Sam Wisman
Senior Producer - 91.9 Classical KC / Backup Announcer - KCUR 89.3Sam started listening to jazz on his local NPR affiliate when he was just 13 years old, and his life as a musician and radio guy continues to intertwine. Son of a merchant and a classical musician, he came to Kansas City to attend the UMKC Conservatory. During school, he shelved a lot of records and played “drop the needle” at The Marr Sound Archives, working with KCUR’s own Fish Fry host Chuck Haddix. After graduating Cum Laude with a degree in Percussion Performance, Sam became a versatile fixture in Kansas City’s music scene. He hosted Jazz Afternoon on 90.1 FM KKFI for over 10 years, and currently hosts Jazz Across America - Kansas City on San Diego's KSDS Jazz 88.3. Sam lives with his family in Roeland Park, and has yet to measure the volume of his kids with a decibel meter — but he has thought about it.
Email him at samwisman@classicalkc.org.
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Led by violinist Véronique Mathieu, Navo has been presenting diverse chamber music performances in Kansas City for nine seasons. Brooke Knoll speaks with Mathieu about Navo's current season alongside music by Grażyna Bacewicz, Alice Ping Yee Ho, Ingrid Stölzel and more.
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The premiere of Aaron Copland's piano concerto was his mother's proudest moment and — as she said — "made all those music lessons worthwhile!" We'll hear that work, plus Copland's "Three Latin-American Sketches," a "Chacony" by Henry Purcell (as arranged by Benjamin Britten), Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's suite from his ballet "Hiawatha" and Stravinsky's timeline altering "Rite of Spring."
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Violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins had a thriving solo and chamber career when Broadway came calling for her to be concertmaster and soloist in the 2015-16 revival of 'Fiddler on the Roof.' Classical KC speaks with Kelly about her time as the fiddler and her nonprofit, "Music Kitchen-Food for the Soul," which organizes classical music performances in homeless shelters around the world.
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Classical KC and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art have joined forces for 'Sonic Sights,' a collaboration pairing pieces of music with artwork in the museum - adding depth and greater understanding to both. Erin Dziedzic, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Kemper, joined Classical KC's Brooke Knoll to talk about the connection between visual and aural art and how museum visitors can feel welcomed into abstract art through music.
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Ensemble Ibérica is the Kansas City-based, globe trotting group of musicians under the direction of Beau Bledsoe. Beau has curated a selection of some of his favorite live performances from the group's diverse concerts. We'll hear classical and folkloric music from Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia and other musically rich places.
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This week, co-hosts Michael Stern and Dan Margolies celebrate the birthday of composer Paul Hindemith. We'll hear his 'Trauermusik' featuring Pinchas Zukerman alongside the Walt Whitman-inspired oratorio 'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd: A Requiem for those we love.' We'll also hear the combined efforts of three Russian masters in Alexander Borodin's posthumously premiered 'Overture to Prince Igor,' and a haunting 21st century work by David Hertzberg.
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William Jewell College has commissioned a new choral work, “The Canon for Racial Reconciliation,” which is part of a broader effort at the college to reckon with the institution's racial history. The music melds Orthodox liturgy with gospel sounds, and is co-written by composers Nicholas Reeves and Isaac Cates.
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Celebrate Halloween with two ghastly tone poems by Antonín Dvořák: "The Noon Witch" and "The Water Goblin." Plus, we'll see if The Kansas City Symphony can "embrace the madness" of Hector Berlioz's dark and emotional "Symphonie fantastique." We'll also hear Claude Debussy's "Danse sacree et profane" featuring harpist Katherine Siochi.
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In the 45 year history of the Minería Symphony Orchestra of Mexico City, the group has never toured the United States. Ahead of their debut performance in Kansas City, Brooke Knoll speaks with conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto and pianist/composer Gabriela Montero about the classical and folkloric sounds of Mexico and Venezuela, and what it means to bring this large group of musicians to KC. We'll hear works by Montero, Carlos Chávez and Silvestre Revueltas.
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This week, co-hosts Michael Stern and Dan Margolies celebrate the birthday of the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. We'll hear his Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring Behzod Abduraimov, his Violin Concerto No. 2 featuring Gil Shaham and his Symphony No. 3 featuring organist Jan Kraybill. Michael and Dan also explore the life and work of Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz and we'll hear her delightful Overture.