Jim Keeler, remembered as host of Philadelphia Orchestra radio broadcasts

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James W. Keeler, 82, of Suttons Bay, Michigan died Monday, April 13, 2009, at Tendercare of Leelanau. Keeler was born March 21, 1927, in Corning, N.Y., the only son of James and Helen (Doane) Keeler. As a young man, James served in the United States Army in Korea immediately after World War II. Keeler was a passionate classical music fan, and worked his entire life as a classical music radio broadcaster. He was a classical music announcer at Philadelphia's WHYY FM in the late 1950s. At WHYY FM, in 1961, he co hosted an afternoon news and features program called Kaleidoscope for ERN [Educational Radio Network] with Al Hulsen at WGBH FM in Boston. Later at WFLN AM and FM, Philadelphia Keeler was the station program manager...and later PD at WQRS, Detroit. His travels in radio broadcasting took him from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia to Boston, New York, Detroit and to Traverse City. Keeler, was the announcer on Philadelphia Orchestra radio concerts in the 1960s and 1970s. This series was heard in national syndication weekly. "From the historic Academy of Music in Philadelphia, this is James W. Keeler welcoming you to a broadcast concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra." He was program director for Philadelphia's WFLN Radio and the production credit on those broadcasts went to the "Magnetic Recorder Reproducer Corporation" a division of the classical station. Following many years at WQRS the Detroit classical station he retired to Traverse City, MI. James wrote reviews in the Record-Eagle for the Traverse Symphony Orchestra. He was also involved with the cities public radio station WNMC.

Anthony Tommasini writes about best composers

When he began to listen to the great works of classical music as a child, Anthony Tommasini had many questions. Why did a particular piece move him? How did the music work? Over time, he realized that his passion for this music was not enough. He needed to understand it. Take Bach, for starters. Who was he? How does one account for his music and its unshakeable hold on us today? As a critic, Tommasini has devoted particular attention to living composers and overlooked repertory. But, like all classical music lovers, the canon has remained central for him. In 2011, in his role as the Chief Classical Music Critic for the New York Times, he wrote a popular series in which he somewhat cheekily set out to determine the all-time top ten composers. Inviting input from readers, Tommasini wrestled with questions of greatness. Readers joined the exercise in droves. Some railed against classical music’s obsession with greatness but then raged when Mahler was left off the final list. This intellectual game reminded them why they loved music in the first place. Now in THE INDISPENSABLE COMPOSERS, Tommasini offers his own personal guide to the canon--and what greatness really means in classical music. What does it mean to be canonical now? Who gets to say? And do we have enough perspective on the 20th century to even begin assessing it? To make his case, Tommasini draws on elements of biography, the anxiety of influence, the composer's relationships with colleagues, and shifting attitudes toward a composer's work over time. Because he has spent his life contemplating these titans, Tommasini shares impressions from performances he has heard or given or moments when his own biography proves revealing. As he argues for his particular pantheon of indispensable composers, Anthony Tommasini provides a masterclass in what to listen for and how to understand what music does to us. When he began to listen to the great works of classical music as a child, Anthony Tommasini had many questions. Why did a particular piece move him? How did the music work? Over time, he realized that his passion for this music was not enough. He needed to understand it. Take Bach, for starters. Who was he? How does one account for his music and its unshakeable hold on us today? As a critic, Tommasini has devoted particular attention to living composers and overlooked repertory. But, like all classical music lovers, the canon has remained central for him. In 2011, in his role as the Chief Classical Music Critic for the New York Times, he wrote a popular series in which he somewhat cheekily set out to determine the all-time top ten composers. Inviting input from readers, Tommasini wrestled with questions of greatness. Readers joined the exercise in droves. Some railed against classical music’s obsession with greatness but then raged when Mahler was left off the final list. This intellectual game reminded them why they loved music in the first place. Now in THE INDISPENSABLE COMPOSERS, Tommasini offers his own personal guide to the canon--and what greatness really means in classical music. What does it mean to be canonical now? Who gets to say? And do we have enough perspective on the 20th century to even begin assessing it? To make his case, Tommasini draws on elements of biography, the anxiety of influence, the composer's relationships with colleagues, and shifting attitudes toward a composer's work over time. Because he has spent his life contemplating these titans, Tommasini shares impressions from performances he has heard or given or moments when his own biography proves revealing. As he argues for his particular pantheon of indispensable composers, Anthony Tommasini provides a masterclass in what to listen for and how to understand what music does to us.

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Minnesota Orchestra's conductor laureate, dies at 93

Stanisław Skrowaczewski (October 3, 1923 – February 21, 2017) was a Polish-American classical conductor and composer. Skrowaczewski was born in Lwów (then in Poland, now in Ukraine). As a child, he studied piano and violin; displaying talent on the piano at an early age, he made his public debut playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor. A hand injury ended his piano career. After World War II, Skrowaczewski graduated from the Academy of Music in Kraków (in the composition class of Roman Palester and conducting class of Walerian Bierdiajew) and soon, in 1946, became the music director of the Wrocław Philharmonic, then the Katowice Philharmonic, the Kraków Philharmonic and finally the Warsaw National Orchestra. He studied composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. In 1956 he won the Santa Cecilia Competition for Conductors. At the invitation of George Szell, Skrowaczewski conducted the Cleveland Orchestra. In 1960 he was appointed music director of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (later renamed the Minnesota Orchestra under his tenure in 1968), a position he held until 1979 when he became conductor laureate. In 1981 the American Composers Forum commissioned the Clarinet Concerto which Skrowaczewski wrote for Minnesota Orchestra principal clarinetist Joe Longo, who premiered it in 1981.WIKIPEDIA