Today's Classical Sunrise at WETA Classical is the finale of Florence Price's innovative String Quartet #2 (comp. 1935) at 7:25am. Plus, the opening movements of two youthful and inventive piano concertos: Rachmaninoff's First at 7:29am and Clara Wieck's at 8:35am. Bring coffee and join us! 🎵☕

A cup of hot tea -- it's National Hot Tea Month -- is perfect this cold Friday morning in DC. WETA Classical has 18th century trumpet for Classical Sunrise 7:25am, traditional Irish tunes performed by guitar combo 7:17am and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue 9:00am. Join us.🌄

Here is a photograph of Robert Schumann circa 1850, just a few years before his death, always pondering, always deep in thoughts of music.

Here is a photograph of Robert Schumann circa 1850, just a few years before his death, always pondering, always deep in thoughts of music.

Today (Jan 13) is Public Radio Broadcasting Day! Thank you for your support to WETA Classical. 🙏

Good morning! A few highlights this morning on WETA Classical include two violin/piano combos: a cheerful one by 19th century violinist Emile Sauret for Classical Sunrise at 7:27am, and a passionate one by American Arthur Foote at 8:13am. Plus, Mozart and Florence Price. Join us.

Wishing everyone a healthy new year filled with peace. Thanks for supporting WETA Classical. Continuing our Classical Countdown Rewind today through 7pm (a surprise #1 this year!). And it's the start of National Hot Tea Month, so welcome these cold winter morns. 🙏☮️

Today (NY Eve) and tomorrow (NY Day), WETA Classical rewinds Classical Countdown, music selected by you, from #100 to #1 (a nice surprise this year!). And we waltz into the new year with a tribute to Waltz King Johann Strauss, Jr., 11pm-Midnight tonight, hosted by James Jacobs.🍾

International Cello Day today celebrates the rich sonorities of this beautiful instrument and commemorates the birthday of the renowned cellist, Pablo Casals (b. 1876). Enjoy it in chamber and orchestral music today on WETA Classical.

Birthday today of Ludwig van Beethoven (b. 1770), innovator, pioneer, fierce, forging his own path, triumph over deafness. His music featured each hour this morning on WETA Classical.

Downright cold this AM in Washington, DC. But it's International Tea Day! Legend says tea was first discovered over 4,000 years ago in China when tree leaves blew into a pot of boiling water over a fire. The rest is history. Baroque Classical Sunrise 7:23am @WETAClassical🌤️

The elegant waltz from Tchaikovsky's great opera, Eugene Onegin, welcomes the sun for Classical Sunrise this morning 7:16am @WETAClassical. Other highlights: a symphonic poem by Liszt at 7:54am, Mozart flute quartet 8:02am and Schumann's Cello Concerto 9:19am. Enjoy!

Highlights this morning on WETA Classical include the graceful 3rd movement of Dvorak's Symphony #8 for Classical Sunrise at 7:10am; Emanuel Ax plays Chopin's dramatic 2nd Scherzo at 8:01am; and woodwinds on display all morning. Stay warm and join us.

WETA Classical's annual Classical Countdown starts this morning, counting down the top 100 Classical music pieces as selected by listeners. Sporadic countdowns through Wednesday and all day Thanksgiving, with the #1 piece Thanksgiving night -it's not always Beethoven's 9th!

Cellist Amid Peled provides Classical Sunrise this morning 6:58am @WETAClassical with Baroque music of Couperin. Also on the bill: Telemann's Baroque flute quartet at 7:58am and chamber music of Mendelssohn and Dvorak during 8am hour. Thanks for starting your day with us. 🙏

It's Apple Cider Day, a nice accompaniment to music @WETAClassical this morning, including Classical Sunrise at 6:54am, a harp concerto by Handel 7:14am, Rimsky-Korsakov's ode to Spain 7:22am, Mozart flute concerto 8:18am and JS Bach mandolin concerto 8:46am. Enjoy!

A fine list of musician birthdays today (Nov 14): Leopold Mozart (1719), Johann Nepomuk Humel (1778) and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805). And Aaron Copland (1900), whose Buckaroo Holiday we'll hear 9:48am @WETAClassical. Bring coffee and join us.

Highlights this Veteran's Day @WETAClassical include Chopin for Classical Sunrise 6:47am, a charming violin concerto by Haydn 7:00am and an 18th century viola concerto 7:36am, plus Scriabin's late-Romantic piano concerto 9:17am (contemporary of Rachmaninoff). And you, I hope.

A large, bright, low moon in DC skies this morning, not yet the full supermoon scheduled for Tuesday-Wednesday, but beautiful! Then the sun rises 6:38am with a cello sonata for Classical Sunrise on WETA Classical. Plus Scriabin and Bruch during 8:00am hour. Enjoy with us.

Spotlight on piano this morning @WETAClassical! Litolff's delightful confection, Concerto symphonique, at 7:47am; Brahms 1st Piano Concerto at 8:20am; Beethoven Piano Sonata #28 at 8:49am and Liszt's 2nd Piano Concerto at 9:18am. Plus Tchaikovsky does Classical Sunrise 7:31am!

National Chocolate Day today! The history of chocolate dates to when cacao tree was domesticated in Mexico, more than 5,000 years ago. Enjoy it with delicious Classical music this morning on WETA Classical, including a piano caprice for Classical Sunrise 7:31am.

Baroque instruments on tap this morning @WETAClassical! Classical Sunrise greets the sun at 7:24AM with viola da gamba, violone (like a double bass) and 2 oboes. Plus, Baroque solo lute at 8:43am and solo guitar at 8:57am. Bring a beverage and join us.

A clarinet trio welcomes this morning's (Oct. 15) sun for Classical Sunrise at 7:17am @WETAClassical. Plus, the opening movement of Beethoven's masterful Kreutzer violin sonata at 8:01am and Chausson's piece for piano, violin & string quartet at 8:28am. You're always invited.

Giuseppe Verdi incorporated ballet segments within his great opera, Otello, for the Paris stage, featured today 7:54am @WETAClassical in honor of his birthday (b. 1813, Italy). And a birthday nod to pianist Evgeny Kissen (b. 1971, Moscow) -- he plays Schubert at 8:39am.

Happy birthday to Camille Saint-Saëns (b. 1835, Paris), brilliant pianist, organist, composer, avid traveler, student of astronomy and archaeology. Hear his Third Piano Concerto 9:18am today @WETAClassical.

Highlights this morning @WETAClassical include a violin & piano concerto of Mozart at 6:50am, incomplete at his death but reconstructed in the 20th century; Classical Sunrise spotlighting horns at 7:11am; and Chopin's variations on a Polish song, for piano & orchestra, 8:16am. 🎵

It's interesting to see and hear the progress of Johannes Brahms during his career. Today's Classical Sunrise 7:09am @WETAClassical is the graceful 3rd movement of his Symphony #2, composed when he looked like this, before he cultivated his famous beard and avuncular style.

I second John Banther's post below -- thank you to all who contributed to WETA Classical's Fall Pledge Drive to keep us strong and always available. 🙏

Three reasons to celebrate today: 1st Day of October, International Coffee Day and International Music Day. And WETA Classical greets the sun with Classical Sunrise at 7:04am. Four reasons.

National Coffee Day today! The history of coffee is traced to 15th century Yemen, and thanks to the Boston Tea Party in 1773 and Britain's tax on tea to the colonies, Americans might have not traded tea for coffee. It's also National Biscotti Day . . . Join us at WETAClassical.

Significant musician birthdays today (Sept 25): composer Jean-Philippe Rameau (b. 1683), composer Dmitri Shostakovich (b. 1906), conductor Sir Colin Davis (b. 1927) and pianist Glenn Gould (b. 1932).

Chamber music showpieces this morning @WETAClassical! Beethoven flute duo 6:44am, Brahms piano quartet 7:16am, Gatti's serenade for oboe, bassoon, two horns and string quintet 7:54am, Mendelssohn Piano Trio 8:43am and von Dohnanyi's Piano Quintet (liked by Brahms) 9:24am. You're invited.

Classical Sunrise on WETA Classical greets the sun with a Baroque oboe/harpsichord/cello combo at 6:49am. Plus, George Gershwin's 1932 Cuban Overture at 7:16am, Rachmaninoff himself playing his own transcription of a Bach violin partita at 8:17am, and a Brahms piano rhapsody at 9:53am.

Musician birthdays of note today (Sept. 16) from opposite spectrums: 12th century German Benedictine nun and composer Hildegard von Bingen (b. 1098) and Nadia Boulanger, acclaimed French composer and teacher of major 20th century composers (b. 1887).

Peter Warlock's 1926 Sword Dance based on Renaissance dance greets this morning's sun for Classical Sunrise, 6:47am on WETA Classical, plus the finale of Mozart's Piano Concerto #20, admired by Beethoven, at 7:33am. And Dvorak's lovely Song to the Moon, performed on cello, 9:53am. Join us.

Birthday of English Baroque composer Henry Purcell (b. 1659), heard this AM @WETAClassical. Plus, the finale of Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, based on Scottish themes, at 7:40am, and American composer Edward McDowell's virtuosic polonaise at 8:56am. You're always invited to start the day with us.

Birthday today of Antonín Dvořák (b. 1841), composer of rich, rhythmic, vibrant music, exemplified by his Carnival Overture, 8:05am today @WETAClassical.

Classical Sunrise 6:38 this morning @WETAClassical is an 18th century French string trio. Other highlights: Rodrigo's guitar concerto at 6:44am, inspired by the Spanish gardens of Aranjuez, and the glorious harpsichord solo in Bach's 5th Brandenburg Concerto at 7:20am. Join us.

Opera scholar and musician Saul Lilienstein gives us insights into Wagner's Die Walküre, the second opera in Wagner's Ring cycle, in this Classical Score blog with audio excerpts! And it's broadcast tomorrow (Aug 30) on WETA Classical 1pm ET. weta.org/fm/classical...

Join us for an array of chamber music this morning on WETA Classical: Brahms cello sonata (6:55am), Gatti Serenade for winds, horns and string quartet by Luigi Gatti (7:11am), Schumann Piano Quintet (8:20am), Piano Trio by Niels Gade (8:49am) and a Baroque flute/lute combo (8:55am).

Writer & philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, born on this day 1749, influenced many composers: Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert, Berlioz, Gounod, Mahler, Wagner. And join WETA Classical today for Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto 6:33 am.

Leonard Bernstein birthday today (b. 1918), feted during 8am hour today on WETA Classical. Classical Sunrise at 6:31am is a guitar rendition of a Bach 2-part invention for keyboard. And music of Franz Xaver Mozart (Wolfgang's son) at 7:37am. Join us!

A Baroque flute/lute combo greets this morning's sun at 6:22am. Later, JS Bach's flute/harpsichord sonata at 8:05am and Vaughan Williams's ethereal depiction of a lark ascending at 9:36am. At WETA Classical, where you're always invited.

Highlights this morning (Aug. 12) on WETA Classical include Beethoven to greet the sun for Classical Sunrise 6:20am; Dvorak's poignant song, "Songs My Mother Taught Me", performed on cello 7:56am; and a Mozart Flute Quartet at 8:16am. Refresh on this August morning with us!

Greeting a nice August morn's sun with Classical Sunrise at 6:14am on WETA. Also, segments of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations for piano 6:46am; a confectionary Concerto Symphonique 8:47am; and the lovely Adagio for cello by Woldemar Bargiel (Clara Schumann's half-brother!)

In the ancient Islamic world, a Kalandar Prince was a wandering mystic living in poverty and relying on charity for sustenance. Rimsky-Korsakov's sensitive musical portrayal of the Kalandar Prince from Arabian Nights collection is featured 8:44am today on WETA Classical. Thanks for supporting WETA!

Highlights this morning @WETAClassical: 1st movement of Beethoven's earliest "grand" piano sonata 7:05am; Fauré's lovely Sicilienne for oboe d'amore 7:47am; Chabrier's ode to Spain 8:46am; and finale of Scriabin's (contemporary of Rachmaninoff) piano concerto 9:17am. Join us!

Liberté, égalité, fraternité! Bastille Day @WETAClassical this morning showcases les musiciens français during 8am hour. Allons enfants, bring a café au lait and croissant and join us.

Today's World Chocolate Day, honoring the 1st day it entered Europe in 1550, although earliest record of using cacao seeds dates from 1100 BC in Central America. Something to enjoy with wonderful Classical music this morning on WETA Classical. And early Classical Sunrise at 5:50am!

It's been suggested that Beethoven's "Ghost" Piano Trio is so-named because of the spooky mood of its slow movement or maybe it was intended as music for LvB's setting of an opera based on Shakespeare's Macbeth. Hear the entire trio today 9:05am on WETA Classical. And Renaissance dance at 8:26am.