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54-547: BYSO offers over 20 performances in some of Boston's venues including Boston Symphony Hall , Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory , Sanders Theatre at Harvard University and the Tsai Performance Center at Boston University . The orchestras and chamber ensembles rehearse every Sunday from September through June at Boston University College of Fine Arts , where BYSO has been in residence since it

108-411: A 4,800-pipe Aeolian-Skinner (Opus 1134) was designed by G. Donald Harrison , installed in 1949, and autographed by Albert Schweitzer . It replaced the hall's first organ, built in 1900 by George S. Hutchings of Boston, which was electrically keyed, with 62 ranks of nearly 4,000 pipes set in a chamber 12 feet (3.7 m) deep and 40 feet (12 m) high. The Hutchings organ had fallen out of fashion by

162-402: A compressed wool underlayment and hardened steel cut nails, hammered in by hand. The vertical grain fir subfloor from 1899 was in excellent shape and was left in place. The nails used in the new floor were hand cut using the same size and construction as the originals and the back channeling on the original maple top boards was replicated as well. Beethoven 's name is inscribed over the stage,

216-468: A new, permanent home for the orchestra. Symphony Hall can accommodate an audience of 2,625. The hall was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1999 and is a pending Boston Landmark . It was then noted that "Symphony Hall remains, acoustically, among the top three concert halls in the world (sharing this distinction with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Vienna's Musikvereinsaal ), and

270-613: A semi-staged opera every year in collaboration with professional singers from around the world. Performances take place at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre under the baton of Music Director Federico Cortese. Boston Symphony Hall Symphony Hall is a concert hall that is home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra , located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston , Massachusetts . BSO founder Henry Lee Higginson commissioned architectural firm McKim, Mead and White to create

324-642: A small string orchestra to a full symphonic ensemble made up of more than 108 members. Members receive group and individual coaching, which enables them to build solid, fundamental technical and musical skills. John Holland began his first season as the JRO conductor in 2012-2013. Under his leadership, JRO performs three times during the year at several venues throughout the Boston area, including Boston Symphony Hall, Boston University's Tsai Performance Center, Sanders Theatre at Harvard University, and at Arlington High School. From

378-469: A total of 4.3 million. If the WCRB programming did in fact reach half a million people, it would generate a rating of close to 12 per cent of the market. The most popular radio programs on Boston radio stations are heard in morning and afternoon drive on weekdays and do not reach as many listeners as WCRB claimed. These numbers predate the move to 99.5 MHz and the switch to a non-commercial format. As of 2012 ,

432-476: A tragic poet with the head of Euripides (Vatican); Diana of Versailles (Paris); On the left, starting near the stage: Resting Satyr ( Praxiteles , Rome); Wounded Amazon ( Polycleitus , Berlin); Hermes Logios (Paris); Lemnian Athena (Dresden, with head in Bologna); The Lateran Sophocles (Vatican); Standing Anacreon (Copenhagen); Aeschines (Naples); Apollo Belvedere (Rome). The Symphony Hall organ,

486-797: A youth orchestra. By studying this repertoire in a chamber orchestra setting, BYS members develop specific techniques of ensemble playing and musical phrasing to a degree they may not otherwise experience within the larger orchestra. The BYS also holds an annual concerto competition open to all of its members. BYS performs at venues including Boston Symphony Hall , Sanders Theatre at Harvard University , and Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory . BYSO has built an international presence with tours and performances in venues in Israel, Columbia, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Finland, Sweden, Italy, France, Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Ireland, Austria and Hungary. Because of

540-462: Is an ensemble of winds, brass, and percussion where students work on orchestral style music in preparation for BYSO’s full symphony orchestras. The Petit Ensemble is BYSO’s newest orchestra conducted by Marta Zurad, consisting of young string players, where they work on ensemble playing skills and musical interpretation. BYSO's opera program began in 2008 with a semi-staged production of Mozart's Così fan tutte . Since then, BYS has continued to put on

594-585: Is composed of 115 advanced players. The group performs a wide range of demanding orchestral repertoire and is led by Music Director, Federico Cortese , and Associate Conductor, Adrian Slywotzky. During the season, all members of BYS also participate in one of two chamber orchestras, BYS Sinfonietta or BYS Camerata, in which they explore music of the Classical period, including works by Haydn , Mozart , and Beethoven . BYS also annually performs full, semi-staged operas, which has been described as "almost unheard of" for

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648-721: Is considered the finest in the United States." Symphony Hall, located one block from Berklee College of Music to the north and one block from the New England Conservatory to the south, also serves as home to the Boston Pops as well as the site of many concerts of the Handel and Haydn Society . On June 12, 1899, ground was broken and construction began on Symphony Hall after the Orchestra's original home (the Old Boston Music Hall )

702-797: The COVID-19 pandemic , the BYSO conducted virtual rehearsals only for the 2020–2021 season, but returned to in-person ones for its annual residency in Maine in the summer of 2021 and its full season in Boston for the fall of 2021. Under the direction of conductor Mark Miller, the Repertory Orchestra is an advanced, full symphonic orchestra composed of 107 players of excellent technical and musical ability. Repertory Orchestra has performed in some of Boston's venues including Boston Symphony Hall, Sanders Theatre at Harvard University, Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory and

756-485: The Musikverein , stated that "for much music, it is even better... because of its slightly lower reverberation time." In 2006, due to years of wear and tear, the original concert stage floor was replaced at a cost of $ 250,000. In order to avoid any change to the sound of the hall, the new floor was built using same methods and materials as the original. These included tongue-in-groove, three-quarter inch, hard maple boards,

810-577: The RIAA LP record frequency-response curve, and create the NAB standard. Other technical innovations followed. Before the early days of FM stereo broadcasting, nobody had encountered the necessity of amplitude- and phase-matching two 15 kHz stereo leased lines. The telephone company called such a channel type "Program channel A". To them, as long as the frequency response and noise level matched their specifications, stereo simply meant that there would be two lines. It

864-460: The 1940s when lighter, clearer tones became preferred. E. Power Biggs , often a featured organist for the orchestra, lobbied hard for a thinner bass sound and accentuated treble. The 1949 Aeolian-Skinner reused and modified more than 60% of the existing Hutchings pipes and added 600 new pipes in a Positive division. The original diapason pipes, 32 feet (9.8 m) in length, were reportedly sawed into manageable pieces for disposal in 1948. In 2003,

918-455: The 1970s, 99.5 became WSSH (for Wish 99.5 ), which programmed a format of chiefly soft instrumental renditions of pop tunes with a few vocalists an hour, consisting of soft AC ( adult contemporary ) and standards cuts. In 1982, WSSH evolved to a soft AC format gradually eliminating the instrumental renditions, and became home to popular nighttime radio personality Delilah Rene before she became nationally syndicated. Ratings were very high through

972-440: The 1980s and WSSH often led other AC stations. By then, the station was separated from WLLH, but later gained a sister station on 1510 AM (now WMEX ). WSSH had high ratings and was often the top-rated adult contemporary radio station in the market throughout the 1980s. However, in the early 1990s, ratings went from excellent to mediocre; part of the reason was the perception that WSSH was still an elevator music station. By 1991,

1026-476: The 2023-2024 season, the position of JRO conductor has been passed on to Yonah Zur, an accomplished violinist with an international performance career. He has had solo appearances with prominent Israeli ensembles and collaborations with Boston-based groups like A Far Cry and the Boston Chamber Music Society. Currently a Teaching Assistant at Harvard’s Music Department and a long-time faculty member of

1080-451: The 89.7 HD2 simulcast. WJMF began carrying WCRB programming in September 2011, since the frequency change in 2006, Providence had been one of the largest markets without access to a full-time classical music station. Because of this expanded reach, the station rebranded from 99.5 All Classical (the branding used since the sale to WGBH) to Classical New England on October 3, 2011. By 2015,

1134-400: The BYSO first among all orchestras in the state for its quality, outreach programs, and fiscal and administrative management. BYSO has the largest operating budget (in 2010, $ 2,372,974) of any youth orchestra in the United States, nearly double that of most youth orchestras. Joe Grimaldi is the current President of BYSO Board of Directors. The Boston Youth Symphony, BYSO’s premier ensemble,

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1188-584: The Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, he has also taught at institutions like Juilliard and the Longy School. The Young People’s String Orchestra is conducted by Marta Zurad. YPSO has performed at such venues as Symphony Hall, Boston University’s Tsai Performance Center, Kresge Auditorium at MIT, and has been featured as part of WCRB 's Cartoon Festival. The Preparatory Winds, directed by Janet Underhill, beginning its first season in 2006-2007,

1242-595: The Boston area that cannot receive 99.5, and on two other stations: WJMF , in Smithfield, Rhode Island , serving nearby Providence and the second HD Radio channel of WCAI , in Woods Hole . WCRB began broadcasting on 1330 kHz in Waltham on January 30, 1948. In 1950, the station was sold entirely to Theodore Jones, who would own the station under the name of Charles River Broadcasting until his death in 1991. Jones set up

1296-420: The Boston market, in contrast to the company's other stations. These thoughts were confirmed on July 31, 2006, when Greater Media announced that it would sell the physical property of WKLB-FM and the intellectual property of WCRB to Nassau Broadcasting , thus saving the commercial classical format for the Boston area, albeit on a station with poorer coverage of Boston. At the same time, Greater Media announced that

1350-692: The Charles River Broadcast Trust had already sold off portions of the trust's property so that there was little physical property and real estate left. The AM transmitter site in Waltham was sold to a developer who built the Watermill Complex. This, and the sales of stations such as WCRQ in Providence, Rhode Island, marked the beginning of the gradual dissolution of the Theodore Jones trust. It

1404-403: The Charles River Broadcast Trust to guarantee that his establishment would continue in perpetuity. Around the time Jones acquired the station, WBMS , a daytime AM radio station that had played classical music, changed format. Jones decided to change WCRB's format from that of a typical suburban AM station of the era to full-time classical music. FM service at 102.5 MHz was added by 1954 upon

1458-481: The FCC approved stereo broadcasting, WCRB created a special "stereo" studio in downtown Boston, the first in the world. There was no dual channel (stereo) studio equipment at the time. Much of the equipment was handmade by the engineering staff. WCRB is noted for many other innovations. It was the first radio station to obtain a permanent waiver of the FCC rules requiring average modulation in excess of eighty-five percent. This

1512-558: The Internet ). They were also at the center of the development of modern multiplexed FM stereo technology and its approval by the FCC, in cooperation with FM receiver manufacturer H. H. Scott, Inc. WCRB was formerly carried on a separately-owned translator in Manchester, New Hampshire , W295BL (106.9); this ended after the translator was sold by Basic Holdings to Saga Communications in September 2019. In January 2020, W295BL began carrying

1566-519: The Tsai Performance Center at Boston University. During the season, all members participate in one of two chamber orchestras, Repertory Sinfonietta and Repertory Camerata, in which they explore music of the classical period, including great works by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Mark Miller conducts Repertory Sinfonietta and John Holland conducts Repertory Camerata. The Junior Repertory Orchestra, conducted by Yonah Zur, has grown steadily from

1620-518: The conductor when the organ and orchestra play together. WCRB WCRB (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Lowell, Massachusetts , which serves the Greater Boston area. It broadcasts classical music . The station's studios are located in Brighton , and its transmitter is located west of Andover . WCRB was a commercial station from the early 1950s to December 2009, when it

1674-549: The country format and intellectual property of WKLB would relocate to the prime signal of 102.5 MHz. WCRB's transition from 102.5 to 99.5 was completed on December 1, at noon local time. The first selection broadcast on the new frequency was the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah . It was announced on September 21, 2009, that the WGBH Educational Foundation would acquire WCRB from Nassau and convert

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1728-720: The development of composite-signal studio-transmitter links. In the early days of radio, stations had full-time engineers on duty. Therefore, the WCRB engineering staff also recorded live performances for the Boston Symphony Orchestra Transcription Trust. Although Charles River Broadcasting had acquired other radio stations, WCRB remained as the company's flagship station. In 1975, WCRB ended simulcasting of WCRB-FM, changing callsigns to WHET, and its format to big-band/adult standards. In 1978, Charles River Broadcasting sold off WHET (later renamed WRCA ), but retained WCRB, which became increasingly successful over

1782-459: The frequencies of WOAZ and WKLB in a move where the format and personalities of WOAZ moved to 96.9 (adopting the call sign WSJZ ), while WKLB moved to 99.5 and became Country 99.5 WKLB , where it stayed until December 1, 2006. Greater Media noted that the move was made because the 99.5 signal is stronger than that of 96.9 in Essex County , home to many country music listeners. The 99.5 frequency

1836-552: The live Boston Symphony Orchestra broadcasts and the station's other programming, a longtime claim by management. According to Arbitron , the Metropolitan Boston market contains 3.8 million individuals 12 years of age or older. An FM station of WCRB's power transmitting on 102.5 MHz could reach parts of Worcester, Massachusetts , Providence, Rhode Island ; and Southeastern New Hampshire. One could reasonably assume that such coverage adds one-half million individuals, for

1890-505: The lower back wall to the front of the stage. Stage walls slope inward to help focus the sound. With the exception of its wooden floors, the Hall is built of brick, steel, and plaster, with modest decoration. Side balconies are very shallow to avoid trapping or muffling sound, and the coffered ceiling and statue-filled niches along three sides help provide excellent acoustics to essentially every seat. Conductor Herbert von Karajan , in comparing it to

1944-587: The only musician's name that appears in the hall since the original directors could agree on no other name but his. The hall's leather seats are the originals installed in 1900. The hall seats 2,625 people during Symphony season and 2,371 during the Pops season, including 800 seats at tables on the main floor. Sixteen casts of notable Greek and Roman statues line the upper level of the hall's walls. Ten are of mythical subjects, and six of historical figures. All were produced by P. P. Caproni and Brother . The casts, as one faces

1998-464: The organ was thoroughly overhauled by Foley-Baker Inc., reusing its chassis and many pipes, but enclosing the Bombarde and adding to it the long-desired Principal (diapason) pipes, adding a new Solo division, and reworking its chamber for better sound projection. The original 1949 four-manual console was replaced with a low-profile three-manual console, to allow a better line of sight between the organist and

2052-580: The other on FM. WCRB was directly involved in the development of FM multiplex stereo. Station WCRB and H. H. Scott, then of Maynard, Massachusetts , developed prototype stereophonic equipment that was used to prove the General Electric multiplex method being evaluated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). H. H. Scott was an early stereophonic-receiver manufacturer and developed and built high-quality home stereo equipment. Once

2106-460: The purchase of the WHAV FM transmitter. FM brought WCRB's classical music to parts of the Boston area that did not get good reception of WCRB's directional AM signal, and improved the quality of the sound. In 1961, WCRB-FM became the first Boston-area station to broadcast in multiplex stereo; for a few years before that, WCRB had broadcast some of its programming in stereo by carrying one channel on AM,

2160-465: The stage are: On the right, starting near the stage: Faun carrying the boy Bacchus (Roman copy of an original from the Hellenistic Period. Naples); Apollo Citharoedus (Roman artist. Excavated from Cassius' Villa near Tivoli in 1774. Vatican); Young Woman of (Excavated from Herculaneum in 1711. Dresden); Dancing Faun (Rome); Demosthenes (Rome); Seated Anacreon (Copenhagen); Statue of

2214-476: The station enjoyed a 2.0 share, which added up to 252,400 listeners. WCRB engineers worked with Bell Telephone to develop frequency and phase matching technology for using pairs of 15 kHz leased lines throughout the country to carry stereo signals for studio to transmitter links and improved geographical coverage of broadcast signals (leased-line technology has since been replaced by microwave links , satellite feeds , and high-quality transmission using

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2268-639: The station modified its format to mainstream AC by adding current product and some up-tempo AC tunes. WSSH became the third place radio station, following WMJX and WVBF (now known as WROR, which subsequently became a sister station to 99.5). On December 13, 1995, the owner of WSSH, Granum Communications, changed the format to smooth jazz as WOAZ ( 99.5 The Oasis ), mirroring Granum's KOAI in Dallas . Then, in 1997, Granum sold WOAZ and WBOS to Greater Media , which already owned WMJX, WKLB-FM and WROR (the former WVBF). On August 22 of that year, Greater Media swapped

2322-482: The station to non-commercial operation, complementing sister station WGBH . The sale was completed on December 1, 2009. Since assuming control of WCRB, WGBH has sought to expand the reach of the station, particularly to areas that had been served by the station prior to the frequency shift in 2006, WCRB's programming was added to WNCK, which formerly simulcast WGBH, concurrent with the sale's completion, and April 8, 2010, W242AA also switched from carrying WGBH to WCRB, via

2376-502: The station was branded as "Classical Radio Boston, 99.5 WCRB". In 2020, the station announced it would rebrand as "CRB Classical 99.5", as part of a wider rebranding of WGBH and its stations to remove the letter "W". The 99.5 FM broadcast license began broadcasting October 6, 1948, as WLLH-FM, the FM counterpart to WLLH , programming a full-service format to the Merrimack Valley . During

2430-593: The time of its opening, the hall is often cited as one of the best sounding classical concert venues in the world. The hall is modeled on the second Gewandhaus concert hall in Leipzig , which was later destroyed in World War II . The Hall is relatively long, narrow, and high, in a rectangular "shoebox" shape like Amsterdam 's Concertgebouw and Vienna 's Musikverein . It is 18.6 metres (61 ft) high, 22.9 metres (75 ft) wide, and 38.1 metres (125 ft) long from

2484-437: The years as a 24/7 classical music station. WCRB was under a long-term commitment by Charles River Broadcasting Trust, established by Theodore Jones, to continue to air classical music in perpetuity, and it carried no non-classical music programs. However, the decision to interpret the commitment as a request rather than a demand resulted in the announced sale of the station to Greater Media on December 19, 2005. The trustees of

2538-501: Was acquired by the WGBH Educational Foundation . Since then, the station has relied on the listener-supported method of funding, which dominates public radio stations in the United States: minor government funding is supplemented by tax-deductible gifts from individuals and by payments that corporations and other groups make. WCRB programming is simulcast on the second HD Radio channel of WGBH , allowing WCRB to reach some portions of

2592-595: Was established in 1958. The College of Fine Arts is a major sponsor of BYSO. BYSO receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts , the premier federal arts funding agency in the United States, as well as numerous private and public funding sources. In 2007, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the state’s agency for arts, humanities and sciences, announced continued support for the BYSO; it ranked

2646-410: Was just a matter of labeling them! Not so. WCRB engineering worked with AT&T to generate a specification involving matching both the phase and frequency response. This became the standard of the industry. Eventually, as stereo caught on across the country, these methods and specifications were used to install stereophonic leased lines to transmitters across the country, until they were made obsolete by

2700-478: Was necessary to preserve the dynamic range of the concert music broadcasts. The station also obtained a permanent waiver of the FCC rule that required a station identification announcement every thirty minutes. This meant that a live concert performance no longer had to be interrupted for station identification. The WCRB engineering staff worked with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to codify

2754-475: Was of the Star Spangled Banner as performed by country band Ricochet. The first song played by WKLB at 102.5 was " Life Is A Highway " by Rascal Flatts . The last air personality on 99.5, and consequently the first live voice on 102.5, was longtime midday host Carolyn Kruse. A redesigned website was launched immediately after the frequency change. WCRB claimed to have about 500,000 listeners who tune into

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2808-523: Was spun off to Nassau Broadcasting Partners as a consequence of a deal where Greater Media acquired WCRB's current frequency, with 102.5 adopting the WKLB format and call sign. Nassau also acquired WCRB's call letters and programming. Nassau already owned WBACH , a network of four classical-formatted stations in Maine affiliated with WCRB's World Classical Network . The two stations switched frequencies at noon on December 1, 2006. The last broadcast by WKLB on 99.5

2862-498: Was threatened by road-building and subway construction. The building was completed 17 months later at a cost of $ 771,000. The hall was inaugurated on October 15, 1900, Architects McKim, Mead and White engaged Wallace Clement Sabine , a young assistant professor of physics at Harvard University , as their acoustical consultant, and Symphony Hall became one of the first auditoria designed in accordance with scientifically derived acoustical principles. Admired for its lively acoustics from

2916-606: Was upon the death of Richard L. Kaye, an early manager, minority stockholder, and trusted associate of Jones, that the Charles River Trust would no longer maintain the commitments made by its founder. Greater Media already owned five FM stations in the Boston market—the maximum allowed by the FCC and one of Greater Media's Boston stations would have to be sold before the company could acquire WCRB. Speculation arose that Greater Media would sell off 99.5 WKLB-FM , as its Andover transmitter location provided poor overall coverage of

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