Michael Kownacky
Program HostMichael is program host and host of the WWFM Sunday Opera, Sundays at 3 pm, and co-host of The Dress Circle, Sundays at 7 pm.
You can also hear Michael, along with his The Dress Circle co-host, on JazzOn2, every Wednesday evening from 7pm, eastern, for Strike Up the Band, a program celebrating the big bands and dance bands of jazz.
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This week's program features two English operas by one of Michael's favorite composers, Edward German. They are "Merrie England" which is a historical fantasy surrounding Elizabeth I of England, and the second is "Tom Jones" which is based on the novel by Henry Fielding.
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The composing team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans don't have name recognition, but their songs are known by many, and we'll sample 17 of them on from Broadway, Hollywood, and television on this week's program. You're sure to know songs like, the theme from "Mr. Ed" and "Dear Heart" even if you don't know their creators' names.
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Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt each only wrote one opera, and we're showcasing excellent recordings of each on this week's Sunday Opera. Schumann's "Genoveva" is based on the life of Genevieve of Brabant, and Liszt's "Don Sanche, ou Le chateau de l'amour" ("Don Sanche, or The Castle of Love") was reportedly written by Liszt when he was 13 and features Don Sanche's love for Elzire and how a wizard named Alidor who lives in the "Castle of Love" helps him win hers.
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We're looking at 100 years of Broadway history on this week's Dress Circle as we look at some of the shows that opened in New York on this week's program. Our earliest show is "Step this Way" from 1916, and our most recent opening is the last musical to open in May, 2016's "Paramour" by Circque du Soliel.
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This week's Opera is Berlioz's "Benvenuto Cellini" which has a mostly fictitious libretto even though Berlioz wanted to base it on Cellini's memoirs. The recording comes from the Metropolitan Opera's 2003 production featuring Marcello Giordano in the title Role.
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This program features Sinatra singing songs from eleven of the films with which he was associated and even includes a song from his short stint in "Carousel."
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This week's opera is Meyerbeer's 1856 Work that looks at Peter the Great as he tries to win Catherine for his wife and includes all sorts of trials that are overcome for a happy ending.
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This week's program is a little bit of calendar arts (and crafts) featuring songs about the sun and moon so that you can "build" your own eclipse!
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This week's program features a complete recording of Kalman's operetta "The Duchess of Chicago" and highlights of "Countess Maritza" to celebrate the wonderful work of this often forgotten composer.
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Since it's been raining far too much in real life, we thought it only fair that it rain a bit on the radio, so we've programmed 14 songs about rain and raining from a variety of musicals.