Classical 95.9-FM WCRI

The LaGrua Center in Stonington, CT, is the subject of this week's program with Dan Brandl, Executive Director. We talk about what has been happening at the Center, the upcoming events this season, and the Music Matters series that continues to run. For more information, you can go to www.lagruacenter.org
 

In this episode of This Old Tree, with Doug Still...Sa Melabrina is a Downy Oak tree the size of a small church, draped in moss and ferns. Her ancient arms spread wide in the surrounding forest near Illorai, Sardinia. She's the oldest and largest of her kind in all of Europe. And she's been standing here in these mountains for nine centuries.
What she symbolizes is even greater than her beauty.
The town’s mayor organized a remarkable conference drawing scientists, conservationists, and community leaders from across Sardinia and beyond, all united around a single idea: that Sardinia's ancient trees, its oldest living landmarks, could form a network worth protecting, visiting, and fighting for.
There is something else at stake. Sardinia's small towns are quietly shrinking. Depopulation is hollowing out villages that have survived for millennia. Saving these old trees is vital, but Sardinia's leaders ask a new type of question:
Can Sa Melabrina and Sardinia’s monumental trees save its small towns?

This week, Joe is featuring Cornetist Jim Cullum from his 1993 Stomp Off Records recording, titled “Shootin’ The Agate.” 

The Narragansett Bay Symphony Community Orchestra is the subject of this week's program with Thomas Kociela, Guest Conductor, and President Greg Henninger. We talk about their upcoming concert and listen to some of the music that will be presented on June 7th at 3 PM at the E. Providence H. S. Auditorium. For more information, you can call (401) 274-4578 or go to www.nabsco.org

This week on Jazz After Dinner, Joe features Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks, and Annie Ross from their 1989 Columbia Records recording, titled “Everybody’s Boppin’”.
 

This week, Joe is featuring Pianist Marian McPartland from her 1998 Concord Records recording, titled “Just Friends.”

Theatre By The Sea's opening production of the 2026 season, Little Shop of Horrors, is the subject of this week's program with Bob Richard, director, and Diane Laurenson, choreographer. We talk about the musical and listen to some of the show's very popular songs, which run from May 28th to June 20th. For more information, you can call (401) 782-8587 or go to www.theatrebythesea.com
 

The RI Civic Choral and Orchestra is the subject of this week's program with Dr. Joshua Rohde, Music Director. We talk about their upcoming concert and listen to some of the music that will be presented on Sunday, May 31st, at Temple Beth El in Providence at 3 PM. For more information, you can call 401-521-5670 or go to www.ricco.org

Join us as Ocean House owner and award-winning author Deborah Goodrich Royce has a conversation with New York Times Bestselling author Belle Burden about her new book, Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage.
Author Bio:
Belle Burden is an attorney specializing in juvenile immigration cases. Her work has appeared in The New York Times. Belle attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard College and received her JD from New York University School of Law. She lives in New York City with her three children. 
Follow Belle on Instagram @belleburden 
Book Summary:
In March 2020, Belle Burden was safe and secure with her family at their house on Martha’s Vineyard, navigating the early days of the pandemic together—building fires in the late afternoons, drinking whisky sours, making roast chicken. Then, with no warning or explanation, her husband of twenty years announced that he was leaving her. Overnight, her caring, steady partner became a man she hardly recognized. He exited his life with her like an actor shrugging off a costume.In Strangers, Burden revisits her marriage, searching for clues that her husband was not who she always thought he was. As she examines her relationship through a new lens, she reckons with her own family history and the lessons she intuited about how a woman is expected to behave in the face of betrayal. Through it all, she is transformed. The discreet, compliant woman she once was—someone nicknamed “Belle the Good”—gives way to someone braver, someone determined to use her voice.With unflinching honesty and profound grace, Burden charts a path through heartbreak to show the power of a woman who refuses to give up on love. Strangers is a stunning, deeply moving, compulsively readable memoir heralding the arrival of a thrilling new literary talent.
 
For more information about Belle Burden, belleburden.com, and for more on Deborah Goodrich Royce and her new release, Best Boy, along with information about the Ocean House Author Series, visit deborahgoodrichroyce.com

This week, Joe is featuring Pianist Bill Evans and Vocalist Monica Zetterlund, recorded in February 1975, “Pennywhistle Music.”

Music On The Hill is the subject of this week's program with Emily Atkinson, Executive Director of the festival. We talk about their upcoming concerts and listen to some of the music from the programs being presented from May 29th to June 14th. For more information, you can call 401-738-5632 or go to www.musiconthehillri.org

In this week's WCRI's Kids Hour, your host Jamie listens to music celebrating our caregivers, moms, grandmothers, Aunts, Neenas, Nanas, and more. You'll hear music from The Land Before Time along with other beloved classics!

This week, Joe is featuring Saxophonist Chris Potter and Pianist Kenny Werner from their 1996 Concord Records recording, titled “Concord Duo Series, Vol. 10."

The R.I. Philharmonic Orchestra is the subject of this week's program with Music Director Ruth Reinhardt. We talk about their upcoming concerts and listen to some of the music being presented at their Annual Gala Celebration on Saturday, May 30th, at 5 PM at the Vets in Providence. For more information, you can call 401-248-7000 or go to www.riphil.org

This week, Joe is featuring Trumpeter Art Farmer from his 1989 Contemporary Records recording, titled “Ph.D.”

Theatre By The Sea's announcement of the 2026 season is the subject of this week's program with Karen Kessler, General Manager, and Vinnie Lupino, Box Office Manager. We talk about this summer's musicals and listen to some of the very popular songs from Little Shop of Horrors, Grease, Titanic, and the World Premiere of You’ve Still Got A Friend. For more information, you can call (401) 782-8587 or go to www.theatrebythesea.com

Join us as the New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice has a conversation with nationally bestselling and award-winning author Deborah Goodrich Royce about her new book, Best Boy.
Author Bio:
Deborah Goodrich Royce’s Reef Road, a national bestseller, was named one of the best books of 2023 by Kirkus Reviews and an Indie Next pick by the ABA. Her Ocean House Author Series—in partnership with Martin House Books and WCRI—brings world-class authors like Sarah Ferguson, Chris Bohjalian, and Katie Couric to Watch Hill. With fellow authors, Luanne Rice and Amy Scheibe, she created the Deer Mountain Writers’ Retreat in the Catskills.
Deborah writes the quarterly Hey Rhody reading recommendation column. She began as an actress on All My Children and in multiple films, before transitioning to the role of story editor at Miramax Films, developing Emma and early versions of Chicago and A Wrinkle in Time.
Deborah holds a bachelor’s degree and two honorary doctorates, from both Lake Erie College and the University of Rhode Island. With her husband, Chuck, Deborah restored the Avon Theatre, Ocean House Hotel, Deer Mountain Inn, United Theatre, Martin House Books, and numerous Main Street revitalization projects in Rhode Island and the Catskills. She serves on multiple governing and advisory boards. 
Book Summary:
A gripping psychological thriller, Best Boy teeters on the knife-edge of memory and identity when the arrival of a shocking letter threatens the carefully constructed life of a woman desperate to outrun her past.
Viveca Stevenson has it all: a handsome and successful husband, an adorable ten-year-old son, and a coastal dream house in Greenwich, Connecticut. She has a solid group of girlfriends and is content with the afterglow of the film career she’s left behind. But when a threatening letter arrives—from a man she does not remember—it cracks open a part of her past she thought was buried for good.
A terrifying chain of events is set in motion, forcing Viveca to confront what happened on a shattering Halloween night in high school when she had a different name, a different face, a different voice. Who is the man contacting her now and was he really the best boy on her most famous film, Misty? Why can’t she remember him—or that night?
A taut psychological thriller, Best Boy explores identity, memory, and the dangerous power of forgetting.
 
For more information about Deborah Goodrich Royce and her new release, Best Boy, along with information about the Ocean House Author Series, visit deborahgoodrichroyce.com

This week, Joe is featuring Pianist Enrico Pieranunzi from his 2005 CamJazz Records recording, titled “Special Encounter.” 
 

This week, Westminster Youth String Ensemble is the subject of the program, with Kathleen Curran Monroe, Director. We talk about the upcoming season and the Spring Concert on Sunday, May 3rd at 3 PM at the Westerly Armory in Westerly, and we listen to selections from past concerts. For more information, you can call 401-596-5225 or go to westminsterstrings.org
 

Join us as Ocean House owner and award-winning author Deborah Goodrich Royce has a conversation with her New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Marie Benedict about her recent book Daughter of Egypt.
About the Author:
MARIE BENEDICT is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Queens of Crime, The Mitford Affair, Her Hidden Genius, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, The Only Woman in the Room, Lady Clementine, Carnegie’s Maid, The Other Einstein, and with Victoria Christopher Murray, the Good Morning America Book Club pick The Personal Librarian and the Target Book of the Year The First Ladies. All have been translated into multiple languages, and many have been selected for the Barnes & Noble Book Club, Target Book Club, Costco Book Club, Indie Next List, and LibraryReads List. She lives in Pittsburgh with her family.
Book Summary:
In the 1920s, archeologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle made headlines around the world with the discovery of the treasure-filled tomb of the boy Pharaoh Tutankhamun. But behind it all stood Lady Evelyn Herbert—daughter of Lord Carnarvon—whose daring spirit and relentless curiosity made the momentous find possible. Though not a trained archaeologist, she nonetheless pursued her passion, determined to leave her mark on the field and be treated as an equal by her male colleagues.
Nearly 3,000 years earlier, another woman defied the expectations of her time: Hatshepsut, Egypt’s lost pharaoh. From her father Thutmose I, she learned how to lead and through her political savvy she rose to guide her kingdom to prosperity. By her side was her trusted adviser and secret lover, Senemut. Though he was a commoner and she royalty, together they formed a partnership that allowed a dynasty to flourish. Though Hatshepsut’s reign was bold and visionary it was also nearly erased from history. 
When Evelyn becomes obsessed with finding Hatshepsut’s secret tomb, she risks everything to uncover the truth about her reign. She must also confront the reality of the artifact trade—that despite regulations governing the removal of artifacts from Egypt, colonial antiquity collectors were selling them at alarming rates. Evelyn must rethink her assumptions as she resolves that valued artifacts must be kept in Egypt, their rightful home. But as danger closes in and political tensions rise, she must make an impossible choice: protect her father’s legacy—or forge her own.
Propelled by high adventure and deadly intrigue, Daughter of Egypt is the story of two ambitious women who lived centuries apart. Both were forced to hide who they were during their lifetimes, yet ultimately changed history forever.
 
For more information about Marie Benedict, visit authormariebenedict.com. For details on Deborah Goodrich Royce and her new release, Best Boy, along with information about the Ocean House Author Series, visit deborahgoodrichroyce.com