I wonder if you can tell something about a person by the music he/she listens to.  (And I wonder what that “something” might be.)  The reason I’m wondering this today is not just that we begin our annual Critics’ Week, our year-end roundup of the best music, etc.; but also because of the passing this weekend of two world leaders and one barefoot diva. 

Q2 Music is proud to announce three delayed Webcasts -- Wednesday, December 21 at 8 pm, Saturday December 24 at noon, Thursday, December 29 at 8 pm, and now an additional Saturday, December 31 at noon -- of The New York Philharmonic's CONTACT! series featuring music by HK Gruber, Magnus Lindberg, and Alexandre Lunsqui.

John Schaefer's mixed feelings about live albums

John Schaefer on music that gives him goosebumps

What John Schaefer is thankful for this year...

Loutallica is part of a long history of musical collaboration, says John Schaefer. 

John Schaefer really wanted his MTV.  Or so he thought...

It could be a tense orchestral crash of instruments ("Thus Sprach Zarathustra"), or held in just a few feverish notes on a piano ("Halloween"). Whatever it is, the music from movies we think of as spooky plays a big part in raising those hairs on our neck and getting us to reach out for a (hopefully live) hand to hold. John Schaefer, host of New York Public Radio’s "Soundcheck" joins us with a playlist of some of the scariest music ever recorded.

5 artists who should not get lost in the CMJ crowd

On Saturday, Oct. 22 at 7 pm, the concluding night of the American Composers Orchestra's SONiC Festival, the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center played palatial host to the world premiere of composer-performer Bryce Dessner's double guitar concerto, St. Carolyn by the Sea. Featuring Bryce Dessner on guitar along with his twin brother Aaron Dessner, the SONiC-commissioned piece was led by American Composer Orchestra conductor George Manahan and hosted by John Schaefer from WNYC's New Sounds Live. 

Neither of this week's big stories was a happy one.

On October 12 at 7 pm, Q2 Music presents a live audio Webcast of the Brooklyn Philharmonic from the World Financial Center performing music by Mos Def, Frederic Rzewski, Lev Zhurbin, David T. Little and Corey Dargel.

John Schaefer says Detroit is capable of springing an upset.  But where?

5 songs for your end-of-summer road trip

In the days immediately after 9/11, our regular programming on WNYC 93.9 FM was suspended and we were doing wall-to-wall news coverage from NPR’s New York studio in midtown. I had been on the scene that Tuesday morning and was badly shaken by the events; and staying at home with nothing to do was definitely not helping me. So when NPR called to ask if I’d cover a live performance of the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré, and gather some sound from people at the church, I was relieved and grateful.

John Schaefer wishes he didn't have to listen to the start of today's show.

Steve Jobs is not a musician, or a record producer, or a composer. But he has profoundly changed the way we hear music, the way music is produced, the way music is marketed. The products he invented have helped make music an almost ubiquitous part of our lives.

Everything John Schaefer knows about music he learned through cartoons.  Almost. 

Disney films often centered around music - to great effect.