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.

Some highlights this AM on WETA Classical include a Baroque lute/flute duo at 7:12am; orchestral segments of operas Der Rosenkavalier and Das Rheingold starting at 8:30am; and Robert Schumann's exuberant Piano Quintet at 9:05am. You're always invited.

Happy birthday to Grammy Award-winning conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, born 1958 in Helsinki, Finland. Former music director of LA Phil and Philharmonia Orchestra in London, recently concluded his directorship of the San Francisco Symphony. 🎂🎈

Renaissance/Baroque composer Giovanni Gabrielli used two lofts in San Marco Basilica in Venice to place choirs of instruments to create a stereo effect for his Canzons for brass and strings from 1615. Hear one 6:55am this morning on WETA Classical. Plus, Chopin Piano Trio 8:18am. Chill with us.

Two musician birthdays of note today, June 18: Ignaz Pleyel (b. 1757), Austrian composer and piano builder, and Sir Paul McCartney (b. 1942), English singer and songwriter and former 🐞. Happy birthday to all.

A trio sonata by influential Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli is tomorrow (June 17)'s Classical Sunrise at 5:42am on WETA Classical, followed by a lovely piano tone poem about aspen trees composed by American George Chadwick. Early, yes, but I think worth it. Hope you'll join us.

Highlights on WETA Classical for this warm Washington DC morning include a mandolin performance of a JS Bach concerto 6:23am; Brahms cello sonata 8:29am; a Baroque lute & flute concerto 8:55am; and Vaughn Williams's Lark Ascending 9:35am. Hope you'll spend some time with us.

Viola da gamba, a member of the viol family, was widely used during Renaissance and Baroque eras; a fretted, stringed instrument held between the legs but slightly different from the cello. Hear it this morning in a work from the 18th century at 7:47am on WETA Classical.

Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, a sober story of an obsession with gambling, the supernatural and a powerful secret that leads to madness. This season's finale of live Metropolitan Opera broadcasts -- recorded operas to follow until next Met season starts December 2025. Today 1pm WETA Classical.

Major birthdays on this June 6 include writer Alexander Pushkin (1799), whose work inspired great opera like Eugene Onegin; Nobel Prize-winning author Thomas Mann (1875); conductor Klaus Tennstedt (1926); and tennis great Björn Borg (1956). 🎂🎉

Of Robert Schumann, renowned pianist Martha Argerich said she's drawn to his honesty, spontaneity and touching soul. In honor of her 84th birthday today, her performance of the finale of Schumann's Piano Concerto at 7:29am on WETA Classical. ¡Feliz cumpleaños!🎂🎹

We follow the sun at WETA Classical each weekday morning to determine the time of the Classical Sunrise feature. A wise philosopher once said "The sunrise holds many secrets" so greet it with us. Tomorrow (June 4) it's a 20th century piano quintet for Classical Sunrise at 5:44am.

Chamber music you may enjoy this morning on WETA Classical includes Brahms Piano Quintet (1960 performance with Leon Fleisher) at 6:36am; Mozart piano/violin/cello trio at 8:05am; Fauré Piano Trio 8:35am. And Beethoven cello music for early Classical Sunrise at 5:46am. Join us!

For International Tea Day today, to honor this beloved international beverage, WETA Classical offers Itzhak Perlman performing the finale of Brahms's Violin Concerto 6:47am; a lute concerto of Vivaldi 8:24am; Saint-Saens's charming Gavotte 8:55am; and Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnole 9:05am.