WQXR on-air hosts participate in “Play Me, I’m Yours”
Leaving the cozy confines of their radio studios behind for the afternoon, Classical 105.9 WQXR hosts Jeff Spurgeon and Naomi Lewin will head out to make music with listeners as part of the street piano project “Play Me, I’m Yours.”
From 12:30-1.30pm on Thursday, June 24, Spurgeon and Lewin, the morning- and afternoon-drive WQXR hosts, will be stationed at the project’s Columbus Circle location (at Merchant’s Gate, the southwest entrance to Central Park), inviting listeners to come out and join them.
Although listeners and guests will be the real stars of the event, getting a chance to show off their own musical chops, WQXR hosts and staff are also rolling their sleeves up to do a turn. Naomi Lewin, a mezzo-soprano, plans to perform a song, and some of her colleagues are brushing up on their keyboard skills. Beyond the music-making, the WQXR hosts look forward to meeting with listeners and talking about the music they all love.
“We have the honor every day of providing our listeners with classical music to accompany their lives,” said Spurgeon. “Now, we are excited to join our listeners, who are just as passionate as we are, to make some music together.”
Touring internationally since 2008, artist Luke Jerrem’s artwork “Play Me, I’m Yours” opens in New York on June 21 at the Make Music New York festival and runs through July 5. Sixty upright pianos will be distributed – in public parks, streets, and plazas – throughout the five boroughs, for use by any member of the public. At the completion of the project, the pianos, which are furnished and distributed by “Sing for Hope,” will be donated to city schools and local community groups. For more information about the project, visit www.streetpianos.com/nyc2010/
WNYC Radio is New York’s premier public radio franchise, comprising WNYC FM, WNYC AM, and WQXR, as well as www.wnyc.org and www.wqxr.org. As America’s most listened-to AM/FM public radio stations, reaching more than one million listeners every week, WNYC extends New York City’s cultural riches to the entire country on-air and online, and presents the best national offerings from networks National Public Radio, Public Radio International, American Public Media, and the British Broadcasting Company. WNYC 93.9 FM broadcasts a wide range of daily news, talk, cultural and music programming, while WNYC AM 820 maintains a stronger focus on breaking news and international news reporting. Classical 105.9 WQXR is New York City’s sole 24-hour classical music station, presenting new and landmark classical recordings as well as live concerts from the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic, among other New York City venues, immersing listeners in the city’s rich musical life. In addition to its audio content, WNYC produces content for live, radio and web audiences from The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, the station’s street-level multipurpose, multiplatform broadcast studio and performance space. For more information about WNYC, visit www.wnyc.org.
Q2, available at www.wqxr.org/q2, is a music station dedicated to exploring contemporary composers and the modern classical music movement. Q2 offers not only recordings by some of the most passionate and plugged-in musical minds of today, but also notable live events from venues around New York, including WNYC’s newly-opened broadcast studio and performance venue, The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, and (L)e Poisson Rouge. Q2 may also be accessed through iTunes or on WQXR 105.9’s HD Channel 2.
For further information, please contact:
Jennifer Houlihan, WNYC/WQXR: [email protected], (646) 829-4497
Glenn Petry, 21C Media Group: [email protected], (212) 625-2038
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