Celebrate

What did you do on your last birthday? Meet up with friends? Surprised by your loved ones? Pretend ala Jack Benny that you're 39?

Musicians love birthdays, and will often program music to honor a composer or another performer. You might remember back in 1985 the world celebrated Bach and Handel's 300th birthdays with their music, and back in 2006, the 250th birthday of Mozart featured lots of his music and new recordings.

Today is Igor Stravinsky's (right) birthday (born in 1882) and we'll hear one of his early ballet scores, The Firebird.







Next Monday, conductor James Levine (left) turns 65 years old. We'll celebrate with some of his performances as well as feature him on The Basic Library, Saturday evening at 5:30pm.

Also, Leroy Anderson (below right), composer of Sleigh Ride, the Syncopated Clock, the Typewriter, and other popular light classics, would have been 100 years old June 29th. Keep an eye out for some special features around this centary!