In Concert wins Silver Medal for Best Classical Format

It’s a thrill to announce that In Concert has won a Silver Medal for “Best Classical Format” at this year’s New York Festivals Radio Awards. I’m lucky to work with an outstanding team at CBC Music and I’m so proud of our team and our little radio show.

You can hear In Concert live here every Sunday, but to hear a sample of In Concert anytime, visit this page at the New York Festivals website and click on the play button on the silver medal image. Below you’ll find a little background about the show and the stuff we think about when we put it together.

Classical music can be a little bit like baseball, or science – endlessly fascinating to hard-core devotees, but opaque and unapproachable to the uninitiated. On top of that, classical music has been carrying around a bad whiff of elitism for decades and decades, pushing people away instead of inviting them in.

Which is a shame – because that’s not what classical music is really about. Classical music can be a balm for the soul: it can embrace you, help you make sense of the world, put you in touch with some of the most profound human emotions. It can be meditative, it can be thrilling; it can make you cry, or make your heart soar.

On In Concert, I try to make you feel right at home in the world of classical music. I like to focus on the incredible stories that have been a part of classical music history, while also reflecting on the purpose of music in human society. Particularly now, the show grapples weekly with the complexities of life during a pandemic – helping you remember how important art and music are in helping us get through the toughest of times.

In addition, we work hard every week to disrupt the dominant classical music narrative of the past hundred years – shining the spotlight on women composers of the past and the present, and introducing you to the amazing music and untold life stories of unfairly neglected composers on the In Concert Revival Hour. On the In Concert Revelation Hour, a sister segment, I introduce you to a richly deserving composer of our times.

And yet – as the title suggests – the show is also about live concert recordings – featuring the world’s finest orchestras in concert, along with intimate recitals featuring Canada’s finest chamber musicians.

You can hear In Concert online at CBC Listen every Sunday from 11 am – 3 pm in five Canadian time zones. Join us!

In Concert wins Silver Medal

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *