Attack of the Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg is coming to your TV!

What Makes It Great? with Rob Kapilow, a Boston favorite for years now, has made it to television. Our own  Rob Kapilow (well, it feels like he's our own, but we do share him with numerous other cities) is going to be on Live From Lincoln Center tomorrow evening explaining, explicating, dissecting, gesticulating, singing, conducting, and talking about. . . Arnold Schoenberg? Yes! Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht, or Transfigured Night, will be on the slab awaiting Doctor Kapilow and his assistants, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. You won't want to miss this crack team of musical surgeons as they reach inside the music of the great A.S.

Here's a nice description of WMIG? from Rob himself:

"During each 'What Makes it Great?' program we take a piece of great
music, tear it apart, and put it back together again. We rewrite it, sing it,
tap it, clap it; in short we do everything in our power to get inside to see
what makes it tick and what makes it great. Then on the second half of the
program we hear the piece performed in its entirety — hopefully with a new pair
of ears."

Visit this page to learn more about the show, and visit this page to find out when it is airing here in Boston (if you aren't in Boston look for a link on first page to find out your local schedule).

We have some What Makes It Great? with Rob Kapilow programs of our own
this season (by gum!). They're live, too, but the original meaning of "live" where you have to come to a theater to see and hear them (believe me, it's a richer experience). Rob Kapilow, tenor Michael Winther and soprano Sally
Wilfert will tear into The Songs of George Gershwin on Saturday, February 2 at NEC's Jordan Hall, and on Saturday, May 10, Rob and pianist Jeremy Denk will give Beethoven's "Waldstein" Sonata the treatment.