KBACH 89.5

🎻 Happy 241st birthday to Louis Spohr! Play the violin? You can thank him for the chin rest. Play in an orchestra? Spohr invented rehearsal letters – those cues that keep rehearsals from total chaos. Just love classical music? He wrote over 300 works to choose from. 😮‍💨

Happy heavenly 103rd birthday Elmer Bernstein! You don't have to be a Reel Music devotee to be familiar with Bernstein's work. He composed hundreds of film and TV scores, including the themes for "The Great Escape," "Ghostbusters, and "To Kill a Mockingbird!" 🎥 🎶

Happy birthday to Sir William Walton! 🎶 A self-taught prodigy, he became one of Britain’s most celebrated composers — known for “Crown Imperial,” his stirring film scores for Olivier’s “Hamlet” and “Henry V,” and music that still inspires. Here he is as a bronze bust!

Happy birthday to the King of Baroque, Johann Bach! But Bach was more than a musician. He was a coffee addict, an accidental brawler (he once got in a fight with a bassoonist), and father to 20 kids 👶👶 (yes, really). Tune in and celebrate Bach Around The Clock with us!

Happy 360th birthday to Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre! Raised in a family of musicians and instrument makers, she performed for Louis XIV at just five years old. Nearly two decades later, she became one of the first composers to publish a harpsichord work! 🎶🎹

Happy 150th birthday to Maurice Ravel! 🎶🥂 Though obsessed with perfection, he composed his most famous piece, Boléro, in just a few months. Ravel himself joked it had “no music, just orchestration.” What’s your favorite Ravel piece? Tune in today and you just might hear it!

Happy heavenly 215th birthday to Frederic Chopin! 🥳 The Polish composer began playing the piano as a young child, making public performances when he was eight, and receiving international recognition when he was 20! 🎶

Happy (sort of) birthday to Gioachino Rossini! 🎉 Born on Leap Day in 1792, the William Tell Overture composer liked to joke that he only had a birthday every four years. No wonder some called him "the eternally young composer!" 🎭🎶

It's George Frideric Handel big 340th today! 🎉 When Handel's father banned musical instruments from the home, Handel, who was still a young child, snuck a clavichord into the attic and played it when his parents were asleep! 🎶

William Grant Still was the first African American composer to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra AND the first Black composer to have an opera aired on national television. He composed nearly 200 works throughout his career. 🎶

🍷Today is National Drink Wine Day so buy your ticket to the First Press Fine Wine Festival and make March 1st your drink wine day! Enjoy an afternoon of gourmet foods, swingin' jazz, and wonderful wines all to benefit public radio. More at bit.ly/40ASX6z Cheers!

Happy Valentine's Day! We ❤️ you all! We're playing romantic music throughout the day, so be sure to "swoon" in! 💓 Learn more here: loom.ly/5it9X1g

Be part of an unforgettable wine-tasting journey to benefit public radio. At the First Press Fine Wine Festival on March 1, you’ll sip exceptional wines like those from DaVines Vineyard. bit.ly/3WW6LWQ Tickets here:! bit.ly/40ASX6z #winetasting #classicalmusic

🎶 Born on Feb. 13, 1910, Elsa Barraine was a composer, pianist, and a key figure in French music. A student of Paul Dukas, she won the Prix de Rome and later worked with the French Resistance during WWII. Her bold compositions and activism left a lasting impact.

🎻 Born free in New Orleans in 1827, violinist and composer Edmond Dédé moved to France to escape racial barriers that limited his musical career. There, he trained at the Paris Conservatory and became a renowned conductor in Bordeaux. 🎶

Thank you to Arizona Stronghold Vineyards for being part of First Press Fine Wine Festival. On March 1, enjoy wines from the West to benefit your favorite public radio station. Buy tickets today: bit.ly/40ASX6z @azstronghold #winetasting #publicradio #classicalmusic

Thank you to Absolution Cellars for being part of the First Press Fine Wine Festival. On March 1, enjoy wines from the West all to benefit your favorite public radio station. Buy tickets today: bit.ly/40ASX6z @absolutioncellars #wine #publicradio #classicalmusic

💖 Charming, bold, and impossible to resist—meet Tonks, our February Cat! 💖 Rescued in a box, this little heart-stealer was destined to be featured on Valentine's Week. 😻✨

Born on a slave ship, Ignatius Sancho (c. 1729–1780) became a composer, writer, and abolitionist. He wrote elegant minuets and country dances, and in 1774, he became the second known British African to vote in the UK. His music endures as a testament to resilience and artistry.

Happy heavenly 116th birthday to Polish-Lithuanian composer and violinist, Grażyna Bacewicz! A student of France's acclaimed music teacher, Nadia Boulanger, Bacewicz was one of Poland's first female composers to achieve international fame!