Throughout the year, Evening Music brings you the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, one of the world's premiere orchestral ensembles, live in concert from Carnegie Hall. With hosts Terrance McKnight, David Garland and John Schaefer, we've shared brand new commissioned works, such as the New Brandenburg Commissions by composers Christopher Theofanidis, Paul Moravec and Melinda Wagner; interviews with noted composers and interpreters, such as Ned Rorem and Jean-Yves Thibaudet; stirring renditions of the classical canon; and adventurous forays into new sounds, such as Ravi Shankar's Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra, performed by his daughter Anoushka.

Read below for more information on past Orpheus Chamber Orchestra concerts, as well as to access 24/7 streaming audio of the entire captivating live shows and special excerpted conversations.

Ned Rorem and Susan Graham
May 11th, 2009

Terrance McKnight and David Garland host an evening celebrating great orchestrators from the 18th century to the present day. We hear music from Haydn, Stravinsky, Ravel and Ned Rorem, with new songs from Rorem performed by mezzo-soprano Susan Graham. Terrance is live backstage and speaks with Rorem, a composer Time called "the world's best composer of art songs."

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Melinda Wagner and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg
March 21st, 2009

Tonight David Garland and Terrance McKnight host the next in Orpheus’s New Brandenburg Commissions: Melinda Wagner’s Little Moonhead. We hear from Wagner during intermission, and Terrance is live backstage to speak with concert soloist, violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. The evening’s music rounds out with Stravinsky, Haydn and the boisterous Four Seasons by Astor Piazzolla.

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Ravi Shankar and daughter, Anoushka Shankar
January 31st, 2009

David Garland and Terrance McKnight host the world premiere of legendary virtuoso sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar's Third Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra, performed by his daughter Anoushka Shankar. WNYC listeners experience the excitement from an exclusive vantage point, as David brings you the view from the front of the house — while Terrance comments on the action backstage, with live interviews from the artists. Also available is The Raga Saga: a 12-part Orpheus web series offering a rare insight into Anoushka's rehearsals.

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Paul Moravec and Jean-Yves Thibaudet
October 16th, 2008

Terrance McKnight and David Garland co-host the concert as Jean-Yves Thibaudet guests in Saint-Saëns' fiery Piano Concerto No. 2, and we hear some classical "fire" via Haydn's Symphony No. 59. Also on the concert, the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec's answer to Bach, Brandenburg Gate. Moravec also speaks with David during intermission about his new work.

Christopher Theofanidis and Christian Zacharias
December 8th, 2007

John Schaefer and Terrance McKnight are joined by pianist Christian Zacharias for Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto and the world premiere performance of Christopher Theofanidis' Muse, part of the orchestra's ongoing New Brandenberg Commissions, for which six composers are creating modern companion pieces to Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg concertos. Muse, which Theofanidis discusses with John, is a companion piece to Bach's third concerto, which is also on the program.

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