WRR101 Focus on the Arts: This young conductor got the call, and she delivered

November 25, 2025 by

WRR weekend host Brooke Scholl sits down with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s assistant conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg to unpack her remarkable, last-minute debut leading the Dallas Symphony Orchestra after Music Director Fabio Luisi had to pull out due to a family emergency. With only days to prepare, Shira stepped onto the Meyerson podium to conduct a vivid program spanning Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3, Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, and not one but two world premieres: Jonathan Cziner’s powerful new Clarinet Concerto, written for DSO principal clarinetist Gregory Raden, and Jasmine Guo’s evocative The Sound of Where I Came From.

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: Cellist Juliette Herlin’s debut album is out

November 20, 2025 by

Praised for her “impressive artistry” and “wonderful bowing technique” (San Francisco Classical Voice), French cellist Juliette Herlin has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, and South America. As a soloist, chamber musician, and recitalist, she has appeared in prestigious venues such as the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Musée du Louvre in Paris, as well as the Zhuhai and Chongqin Grand Theaters in China. Juliette is honored to have been named a Bärenreiter Jubilee Ambassador. Currently, she serves as Assistant Professor of Cello at Texas Christian University. In this podcast with WRR’s Brooke Scholl, Herlin discusses her debut album, Dialogue: Debussy & Schumann, which includes pianist Kevin Ahfat.

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: Dame Jane Glover on her Mahler 4 debut with the Fort Worth Symphony

November 13, 2025 by

Ahead of her debut as Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor, acclaimed British conductor Dame Jane Glover chatted with Amy Bishop about her lifelong dream of conducting Mahler’s 4th symphony. She also talks about her special friendship with Benjamin Britten (who was one of her earliest mentors), the joy of working with young aspiring conductors, and her delight in visiting Fort Worth’s museum district.

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: Bruce Wood Dance Dallas’ 16th season is ready to ‘Glow’

November 12, 2025 by

From music by Mozart, to Steve Reich, to Chet Baker, Bruce Wood Dance’s season opener should live up to its title: “Glow.” In this conversation with WRR’s Amy Bishop, BWD Artistic Director Joy Bollinger gives a sneak peek into the three groundbreaking contemporary dance pieces on the program.

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: A 40th anniversary milestone for Chamber Music International

November 11, 2025 by

Dallas-based Chamber Music International presents three all-star musicians– violinist Cho-Liang Lin, cellist Clive Greensmith, and pianist Jon Kimura Parker – for an evening of works by Brahms and Tchaikovsky In this podcast, WRR’s Amy Bishop chats with CMI’s Artistic Director Phil Lewis to get some insight into the pieces, and how these three musicians will bring them to life onstage. The conversation also takes a look at the remainder of CMI’s milestone 40th season.

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: SMU’s commitment to cultivating tomorrow’s composers, today

November 4, 2025 by

The Emerging Sounds concert, presented by Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, has been described as a vibrant representation of what SMU composition students have to offer. The program is entirely student-run and seeks to utilize novel instrumentations and connect those from diverse artistic backgrounds throughout Meadows. In this interview with SMU’s Kaitlin Kleinau, we learn more about this community-building event, which serves as a launching pad for the student composers’ careers.

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: Meet the DFW composer with a brand new piano concerto

October 22, 2025 by

Arsentiy Kharitonov, a composer and pianist based here in North Texas, has just had his impressive and dramatic Concerto for Piano and Orchestra recorded with the Kandinsky Symphony Orchestra and released by the Sound Atlas label. WRR’s Kurt Rongey spoke with Arsentiy about the genesis of the concerto, his musical development and how his studies and experiences here in Texas influenced his music-making.

Making Music from the Sounds of War

October 22, 2025 by

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, the country has been hit with more than 50,000 drone strikes. The constant threats of war have changed many things about life in Ukraine, including the way the night time sounds. We meet members of a youth orchestra outside Kyiv who are marking the new sounds… Read more »

Whale calls, frog croaks: A composer debuts Puerto Rico’s loss in Dallas

October 22, 2025 by

Whale calls. Glaciers melting. Frog croaks. These are sounds audiences might not expect in an orchestral concert hall but were featured in last week’s world premiere of Angélica Negrón’s For Everything You Keep Losing at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The piece explores the loss of sound due to climate change, especially in Negrón’s native Puerto… Read more »

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: Wilhelmina Smith’s new release featuring works by Indigenous composer/cellist Dawn Avery

October 20, 2025 by

Wilhelmina Smith is regarded as a cellist whose artistic mission embraces a conversation through music, one that enthusiastically encompasses the music of the present placed within the context of a living past. In this podcast with WRR’s Brooke Scholl, she talks about her new album, Sweetgrass, which features music by Indigenous composer/cellist Dawn Avery.

WRR101 Focus on the Arts: Guitarist Sharon Isbin and her latest release, ‘Romantico’

October 20, 2025 by

Hailed as the “Monet of the classical guitar” by Atlanta Journal, Sharon Isbin is a longtime fixture in the genre with multiple GRAMMY awards and an ever-growing list of accolades. WRR’s Brooke Scholl recently sat down with Isbin to talk about the artist’s latest release, Romantico, featuring world premiere recordings of joyous Latin dance-inspired music for guitar by Karen LeFrak.

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