John Cage, Morten Feldman
and Earle Brown, Wolff’s music has transcended traditional musical boundaries to
become at once timeless, relevant, political, and, above all else, human. Listen to the

Join us from 2 to 7pm Sunday, March 8 for an in-depth profile on pianist Herman Chittison, Hosted by Charles Iselin. Though he never achieved widespread fame, Chittison was a unique and masterful pianist of the Swing era, famed for his talent as a vocal accompanist. A native of Kentucky, born in 1908, Chittison had his first break as a musician when he joined Zack Whyte’s Band, but his career took a significant leap when he joined Willie Lewis on his 1934 tour of Europe.

The WKCR board is happy to announce that our MP3 stream is up and running again! Thank you for your patience while we were updating our equipment! Please note that our website domain has been changed so streaming on an old link will no longer work. Please re-download the stream or click the link at the top of the page.