Composers Datebook™ is a daily two-minute program designed to inform, engage, and entertain listeners with timely information about composers of the past and present. Each program notes significant or intriguing musical events involving composers of the past and present, with appropriate and accessible music related to each.
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Nov 14, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis On today’s date in 1922, the British Broadcasting Corporation began daily radio transmissions from London, at first offering just news and weather — the latter read…
Nov 13, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis While for Puerto Ricans, the bomba and the plena are more familiar representatives of their proud dance tradition, the musical form known as danza holds a special place…
Nov 12, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis These days at symphony concerts, when a new piece of music is about to be played, it’s not uncommon to overhear someone mutter, “Why do they have to program this new…
Nov 11, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis In his autobiographical sketch, A Mingled Chime , British conductor Thomas Beecham offered this assessment of British composer Ethel Smyth: “Ethel Smyth is without…
Nov 10, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis Today’s date in 1928 marks the birthdate in 1928 of Italian composer Ennio Morricone, famous for more than 400 scores he wrote for films and TV. If you’re a fan, you…
Nov 9, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis On today’s date in 1967, the New York Philharmonic gave the premiere performance of a new piece, November Step s , by Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, a work…
Nov 8, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis On today’s date in 1830, 11-year-old piano virtuoso Clara Wieck took the stage of the Leipzig Gewandhaus for her first solo recital. Her father was a piano teacher, who…
Nov 7, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis The Nov. 7, 1950, issue of Look magazine included a record review of a new LP of music by avant-garde composer Edgard Varèse. “Varèse is unlike anything else in music,…
Nov 6, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis American composer Florence Price wrote three symphonies in all. Her Symphony No. 1 was premiered by the Chicago Symphony in 1933 and marked the first time a composition…
Nov 5, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis Into the Woods , a musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, opened on Broadway on today’s date in 1987, and brought to the stage characters from the world of fairy…
Nov 4, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis Today we honor one of America’s greatest patrons of chamber music, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, who died on this date in 1953. Born in 1864, Coolidge was the daughter of…
Nov 3, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis At Carnegie Hall on today’s date in 2002, the American Composers Orchestra presented new works inspired by the Hebrew Psalms. The program included the premiere of a new…
Nov 2, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis On today’s date in 1979, a new play by Peter Schaffer, Amadeus , opened at the National Theatre in London. Schaffer’s play tells the story of Mozart’s final years in…
Nov 1, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis In France, today is “la Fete de la Toussaint” — All Saints’ Day — observed as both a sacred and secular national holiday, a time to visit cemeteries and put flowers on…
Oct 31, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis Since today is Halloween, how about a tale from the crypt — with a composer’s skull or two tossed in for good measure! Music lovers have always had a “thing” about…
Oct 30, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis American opera composer Jake Heggie and his librettist Terrence McNally decided to follow their Dead Man Walking — a successful but harrowing opera about capital…
Oct 29, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis On today’s date in 1739, George Frideric Handel took out an advertisement, announcing that he was now accepting subscriptions for his new set of 12 Grand Concertos for…
Oct 28, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis In St. Petersburg on today’s date in 1893, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted the first performance of his latest symphony, his sixth. From the beginning, this symphony…
Oct 27, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis On today’s date in 1994, Dennis Russell Davies conducted the Chicago Symphony in the premiere performance of a 23-minute orchestral work by American composer Steven…
Oct 26, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis For composers of new operas, all too often, after the heady champagne of opening night comes the strong black coffee of “the morning after” — sipped anxiously while…
Oct 25, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis On today’s date in 1970, a new chamber work by American composer John Corigliano received its premiere performance at a concert given by the Chamber Music Society of…
Oct 24, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis On today’s date in 2002, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Leonard Slatkin conducted the National Symphony in the premiere of a new symphony by American…
Oct 23, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis On today’s date in 2008, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, soprano Dawn Upshaw and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra gave the first performance of a new song…
Oct 22, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis Royalty was often flattered by the composers of the Baroque age. Handel wrote glorious ceremonial music for British monarchs, and Bach was not above working up an…
Oct 21, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis American composer Marga Richter was born on today’s date in 1926, in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. She began piano lessons by 4, started composing at 12 and had her first work…
Oct 20, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis On today’s date in 1950, Karel Ančerl was named the artistic director of the Czech Philharmonic, a position he would hold for the next 18 years. He had first conducted…
Oct 19, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis Rugby is a style of football that originated in England at Rugby School and was played at British public boy’s schools during the 19th century. It’s also the name of a…
Oct 18, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis On today’s date in 1871, Hermann Levi conducted the premiere of a new choral work by Johannes Brahms: Schicksalslied , or Song of Destiny . It’s a setting of a poem by…
Oct 17, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis Today’s date in 1946 marks an important moment in Parisian theatrical history with the debut performance of a legendary acting company created by husband-and-wife actors…
Oct 16, 2026 · 2:00
Synopsis Of all the works of Richard Strauss, the one that premiered in Dresden on today’s date in 1925 ranks amount the least-known. For starters, it has an odd title, Parergon…
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