Programs · Episode

Celebrating Michala Petri

Program: Biscuits & Bach
Aired: Sunday, July 7, 2019 @ 7:00 am
Hosted by Rachel Stewart

During the baroque era, the recorder enjoyed wide popularity. Most major composers wrote music for it including Bach, Telemann, Handel, and Vivaldi. But in the subsequent classical and romantic eras, composers seemed to lose interest, so much so that the recorder lost much of its prestige as an instrument. 

Perhaps no one has done more to revive interest in recent times than Danish recorder virtuoso Michala Petri. She began playing at age three, and caught the attention of the classical music world in her teens and twenties with her incredible talent. Not only has she renewed interest in the existing Baroque literature for recorder, but she has also commissioned and premiered new works. 

We'll celebrate her 61st birthday (born July 7, 1958) by featuring a few of the many baroque recordings she's made over the years that have helped audiences appreciate the incredibly intricate music that can be made by a seemingly simple instrument.

Playlist