Prairie Performances with Roger Cooper

Roger Cooper looks at the acclaimed bass-baritone’s life and work, examining the events that led to Warfield’s success in the world of classical music--as a concert artist, stage and screen actor, narrator and teacher.

We'll have an old-fashioned band concert from the 2012 Allerton Music Barn Festival featuring Robert W. Rumbelow, conductor; Yvonne Redman, soprano; and Elliot Chasanov, trombone. They’ll perform Armed Forces Salute, along with John Philip Sousa’s University of Illinois March and The Stars and Stripes Forever.

I'll bring you the Jupiter Quartet's concert from the 2012 Allerton Music Barn Festival. On the program are Webern: Langsamer Satz; Ravel: String Quartet in F; and Schubert: String Quintet in C with cellist Dmitri Kouzov.

The waltz - disarming, irresistible, sensual, charming--swept out of Germany and conquered Europe in the mid-18th century. Host Roger Cooper presents an evening of Viennese specialties from the 2011 Allerton Music Barn Festival with the Allerton Salon Orchestra. Johann Strauss’ famous Blue Danube Waltz will be one of the highlights.

During the month of August, Roger Cooper encores last year’s Allerton Music Barn Concerts in anticipation of this year’s festival, which begins September 1. Tonight, it’s music of the cabaret with Nathan and Julie Gunn, U of I jazz faculty members, saxophonist Chip McNeil, bassist Larry Gray and drummer Dana Hall.