In these strange times, you may have been missing a familiar voice on the air–the voice of long-time Classical host, Frank Stowers. Frank has been asked to stay at home by our management here at WVPB in order to keep healthy during the Covid-19 pandemic. We wanted to check in on him and see how he and his wife, Emita, were doing, so Matt Jackfert called him and had a conversation with him.
“It really feels strange to be sitting at home listening to you folks, when I’m so accustomed to being there in the control room broadcasting myself, and I really miss being there, Matt, and all you good folks,” said the award-winning Classical host, Frank.
Take a listen below to the full chat between Matt and Frank.
“It’s a place that’s kind of our second home at this point.” That’s what pianist Joel Cummins says about Charleston, SC, the location of a new music festival, the Woodlands Festival. The event is being put together by Joel’s band, Umphrey’s McGee themselves, for its inagural run this November 7th, 8th and 9th. He says the location looks to be on a beautiful 6000-acre nature preserve, and, says talent will abound with a lineup that has the likes of Big Something, The Empire Strikes Brass, Zach Deputy, and of course, Umphrey’s McGee. You can still find tickets, including single-day passes here.
Joel is clearly passionate about Charleston and the Woodlands festival as you’ll hear in the interview. He also discusses his love of Claude Debussy piano pieces (as well as Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin), which he often features on his solo piano shows. “I think it’s just so important to pass that on to listeners,” he says. Joel also discusses how Impressionist music like Debussy’s that fits into the what the Umphrey’s sound is. Umphrey’s even quotes Mozart and Grieg in their songs “Der Bluten Kat” and “Thin Air” respectively as discussed below.
Credit umphreys.com
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Joel’s a pretty cool guy.
Joel also talks about his new book, The Realist’s Guide to a Successful Music Career, which is about… a realist’s guide to a successful music career. It features discussions with some of the greats of music: Huey Lewis, Susan Tedeschi, Victor Wooten, Ivan Neville, Taylor Hicks, Chuck Leavell (music director for the Rolling Stones), and more. You can purchase a copy online here. He’s also a pretty cool guy, so check out the interview below…
"I'm home again." That was a declaration by world-renowned Euphonium player, Steven Mead, following his 5-week journey across the world. Mead found…
“I’m home again.” That was a declaration by world-renowned Euphonium player, Steven Mead, following his 5-week journey across the world. Mead found himself performing in several different countries this summer including the Netherlands, Italy, Lithuania, South Korea, and China.
Mead does all his own booking, and joked, “As my wife says, ‘if someone else was organizing it, they wouldn’t make a schedule like that.'”
During the tour, he teamed up with all sorts of musicians including his wife Misa Mead and the brass ensemble, Palencia, from Spain. He also participated in many festivals including adjudicating the World Music Competition (sort of like the Olympic Games of music) in the Netherlands and directing the Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival; and, he performed in a broadcast for all of Qingdao, China.
Steven Mead and Misa Mead performing on Euphonium for a TV show for Qingdao, China.
Along the way, Mead also experienced many cultures, met a plethora of new people, ate a variety of delicious foods, performed in a cave and even on a moving cable car. He even tricked his airlines into thinking he was bringing a cello along in the largest box available.
Steven Mead’s “Cello” in the largest box he could possibly find.
After all that, Mead tells us that when he finally got home he, “fell inside [his] front door…literally,” because he was so exhausted. He reflects, though, “It’s a small price to pay, really, for those experiences,” and that he “loved every minute of it.” Now, Mead is relaxing and practicing Euphonium at home before he goes on the road once again.
Check out or extensive interview with Euphonium extraordinaire, Steven Mead…
Celebrating the end of warm-ups in Trakai, Lithuania.
If you like Steven Mead’s playing, you can find more at his website euphonium.net.
“Keep on pickin'”– That’s one of the many mantras of legendary composer, conductor, and performer David Amram. He used that mantra when sending out his composition portfolio to job prospects. Several times that portfolio was returned to him unopened, so he simply changed the address on the package and sent it out again. In 1966, however, his portfolio caught the attention of another legendary composer and performer, Leonard Bernstein, and he received the position of composer-in-residence with the New York Philharmonic.
Before that, Amram had written lush and beautiful scores to films such as The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Splendor in the Grass (1960), so it was no wonder that he would ascend to the lofty position of composer-in-residence.
Amram is also an incredible instrumentalist, being one of the first people to pioneer Jazz French Horn and an incredible piano player. Amram will show off his talents on the Mountain Stage Radio Show on Sunday, July 23rd at the Culture Center in Charleston. The show begins at 7 PM. Amram will perform songs such as Woody Guthrie’s “Pastures a plenty” and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” on piano with the Mountain Stage Band backing him.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting is committed to serving the greatest number of listeners possible, across our state and beyond. With this in mind, we are delighted to announce a few additions to our radio programming line-up effective July 1, 2016:
The BBC World Service will replace the Classical 24 and Jazz After Hours overnight services.
Local Classical Music will increase, with hosts Matt Jackfert and Frank Stowers from noon to 2 p.m. weekdays.
The Takeaway (a mid-day news magazine hosted by John Hockenberry) will air at 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Across the Blue Ridge (a regional music program hosted by former NPR reporter, Paul Brown) will air at 9 p.m. Sundays.
In addition to providing the highest quality programming available, these changes will enable us to save money in light of the recent state budget cuts. The result is increased efficiency across our entire agency.
Additionally, we find ourselves relying more and more on listener support, for which we remain ever so grateful. Neither of these is mutually exclusive. In fact, they work in tandem as we seek to be tremendous stewards with what we’ve been entrusted.
So from all of us here, THANK YOU, for the opportunity to serve you to the best of our ability.
Additional questions and answers are posted in our FAQs.
Composer and Huntington native Nate May recently finished production on an original two-person music-drama, called Dust in the Bottomland.
When he began studying music at the University of Michigan Nate May decided to write an opera about some of the issues facing Appalachians.
His friend and fellow student at the University, Andrew Munn, collaborated with him to create Dust in the Bottomland, which they performed last year in West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and New York City. The piece uses only one instrument and one vocalist. May plays piano, and Munn sings bass.
“Some people ask, ’Where’s the Appalachian influence in the music?’ And I say, ‘Well, all of it. It’s me, who’s writing it and I grew up in Appalachia,’” said May.
Dust in the Bottomland is about a young man who grew up in West Virginia but moved away. Since he’s been gone, his parents and sister have been displaced from their home, due to mountaintop removal mining. They still live in West Virginia, though they now live down in the valley.
The main character is returning home after 10 years because his sister has overdosed on pain pills. During his return home, the protagonist also visits the site of his family’s home and sees the changes that mining has done to that landscape.
“I think the story hit home to a lot of people because a lot of people, even not from the area, know people affected by addiction,” said May. “The other issue that people were affected by was homecoming. And going away and coming back.”
Credit Nate May
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Album cover for Dust in the Bottomland. Shows Bev’s Flower Store in Oceana, West Virginia.
Nate May and Andrew Munn are now talking about composing a chamber ensemble version of Dust in the Bottomland, which will include more instruments.
Credit Abigail O’Bryan
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Andrew and Nate, during a break from rehearsing at Interlochen Center for the Arts in northern Michigan.
