[Swprograms] Opera program farewell, all Bach all the time, Voice of Peace 'net radio, Judy Collins holiday musical tour

[Joel Rubin <jmrubin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Note - the internet radio station has the same name in Hebrew (Kol
Hashalom) as Abbie Nathan's old station. When I tried the live stream
it was speaking in Arabic which I can't understand so I didn't listen
very long.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/264384p-226392c.html

Fat lady sings
for opera show

Radio

By DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tomorrow night at 10 on WQXR (96.3 FM), George Jellinek will start his
weekly program "The Vocal Scene" with some of the great farewell songs
of the opera.

Then at the end of the program, he'll add his own.

After 36 years on WQXR and just past his 80th birthday, Jellinek has
decided it's time to draw the curtain.

He will do periodic specials for the station, but he's ending "The
Vocal Scene," which since 1968 has spotlighted classical music vocals,
primarily opera.

"To say I've enjoyed doing the show is an understatement," he says. "I
have loved doing this show. If I were younger, I wouldn't dream of
giving it up."

His show has worked an interesting niche in the classical music world,
where, as he points out, much of the focus is on symphonies and
chorales. He's pleased he has helped showcase another part of the
field.

"I had a letter 16 years ago from a retired teacher, who said, 'I've
figured out what makes you tick. You're a teacher masquerading as an
entertainer.'

"That summed up exactly what I've tried to do."

The classical music world is not without clouds today, however, and
timeless as the music has proven, Jellinek expresses concern about its
future reach.

"I'm apprehensive, of course I am," he says, citing declines in
recordings, radio airtime and classical music education for young
people.

As a life-long collector, he finds the drop in recordings most
distressing.

"There has been a sharp and steady decline," he says. "It's all the
mergers in the music business. They have cut back and cut back until
finally they have destroyed the industry."

On the radio, New York still has WQXR, part of WNYC and some college
stations. But on the whole, classical music has been disappearing on
radio, too, and Jellinek ties that to the declining number of young
listeners who know it.

"People must be exposed to it when they are young," he says. "If some
parents can't do it, schools should. But they don't.

"I don't mean you teach classical music to the exclusion of other
forms. They can coexist. When I was young, my friends and I enjoyed
popular music - Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman - and still developed an
appreciation for classical music.

"Today you don't find that. Young people perceive a gap between
popular and classical styles that is too wide to bridge."

He doesn't think classical music will disappear.

But if we don't find a way across that bridge, he says, "Future
generations will miss out on untold beauty and pleasure."

Like what George Jellinek has provided for the past 36 years.

AROUND THE DIAL: WKCR (89.9 FM) starts its annual Bach Festival at
9:30 this morning, continuing to midnight Dec. 31.... The problems of
immigrants are one of the topics today on "City Watch" with Deena
Kolbert and Bill DiFazio on WBAI (99.5 FM), 10 a.m.... Judy Collins'
"Holiday Music Tour" airs tonight at 9 on WFUV (90.7 FM).... Internet
radio listeners: Trywww.allforpeace.org, which broadcasts from East
Jerusalem and is unique in that half its hosts are Israeli Jews and
the other half are Palestinians.

Originally published on December 22, 20


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