Poster Yolanda Kondonassis
Yolanda Kondonassis
Ken Lax
Performance Today®

Yolanda Kondonassis and Friends

In today's show, harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, flutist Joshua Smith, and violist Cynthia Phelps sit down with host Fred Child for holiday music and conversation. Kondonassis has made a number of lovely arrangements for the trio, including Greensleeves and two arias by Johann Sebastian Bach. Plus, Andre Jolivet's gentle Christmas meditation, Pastorales de Noel.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Johann Christoph Pez: Two movements from Concerto Pastorale in F
Les Violons du Roy, Bernard Labadie, conductor

Traditional English (Arranged by Elizabeth Poston): The Boar's Head Carol
Chanticleer
Memorial Church, Stanford, California

Traditional Welsh: Wassail, Wassail throughout all this Town!
Danielle Svonavec, soprano, the Baltimore Consort
Wesley United Methodist Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Vladimir Heifetz: Fayer, Fayer!
Chicago a Cappella, Jonathan Miller, director
Wentz Concert Hall, Naperville, Illinois

Robert Cohen: Bagel-Shop Quartet
Chicago a Cappella, Jonathan Miller, director
Wentz Concert Hall, Naperville, Illinois

The Piano Puzzler: This week's contestant is Ellen Ciompi from Durham, North Carolina

Gioachino Rossini: Excerpts from the Fantastic Toyshop
The Texas Festival Orchestra, Ransom Wilson, conductor
Round Top Festival, Round Top, Texas

Michael Convertino and Loreena McKennitt: The Bells of Christmas
The West Edge String Quartet

Traditional (Arranged by Craig Phillips): Gabriel's Message and the Darkest Midnight in December
New York Polyphony
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, Minneapolis

Hour 2

Franz Liszt: Evening Bells, from Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas Tree), R. 71
Alfred Brendel, piano

Gaspar Fernandez: Xicochi
Seattle Pro Musica, the Madrigalia Chamber Singers, Karen P. Thomas, conductor
Town Hall, Seattle

Georg Philipp Telemann: Polonaise II, from Rostock Manuscript
Jan Rokyta, flute, the Holland Baroque Society
Witold Lutoslawski Concert Hall, Warsaw, Poland

Orlando di Lasso: Hodie Apparuit (This Day He Appeareth)
The Salt Lake Children's Choir, Ralph B. Woodward, director
Cathedral of the Madeleine, Salt Lake City

Peter Tchaikovsky: Waltz from the Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66
The French National Orchestra, Kurt Masur, conductor
Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Paris, France

Perfchat with Yolanda Kondonassis and Friends: Perfchat

Andre Jolivet: Pastorales de Noel
Yolanda Kondonassis, harp, Joshua Smith, flute, Cynthia Phelps, viola
Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio, St. Paul

Traditional (Arranged by Yolanda Kondonassis): Greensleeves
Yolanda Kondonassis, harp, Joshua Smith, flute, Cynthia Phelps, viola
Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio, St. Paul

Johann Sebastian Bach: Wachet auf (Sleepers Awake) and Sheep May Safely Graze
Joshua Smith, flute, Cynthia Phelps, viola
Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio, St. Paul

William Cornysh: Ave Maria Mater Dei
New York Polyphony
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, Minneapolis

Franz Schubert: Ave Maria, D. 839
Marc-Andre Hamelin, piano
92nd Street Y, New York City

Robert Parsons: Ave Maria
The Christ Church Cathedral Choir of Oxford, England, Stephen Darlington, director
Covenant Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, North Carolina

James Oswald: The Virgin's Bower
The Seicento String Band, Henry Lebedinsky, director
First Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, North Carolina

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