Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Live from Boston

Live from Boston, Georgia Mann presents a musical postcard of the city, meets the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, plus live music from Marc-Andr茅 Hamelin and Christina Day Martinson.

The first of four special programmes across the US, as 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Live from Boston's WGBH studios, Georgia Mann presents a musical postcard of the East Coast city, including a conversation with one of the most celebrated cellists of all time, Yo-Yo Ma, a long-time resident of the Greater Boston area and former student at Harvard.

In a programme full of great music by US composers and musicians, there's live performance in the studio from much-loved Boston-based virtuoso pianist, Marc-Andr茅 Hamelin, joined by WGBH host and pianist Cathy Fuller, and from Christina Day Martinson, the Grammy-nominated violinist and concertmaster of Boston Baroque.

Georgia delves into Boston's rich cultural heritage, from the wonderful organ of Trinity Church - named one of the ten most beautiful buildings in the whole of the US - to its fabulous concert halls. She takes a walk round Seiji Ozawa Square to visit the world-famous Boston Symphony Orchestra, ahead of their concert performance of Barber's Pulitzer-prize winning opera Vanessa, meeting one of its cast of singers, the Boston-born Samantha Hankey. And she meets the President and CEO of the orchestra along the road at the New England Conservatory, Chad Smith, along with the conservatory's first female President, Andrea Kalyn. The first conservatory building in the US to be designated a National Historic Landmark, in its Jordan Hall, Georgia also eavesdrops on rehearsals for the celebrated period-instrument ensemble, the Handel and Haydn Society.

Plus a trip to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the world's great pioneering organisations for technology, science, and music. Composer and inventor Tod Machover guides Georgia through the very latest and potential future developments in music-tech research.

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Fri 9 Jan 2026 09:30
麻豆社 Radio 3

More episodes

Next

Live from Philadelphia

See all episodes from Radio 3's American Roadtrip

Music Played

  • George Gershwin

    Porgy and Bess: Introduction; Oh Lawd, I'm on My Way

    Choir: Morgan State University Choir. Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Marin Alsop. Singer: Lester Lynch.
    • Gershwin: Porgy & Bess (Highlights) [Live].
    • PENTATONE.
    • 122.

  • Gustav Holst

    Mars, the Bringer of War (The Planets)

    Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: William Steinberg.
    • Holst: The Planets / Ligeti: Lux aeterna.
    • DG.
    • 1.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Concerto grosso in A minor, Op 6 No 4

    Ensemble: Handel and Haydn Society. Conductor: Christopher Hogwood.

  • John Philip Sousa

    The Stars and Stripes Forever

    Orchestra: Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. Conductor: Keith Lockhart.

  • William Billings

    Let tyrants shake their iron rod

    Choir: His Majestie's Clerkes. Composer: Paul Hillier.

  • George Gershwin

    Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)

    Performer: Marc鈥怉ndr茅 Hamelin. Music Arranger: Earl Wild.

  • Robert Parsons

    Ave Maria

    Choir: Choir of Trinity Church, Boston. Conductor: Colin Lynch.
    • ACIS.

  • Marcel Dupr茅

    Prelude & Fugue in B major: Prelude

    Performer: Colin Lynch.

  • George Gershwin

    Stairway to Paradise (George White's Scandals)

    Performer: Richard Rodney Bennett.

  • Peter Tchaikovsky

    Piano Concerto No 1 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Arthur Rubinstein. Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Erich Leinsdorf.

  • Maurice Ravel

    Jeux d'eau

    Performer: Marc鈥怉ndr茅 Hamelin.

  • Mark O鈥機onnor

    Strings & Threads Suite: VI. Road to Appalachia

    Performer: Mark O鈥機onnor. Performer: Sharon Isbin.
    • Journey to the New World.
    • SONY.
    • 22.

  • Harold Arlen

    Over the Rainbow

    Performer: Yo鈥怸o Ma. Performer: Kathryn Stott.

  • Jean-Baptiste Br茅val

    Concertino No 3 in A major: 1st mvt (excerpt)

    Performer: Yo鈥怸o Ma. Performer: Yeou-Cheng Ma.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cello Suite No 1 in G major: Prelude

    Performer: Yo鈥怸o Ma.

  • William Bolcom

    Graceful Ghost

    Performer: Marc鈥怉ndr茅 Hamelin.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Cloud Capp'd Towers (Three Shakespeare Songs)

    Choir: Tenebrae. Performer: Nigel Short.
    • Signum Classics : SIGCD904.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 7.

  • Anton铆n Dvo艡谩k

    Humoresque in G flat major Op.101 no.7

    Music Arranger: Art Tatum. Performer: Art Tatum.
    • CLASSICS.

  • Harold Arlen

    Stormy Weather

    Singer: Sylvia McNair. Performer: Andr茅 Previn. Performer: David Finck.
    • PHILIPS.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Messiah: Hallelujah

    Ensemble: Boston Baroque. Conductor: Martin Pearlman.
    • Handel: Messiah, HWV 56.
    • TELARC.
    • 44.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Solo Partita No.2 in D minor: Sarabande

    Performer: Christina Day Martinson.

  • Margaret Ruthven Lang

    Revery

    Performer: Lucy Mauro.

  • Samuel Barber

    Must the winter come so soon? (Vanessa, Act I)

    Singer: Susan Graham. Orchestra: 麻豆社 Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leonard Slatkin.
    • Barber: Vanessa.
    • Chandos.
    • 104.

  • Franz Schubert

    Impromptu in G flat major, D 899 No 4

    Performer: Eric Lu.
    • WARNER.

  • Aaron Copland

    Appalachian Spring (Suite)

    Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Aaron Copland.
    • Copland: Apalachian Spring / The Tender Land / Billy the Kid.
    • RCA.
    • 1.

  • Amy Beach

    Ah, love but a day (Three Browning Songs)

    Performer: Malcolm Martineau. Singer: Kate Royal.
    • A Lesson in Love: Kate Royal/Malcolm Martineau.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 14.

  • Tod Machover

    Philadelphia Voices (excerpt)

    Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra. Choir: Westminster Symphonic Choir. Choir: Community Voices of Philadelphia. Conductor: Yannick N茅zet鈥怱茅guin.

  • Carlos Simon

    Wake Up! Concerto for Orchestra (conclusion)

    Orchestra: National Symphony Orchestra, Kennedy Center. Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda.
    • Carlos Simon: Four Symphonic Works.
    • National Symphony Orchestra.
    • 110.

  • George Gershwin

    Swanee (Capitol Revue)

    Performer: Richard Rodney Bennett.
    • Gershwin/Kern etc: That certain feeling: Richard Rodney Bennett.
    • CLASSICS FOR PLEASURE.

  • Richard Wagner

    Lohengrin (Act 3 Prelude)

    Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Christian Thielemann.
    • DG.

Broadcast

  • Fri 9 Jan 2026 09:30
    麻豆社 Radio 3