Great Performances, Now Hear This, Season 6
PBS Western Reserve (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Fridays, April 11-May 2 at 9 PM
Saturdays, April 12-May 3, at 2 AM
Fusion (WNEO 45.2 / WEAO 49.2):
Sundays, April 13-May 4, at 5 PM
Tuesdays,April 15-May 6, at 8 PM
Scott Yoo, conductor and artistic director of the Mexico City Philharmonic, returns with the sixth season of the critically acclaimed series NOW HEAR THISto examine the musical inspirations of Frédéric Chopin, Luigi Boccherini, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Agustín Barrios. All these composers are expats or exiles, their music shaped by nostalgia for a homeland they couldn’t return to, and new friendships, ideas and opportunities in new places. Their careers were marked by loss and longing, but ultimately renewal and redemption. Yoo visits Poland, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, France, Switzerland, Mexico and more to explore the the musical evolution of these artists and play the compositions that solidified their musical legacy.
Great Performances: Now Hear This “Chopin’s Polish Heart”
Premieres Friday, April 11 at 9 PM
Fleeing Russia’s invasion of Poland, Frédéric Chopin sought safety and inspiration in Paris, where he merged the music of his Polish homeland with ideas from French Romantic-era composers and artists. Host Scott Yoo explores these connections with world-renowned Canadian-Polish pianist Jan Lisiecki, through Chopin’s letters, his original musical manuscripts, and visits to Poland and the homes he shared in France and Mallorca with the writer Aurore Dupin, known by her pen name, George Sand.
Places visited: Paris, Nohant, France; Warsaw, Zelazowa Wola, Poland; Mallorca, Spain
Great Performances: Now Hear This “Boccherini: Night Music”
Premieres Friday, April 18 at 9 PM
Explore the music of the streets of Madrid as host Scott Yoo and four young musicians take an all-night walking tour of the city to learn how Luigi Boccherini’s iconic “Night Music of the Streets of Madrid” came to be. Boccherini was Europe’s greatest cellist, summoned to Spain from Italy by the crown prince. There, he invented the cello quintet, wrote hundreds of classical compositions and was inspired by the Spanish guitar, Spanish rhythms and the folk music of the city which inspired him to create a musical love letter to Madrid that became his most famous work. Blending history and the pulse of the streets, performances include flamenco, fandangos, African-Spanish fusion, street troubadours and more.
Places visited: Madrid, Boadilla de Monte, Sierra de Madrid, Spain
Great Performances: Now Hear This “Rachmaninoff Reborn”
Premieres Friday, April 25 at 9 PM
Sergei Rachmaninoff was a Russian aristocrat who lost everything in the Bolshevik revolution: his home, his family fortune, even his musical inspiration. Fleeing Russia with his wife and daughters, he landed in New York and reinvented himself as modern American artist. Host Scott Yoo explores Rachmaninoff’s American journey and the new technology that made it possible with Russian pianist Anna Polonsky and Ukrainian-American photographer Sonia Goydenko. He listens to, and recreates, some of Rachmaninoff’s original piano rolls and recordings and visits his ‘paradise in exile,’ the villa Rachmaninoff later built on Lake Lucerne to remind him of his childhood home, with Russian pianist Yevgeny Sudbin and his daughter Bella.
Places visited: Lake Lucerne, Switzerland; New York, Brooklyn, New York; New Jersey
Great Performances: Now Hear This “Barrios: Chopin of the Guitar”
Premieres Friday, May 2 at 9 PM
Agustín Barrios was born and raised in rural Paraguay, far from the world’s artistic capitals. Inspired by his native folk music, Spanish guitar composers and classical masters like Bach and Chopin, Barrios toured relentlessly through Latin America countries, writing innovative compositions that captured their sound, to become one of the most significant guitar composers of the 20th century. Host Scott Yoo traces his path from Paraguay through Uruguay with young French-Spanish guitarist Thibaut Garcia, fresh off the release of his new Barrios recording. In Brazil, he explores how Barrios absorbed the folk music of other countries with composer and guitarist Cyro Delvizio. In Mexico, he learns of Barrios’ troubled beginnings, mid-life crisis and ultimate career triumph from the worlds’ leading Barrios expert, Dr. Fred Sheppard.
Places visited: Rural Paraguay; Montevideo, Uruguay; Rio de Janeiro Brazil; Mexico City