Tucson song fest to hit the Chicago airwaves this month
Cathalena E. Burch - Arizona Daily Star
August 10, 2018
Tucson Desert Song Festival will star in two of the five programs Chicago classical behemoth WFMT is airing next week as part of its celebration of Leonard Bernstein's 100th birthday.
And excerpts and interviews of the festival will be sprinkled in the rest of the WFMT "Exploring Music" with Bill McGlaughlin Bernstein week series Aug. 20-24.
The series kicks off with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra's performance of Bernstein's "Kaddish" Symphony at 7 p.m. Aug. 20 on 90.5 FM KUAT. That show also includes an interview with Bernstein's daughter Jamie, who narrated the "Kaddish" and was the artist in residence for the song festival's "Bernstein At 100."
Over three weeks last January through early February, nine Tucson arts groups and the prestigious Ravinia Steans Music Institute of Chicago mounted 30 programs devoted to Bernstein. Highlights included the Marana High School choir performing Bernstein's Chichester Psalms; Arizona Opera mounting "Candide"; and Grammy nominated baritone Jubilant Sykes joining True Concord Voices & Orchestra for Bernstein's Mass.