America’s Music Festivals Returns January 2012

The dynamic free 26-week radio series brings live concert performances and audio features to the airwaves from music festivals throughout North America.

America’s Music Festivals launched this new radio series in 2011 with performances from mostly western festivals.

Now the series returns with 26 all-new programs that begin airing in January 2012.  From the sandy shores of Cape Cod to the sylvan lakesides of Michigan, from the Pacific beaches of California and Oregon to the wine country of Napa Valley, and from the historic grace of Savannah to the red rocks of Utah, the series is atmospheric and adventuresome.  This year’s host is the award-winning pianist, Orli Shaham.

The 2012 season includes the following festivals, in alphabetical order:

Amherst Early Music Festival
Bang on a Can Summer Festival
Brevard Music Festival
Canandaigua Lake Music Festival
Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival
Chamber Music Northwest
Chautauqua Music Festival
Eastern Music Festival
Festival Mozaic
Golandsky International Piano Festival
Grand Teton Music Festival
Indiana University Summer Music Festival
Interlochen Summer Arts Festival
La Jolla Music Society SummerFest
Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival
Marlboro Music Festival
Moab Music Festival
Music in the Vineyards
Norfolk Chamber Music Festival
Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival
Rockport Chamber Music Festival
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
Savannah Music Festival
Seattle Chamber Music Society
Virginia Arts Festival

The programs are exactly 1:58:30 with two one-minute breaks and two optional breaks. Audio will be available via ContentDepot, FTP download, or on CD by request, as well as online at www.americasmusicfestivals.org.

If your station is renewing carriage for 2012, please drop Marty Ronish an email at mronish@flash.net.  If you are carrying the programs for the first time, please fill out this online form. For more information, contact Marty Ronish at mronish@flash.net or Michelle Scharlock at michelle.scharlock@gmail.com.

About Host Orli Shaham

A consummate musician recognized for her grace and vitality, Orli Shaham has established an impressive international reputation as one of today’s most gifted pianists. Ms. Shaham is hailed by critics on four continents for her prodigious skills and is admired for her interpretations of both standard and modern repertoire. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently praised her “wit, passion, delicacy and humor”, and London’s Guardian has called Ms. Shaham’s playing “perfection.”

Orli Shaham’s performance schedule brings her to major venues and recording studios around the world. Ms. Shaham releases three recordings in 2011: Hebrew Melodies with her brother, the violinist Gil Shaham, Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals with the pianist Jon Kimura Parker and the San Diego Symphony, and chamber music including the Brahms Horn Trio featuring Richard King. Orli and Gil Shaham have collaborated on several other recordings including Dvorák for Two, The Prokofiev Album and Mozart in Paris.

Driven by a passion to bring classical music to new audiences, Orli Shaham maintains an active parallel career as a respected broadcaster, music writer and lecturer. Inspired by her enthusiasm for introducing young children to the pleasures of music, she created Baby Got Bach, a series of interactive classical concerts for young children. She has taught music literature at Columbia University, and contributed articles to Piano Today, Symphony, and Playbill magazines. Ms. Shaham has also served as artist in residence on National Public Radio’s Performance Today.

In addition to her musical education, Orli Shaham holds a degree in history from Columbia University. Ms. Shaham lives in New York and St. Louis with her husband, conductor David Robertson, stepsons Peter and Jonathan, and pre-school twins Nathan and Alex.

About Executive Producer Marty Ronish

Marty Ronish is an independent radio producer. She produces the national broadcasts for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (52 weeks a year, airing in 404 markets).  From 2004-2007 she was Editor of the Music Unit at National Public Radio.  Before that she spent twelve years on-air, and 3 years producing arts features for KUNM in Albuquerque.  From 2000-2005 she produced Boombox Classroom, a series of music education programs for kids, supported by the NEA.

Marty has interviewed thousands of artists for radio, including many of the artists who will be featured on this series.

Trained as an educator and musicologist, Marty is co-author with Donald Burrows of A Catalogue of Handel’s Musical Autographs (Oxford University Press, 1994). The book won the Music Library Association’s Book of the Year Award.  Ronish was a Fulbright Scholar in England and received her Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Maryland.

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Michelle Scharlock
Sweet Bird Classics
T: (425) 956-4966
michelle.scharlock@gmail.com
www.americasmusicfestivals.org

Marty Ronish, Executive Producer
Sweet Bird Classics
T: (425) 743-7481
mronish@flash.net
www.americasmusicfestivals.org