Events

In one of music's most astonishing feats, Mozart wrote his final three symphonies in just six weeks during the summer of 1788. Why he wrote them, or whether he ever heard them performed, remains a mystery, but the final work in the trilogy remains one of the most iconic pieces ever written. Join Rob Kapilow […]

Emily Albrink & Ben Jones, vocalists. In this performance, Kapilow breaks down musical highlights from iconic shows like My Fair Lady, Camelot, and Brigadoon, enhancing listeners’ appreciation by revealing the brilliance behind timeless musical theater favorites.

Featuring Jonathan Crow, violin · Annalee Patipatanakoon, violin · Sharon Wei, viola · Roman Borys, cello · Dior String Quartet In What Makes It Great?®, composer, commentator, and author Rob Kapilow unlocks great music with insight, humour, and live musical examples. Explore the brilliance of Mendelssohn’s Octet as Kapilow reveals the invention and youthful genius […]

Host Rob Kapilow, Boston's A Far Cry chamber orchestra, and clarinetist Romie de Guise-Langlois—hailed as "extraordinary" by the New York Times—unlock the secrets of the most celebrated clarinet concerto ever written. Composed just weeks before Mozart's death at age 35, this luminous masterpiece helped establish the clarinet as a true solo voice in the orchestra. […]

Featuring Terra String Quartet Schubert’s gripping quartet is one of the most frequently performed and emotionally affecting works in the chamber music repertoire. Written during a period of illness, isolation, and despair, this haunting piece pushes the string quartet to extremes of drama and power as it moves between terror, resistance, and moments of eerie […]

Featuring Meagan Milatz, piano In What Makes It Great?, master communicator Rob Kapilow and brilliant Canadian pianist Meagan Milatz explore Beethoven’s electrifying Appassionata Sonata, revealing how the composer transforms simple musical ideas through bold and imaginative variations. Part of our Sunday afternoon MUSE (Music Unveiled, Stories, Explorations) series, this illuminating event readies listeners for Danny […]

Rob Kapilow, host and pianist Mia Drummond, vocalist Gabrielle Stravelli, vocalist Joshua Richman, piano Patrick Ti O’Leary, bass Rob Kapilow's delightfully illuminating What Makes It Great? programs are a masterclass in composer magic: a sudden spark, a fascinating touch, an unexpected swerve. In Anything But Standard, Kapilow demonstrates the unique power of interpretation. Alongside a […]

Across a 50-year career, Count Basie led one of the most important big bands of the 20th century. From the early days of 1930s Kansas City and Chicago Swing into later success in the 1980s, his sound evolved from spontaneous head arrangements, worked out by improvisation and memory, to the sophisticated charts of his later […]

Take a fresh look at two 1960s icons who made their indelible mark in just three brilliant years, beginning with their debuts at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. Quintessential voices of the countercultural zeitgeist, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix broke barriers and redefined what a performer could do, revolutionizing voice and guitar and paving the […]

Featuring Terra String Quartet Host Rob Kapilow takes you back to the heady days of early minimalism, when composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass were rejecting the abstract and often inaccessible music of the previous generation and reshaping the sound of the era. John Adams’s hugely successful 1978 piece Shaker Loops took minimalism in […]

Featuring the Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra Explore the music and extraordinary 50-year career of one of the most important big band leaders of the 20th century. Host Rob Kapilow takes you from his early days in 1930s Kansas City and Chicago at the height of the swing era to his later success into […]