News

WETA to be Castleton Festival Media Partner

CASTLETON FESTIVAL OPERA & ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCES TO BE BROADCAST ON CLASSICAL WETA 90.9 FM IN JULY

May 14, 2010 – The Castleton Festival and Washington-based classical music radio station Classical WETA 90.9 FM have announced that five performances from this year’s festival will be broadcast throughout July.  The Castleton Festival takes place at Castleton Farms in Rappahannock County, Virginia July 2-25.

Classical WETA will record the opening night performance of Puccini’s Il Trittico conducted by the festival’s Artistic Director, Lorin Maazel on Friday, July 2, to be broadcast as part of Classical WETA Opera House a week later on Saturday, July 10 at 1:00PM.  Performances of the Britten chamber operas The Turn of the Screw and The Beggar’s Opera will be broadcast as part of this series on Saturday, July 17 and Saturday, July 24 respectively.

In addition to the three opera broadcasts, two of the festival’s four orchestral concerts will also be broadcast in July as part of Front Row Washington on Classical WETA 90.0 FM.  The concert of Italian works taking place at the Castleton Festival on Saturday, July 3 will be broadcast on Monday, July 5 at 9:00PM and the concert of American works on Friday, July 16 will be recorded for broadcast on Monday, July 19 at 9:00PM. (Full program details and air dates follow.)  All programs will be streamed live on http://www.classicalweta.org. The festival finale on July 25 will also be recorded by Classical WETA for broadcast in 2011.

“This year’s Castleton Festival already expanded on the successful inaugural event of last year and this exciting partnership with Classical WETA means we can share the talents of the singers and musicians who take part in the festival to an even wider audience,” said Lorin Maazel. 

BROADCAST SCHEDULE:

Monday, July 5, 9:00 pm: Castleton Festival Orchestra, all-Italian Program
Saturday, July 10, 1:00 pm: Il Trittico
Saturday, July 17, 1:00 pm: Turn of the Screw
Monday, July 19, 9:00 pm: Castleton Festival Orchestra, all-American Program
Saturday, July 24, 1:00 pm: The Beggar's Opera