Apple Rescuer, Gentle Composer: Gerald Finzi

By Gigi Yellen
Baxter's Pearmain (Credit: National Fruit Collection); Gerald Finzi, reprinted by kind permission of Boosey & Hawkes
Consider this year’s apples: Born from the seeds of an earlier generation’s trees, the fruit you hold in your hand this fall will allow you “to shake hands with a good friend over the centuries.” That’s how the composer and antiquarian Gerald Finzi put it. As your apples ripen, with the sweet strains of classical music… Read More

Leonard Bernstein: How ‘Noise That Keeps People Awake At Night’ Helped Ignite A Brilliant Career

By Steve Reeder
Black and white photo, Gazebo with musicians
The first known photograph of Leonard Bernstein (left) as a conductor, taken at a summer camp on 1937. CREDIT: Library of Congress, Music Division “Moynik!” (“Music!”), the young Leonard Bernstein would exclaim, even before his second birthday. He was clearly fascinated by the sounds emanating from his parents’ Victrola at home in Lawrence, Massachusetts and… Read More

Tasty Treats For Melodic Summer Nights: What Fuels The Musicians At Northwest Summer Festivals?

By Gigi Yellen
Photo Credit: Cheryl Crooks, Cheryl Crooks Photography
A long, relaxed summer evening in the company of live classical music and fine food. That’s a favorite Northwest pleasure offered around the region: Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival (Concert on the Village Green), Bellingham Festival of Music (Chamber by the Bay), and Seattle Chamber Music Society Summer Festival (Music Under the Stars), to name a few. It’s the kind of Read More

Goodbye And Good Luck, Jessie Jacobs!

By Anjuli Dodhia
This month, we say goodbye to our Music Director, Jessie Jacobs. You’ve heard Jessie on-air Friday afternoons on NWPB, and her contributions and dedication behind the scenes have made NWPB into a vital music resource for listeners and communities across the region. Jessie Jacobs sat down with Anjuli Dodhia to reflect back on her time with NWPB. Read More

Won’t You Share My Cello, Neighbor?

By Gigi Yellen
Did you know that the director of the new documentary film about Mr. Rogers, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? – Morgan Neville – also directed The Music of Strangers, the 2016 documentary about Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project? And that Yo-Yo Ma’s son Nicholas is one of the producers of Won’t You Be My Neighbor? In a clip of his appearance on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Nicholas Ma is Read More

Depression And The Composer: Rachmaninoff’s Story

By Anjuli Dodhia
Rachmaninoff at the Piano
Franz Liszt once said, “Mournful and grand is the destiny of an artist.” Was he referring to the seemingly large proportion of artists that suffer from some sort of mental disorder? Sergei Rachmaninoff was one. He dealt with depression throughout his life, but not only did he mostly overcome it, his management of it fueled his composing. Read More

The Schlichtings: A Legacy With The Olympia Symphony

By Jessie Jacobs
Austin Schlichting, a Bellingham native, moved to Olympia as a composer and music teacher. CREDIT: MATT MILTON Listen The Olympia Symphony celebrates 65 years in 2018. To mark this special occasion, they commissioned the grandson of one of their first music directors, Austin Schlichting, to write a piece. Austin Schlichting is a composer and music… Read More
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