Jeff Spurgeon

WQXR Host

Jeff Spurgeon is finding your corner in the big, bold world of classical music. He is the morning host on WQXR.

Raised on a farm in western Nebraska, Jeff Spurgeon was never a good farm kid. He was, however, a natural born speaker. A retired local radio station owner’s chance visit to Jeff’s church on the day he was presenting announcements led to an audition that sparked the beginning of Jeff’s broadcasting career. However, his upward climb was delayed briefly by a slight lateral lisp that had to be addressed through rigorous speech therapy sessions. The experience, while debilitating at the time, made Jeff acutely aware of his speech patterns, and his self-consciousness ultimately developed into an awareness that has since served as an asset in his career.

Jeff worked at pop stations in Nebraska for years before meeting the love of his life and moving with her to New York. By the time a slot at WQXR became a possibility in 1996, Jeff had been an avid listener of the station for years, partially in admiration for radio greats like Lloyd Moss, June LaBelle, and now-colleague Nimet Habachy, and partially out of a genuine love for the music. But he failed his first audition — the knowledge he had gleaned from childhood piano lessons and listening to WQXR just wasn’t sufficient. Thankfully, a second try brought success. When he got to the station, he knew he was still very much a fish out of water, so he got straight to work, studying and learning on the fly, and finding his passions within the genre. Today, Jeff is WQXR’s morning host, bolstering listeners on their morning commute and encouraging them to find their home in the big, bold world of classical music.

Shows:

Jeff Spurgeon appears in the following:

Here's to Nimet Habachy

Monday, September 16, 2024

WQXR
Here's to Nimet Habachy, we're celebrating her 42 years on-air.

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Listen On-Demand: Les Violons du Roy

Monday, July 15, 2024

Les Violons du Roy performs with guitarist Miloš at Carnegie Hall.

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3-Minute Opera: Strauss’s Die Fledermaus

Thursday, April 11, 2024

Morning Host Jeff Spurgeon explains Strauss’s Die Fledermaus in three minutes.

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Chanticleer at Christmas

Thursday, December 21, 2023

Jeff Spurgeon hosts a program featuring Chanticleer, the professional men’s ensemble that has been one of the shining stars of the choral world for 45 years.

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Have You Heard | "Dreamweaver" by Ola Gjeilo

Monday, September 25, 2023

WQXR
Ola Gjeilo's new album, “Dreamweaver,” showcases his gifts in rich musical visions of places in the so-called real world and the just-as-real world of the spirit. 

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3-Minute Opera: Wagner's Lohengrin

Thursday, March 16, 2023

WQXR
Duchess Elsa is saved by a mysterious swan knight on one small condition. 

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3-Minute Opera: Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore

Thursday, January 19, 2023

WQXR
Nemorino thinks Adina is out of his league, but that's nothing a little potion can't fix. 

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Fran Lebowitz Wanted to be a Conductor: The Iconic New Yorker Talks Classical Music with Jeff Spurgeon

Monday, March 21, 2022

Fran Lebowitz spoke with Jeff Spurgeon about exercising to classical music, how at 8 years-old she accidentally stained a couch while attempting to “conduct” a symphony, and more.

Comments [5]

3-Minute Opera: Mozart’s Don Giovanni

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Give WQXR morning host Jeff Spurgeon three minutes and he'll give you an entire opera. Listen as Jeff breaks down Mozart's Don Giovanni in a New York minute (or three).

Comments [10]

3-Minute Opera: Massenet’s Cendrillon

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Give WQXR morning host Jeff Spurgeon three minutes and he'll give you an entire opera. Listen as Spurgeon breaks down Massenet's "Cendrillon" in a New York minute (or three).

Comments [2]

3-Minute Opera: Gounod's Faust

Thursday, January 28, 2021

Operas are long, but this isn't.
Read More

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3-Minute Opera: Rossini's The Barber of Seville

Friday, January 08, 2021

Sometimes you don't have a couple of hours for the opera. Or you need a cheat sheet. We aren't judging.

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Michael Tilson Thomas Leads the San Francisco Symphony in Mahler

Thursday, October 01, 2020

Michael Tilson Thomas and the SFS present an evening of symphonic Mahler.

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Re-Play: Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique

Thursday, August 20, 2020

WQXR brings you Beethoven's 8th and 9th Symphonies in the first Carnegie Hall Live broadcast of 2020.

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Re-Play: Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason Play Beethoven, Rachmaninoff and More

Thursday, August 06, 2020

WQXR takes you to Carnegie Hall once again with a series of re-broadcasts during the summer, every Thursday from July 9 through October 1, 9pm

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Re-Play: Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Live from Carnegie Hall

Thursday, July 23, 2020

WQXR takes you to Carnegie Hall once again with a series of re-broadcasts during the summer, every Thursday from July 9 through October 1, 9pm

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RE-PLAY: Carnegie Hall's Opening Night 2019 with the Cleveland Orchestra in Beethoven, Strauss, and Nicolai

Thursday, July 09, 2020

WQXR takes you to Carnegie Hall once again with a series of re-broadcasts during the summer, every Thursday from July 9 through October 1

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Remembering WNYC's Own Richard Hake

Monday, April 27, 2020

A tribute to the beloved late host of WNYC's Morning Edition, Richard Hake.

CANCELLED: The Philadelphia Orchestra Performs Beethoven Live From Carnegie Hall

Friday, March 13, 2020

Due to the COVID19 virus, this concert has been cancelled, and Carnegie Hall will be closed from March 13 through May 10. For more information, please visit Carnegie Hall's website.

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Performing on Clara Schumann's Own Piano: Four Minutes With Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason

Friday, September 13, 2019

WQXR's Jeff Spurgeon spoke with pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason about performing Clara Schumann on her bicentennial.
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Comments [1]