Voice of the Arts WQED Multimedia

Pittsburgh born artist Elise Adibi remembers her father Dr. Siamak Adibi who died May 10th, 2020. Dr Adibi and his wife Joan have been constant supporters of WQED-FM, The Pittsburgh Symphony, Pittsburgh Opera and Chatham Baroque. Elsie mentions in the interview that her father was listening to the sation right up until his last moment on earth.
Dr. Adibi left Iran to study at Johns Hopkins and settled in Pittsburgh in 1966 after practicing in Boston taking the post of chief of gastroenterology and clinical nutrition at Montefiore Hospital and teaching at the Pitt School of Medicine. Dr Adibi wrote two books and was invited back to Iran several times. Elise talks about her work as an artist living in LosAngeles during the pandemic. Dr. Adibi’s funeral will be live streamed on Saturday May 30 at 10am.

Yvonne Hudson spoke with WQED-FM's Anna Singer about "Cocktails and Cuisine," an online event for Crisis Center North.  The event is Friday May 15th, 2020 at 6pm.
 
 

The Robert Page Music Director of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh talks from his home in St Paul Minnesota about the Mendelssohn  Fan Faves contest , the thoughts shared with other choral directors about when we’ll get back to singing, the Mendelssohn plans for next fall, what he’s up to in Minnesota during the pandemic and the hits of choral music.

The new Artistic Director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theater taking over for Terrence Orr next season Susan Jaffe is a superstar of the dance world. She danced and served as ballet mistress of the American Ballet Theater in New York. Most recently she has been Dean of the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston Salem where she worked with John Mauceri.  She is looking at a place in O’Hara Township to settle in to life in Pittsburgh, thinking about a new Nutcracker, mulling over plans for upcoming seasons, working in the online world until the pandemic has calmed down, loves classical music, is thinking about a pet to add to her home life, and explains why she wanted to be a dancer in this conversation with Jim Cunningham.  

Artistic Director and General Manager James Gourlay updates us on the River City Brass band, the plan for the future, his social distancing, observations on the world wide music shut down, and a remembrance of friends who spent time in London during the blitz of WWII. They said at least they knew when the bombs were coming - now we’re never sure what’s next!  But every missed Pittsburgh Pirate game he is entering as a win being a season ticket holder!

Pianist Frederic Chiu joined the CMU Music Faculty last fall.  Now he’s sheltering in place in Westport, Connecticut where he and his wife run Beechwood Arts and Innovation. On April 15th, Frederic joined his Chicago Symphony violinist brother, Cornelius Chiu, to give the world premiere of "Bitter Cold Night" by Gao Ping - written in honor of Li Wen Liang. the Chinese physician who first reported the coronavirus in China but was then forced to retract his statement as a rumor and is now considered a martyr having died of the virus.