Media Alert

This is for all you Supreme Court classical music lovers out there.

Tomorrow, Monday (September 21), the wonderful classical music station in Chicago, WFMT, has a special guest for a few hours -- Associate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, basically playing DJ and then variety show host, spinning some disk and introducing acts.

No, really.

At 10 AM Chicago time (adjust your clocks accordingly, that's 8 AM in Los Angeles), Justice Ginsberg will be sitting in with host Lisa Flynn to play and talk about some of her favorite classical music.  And then an hour later, she will participate in a discussion and live performance of music concerning "Opera and the Law,"  As the station notes, it will include "operatic excerpts with legal scenes, personally selected by the Justice."

It turns out that Justice Ginsburg is a major opera fan, and her son James runs Cedille Records, which is a nonprofit classical music label based in Chicago.

You can hear the two broadcasts online by clicking here, and then clicking on "New!  Pop-Up Player.".

This is how WFMT describes it all on their website.

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Starting at 10:00 am, Justice Ginsburg will join WFMT’s midday program host Lisa Flynn live in the broadcast booth as a Guest Host, to share some of her favorite music with WFMT’s audiences, who can listen at 98.7WFMTor at wfmt.com.

Immediately following at 11:00 am, she and Ms. Flynn will join singers from The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago for a live broadcast from WFMT’s Fay and Daniel Levin Performance Studio.  Justice Ginsburg, a well-known opera aficionado, will discussOpera and the Law with Lisa Flynn, during which the singers will present operatic excerpts with legal scenes. Performers from the Ryan Opera Center will be mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen, tenors Alec Carlson and Jesse Donner, and bass Patrick Guetti, with piano accompaniment by music director Craig Terry.  Audiences will hear:

o   The “Seguidilla” scene from Bizet’s Carmen —Ms. Rosen and Mr. Donner as Carmen and Don José, performing a duet that is arguably opera’s most famous plea bargain.

o   “Abendlich” from Wagner’s Das Rheingold —The character of Wotan, on the importance of contracts (a recording).

o   “I Accept Their Verdict” from Britten’s Billy Budd — Mr. Donner as Captain Vere, on the difference between law and justice.

o   Patrick De Rocher’s aria from Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally — Ms. Rosen, on the death penalty.

o   “A Paradox” from Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance—Mr. Carlson, Ms. Rosen, and Mr. Guetti as Frederick, Ruth, and the Pirate King, on strict versus sensible construction.

The repertoire in the program was personally selected by Justice Ginsburg, who will also provide her own commentary.  Ms. Flynn will introduce each segment.

Following the broadcast, Justice Ginsburg will record a segment for wfmt.com in which she will reveal her top five favorite operas.  Brief clips from the broadcast will also be aired on WTTW’s nightly newsmagazine Chicago Tonight that evening.

“We are thrilled to welcome Justice Ginsburg to WFMT,” said Steve Robinson, General Manager of WFMT.  “To have someone of her stature who has such a passion for classical music on our air is a great honor, and we are delighted to partner with our friends at Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Ryan Opera Center for this very special event.”