Classical 94.1 WBNI is pleased to broadcast the Fort Wayne Philharmonic's 2018-2019 Masterworks series! 

You can hear the following performances at 7pm on 94.1 WBNI:

Thursday, October 18th - OPENING NIGHT WITH RENÉE FLEMING

Also part of The Robert, Carrie, and Bobbie Steck Family Foundation

Great Performers Series

Renée Fleming, soprano

One of the world's most beloved and celebrated singers, Renée Fleming opens the 75th Anniversary Season with a wide-ranging program beginning with Richard Strauss's ravishing Four Last Songs, plus popular songs on the second half. The concert will begin with the world premiere of an overture for the Philharmonic’s Anniversary Season, by American composer Joel Puckett.

Thursday, November 8th - THE RACH 2

Lise de la Salle, piano

STRAUSS — Don Juan, Op. 20

STRAUSS — Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59: Suite

RACHMANINOFF — Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18

The brilliant young  French pianist Lise de la Salle will play Rachmaninoff’s popular Piano Concerto No. 2, with its blizzard of notes and luxuriant string melodies. Two showpieces by Strauss display the Philharmonic's virtuosity.

Thursday, November 22nd - BRITTEN'S WAR REQUIEM

Fort Wayne Philharmonic Chorus

IPFW Chorus

Fort Wayne Children's Choir

BRITTEN—War Requiem, Op. 66

The concert will be performed nearly 100 years to the day after the armistice of World War I. Benjamin Britten’s powerful masterpiece juxtaposes the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass with contemporary texts illustrating the ravages of war.

Thursday, January 24th - PETROUCHKA

Andrew Wan, violin

DUKAS — L'apprenti sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice)

CHAUSSON — Poème, Op. 25

RAVEL— Tzigane, rapsodie de concert, for Violin and Orchestra

STRAVINSKY — Petrouchka

Colorful French works, including The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a work popularized in Walt Disney's 1940 classic film Fantasia. Plus Petrouchka, Stravinsky's brilliant ballet burlesque about a playful and very naughty clown.

Thursday, February 14th - BIZET'S CARMEN

Fort Wayne Philharmonic Chorus

Members of the Fort Wayne Children's Choir

Soloists

BIZET — Carmen

The world's most popular opera. Carmen seduces a hapless corporal and a dashing bullfighter before meeting her tragic demise. Bizet’s bewitching melodies, including the “Habanera” and the “Toreador Song,” and stunning projected visuals make this semi-staged production an ideal introduction to the thrill of opera.

Thursday, March 7th - BARBER AND VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

Robert deMaine, cello

BUTTERWORTH — The Banks of Green Willow

BARBER — Cello Concerto, Op. 22

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS — Symphony No. 5 in D major

Robert deMaine performs Barber's Cello Concerto, a work of musical fireworks and aching lyricism. The concert concludes with Vaughan Williams’ most popular symphony, a pastoral romance that sings with emotional strength and spirituality.

Thursday, March 28th - FORT WAYNE PHILHARMONIC CHORUS

Fort Wayne Children's Choir

Soloists

ADAMS — On the Transmigration of Souls

Beethoven — Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125

Beethoven’s 9th has inspired audiences with its monumental scale, intensive technical demands, and the utopian idealism of its "Ode to Joy." It is stunningly paired with American composer John Adams’ musical commemoration of the victims of 9/11, a work described as "a place where you can go and be alone with your thoughts and emotions."

Thursday, April 18th - SIBELIUS 2

TOWER — Made in America

PUCKETT — Short Stories - Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra

SIBELIUS — Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43

Sibelius was Finland’s greatest composer and a national hero. His most famous symphony is full of soaring melodies and folk-like references. Joel Puckett’s Concerto, an infectious intertwining of eight short vignettes, receives its Indiana orchestral premiere at this concert.

Thursday, May 9th - THE FANTASTIC SYMPHONY

Stewart Goodyear, piano

BERLIOZ — Roméo et Juliette: Queen Mab Scherzo

GRIEG — Piano Concert in A minor, Op. 16

BERLIOZ — Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14

Berlioz's psychedelic symphonic portrait tells the tale of an artist's self-destructive passion for a beautiful woman. It is full of obsessions and dreams, ecstasy and despair. Grieg’s concerto was an instant success, a work of charm, teeming with vitality and perfect simplicity.

Thursday, May 30th - DVORÁK AND JANÁČEK

Paul Huang, violin

DVORÁK — Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53, B. 96

DVORÁK — Slavonic Dances

JANÁČEK — Sinfonietta

With its military bands, dazzling fanfares, and 13 additional brass players, Janáček's Sinfonietta sounds as fresh today as it did at its premiere. Beginning the program are two seminal works by fellow countryman Antonín Dvořák, whose lively, folk-like sensibilities defined the language of late-19th-century Romantic music.