Joe Donahue

    This Friday at 10pm, The Albany Symphony’s American Music Festival will host R WE WHO R WE - an ongoing collaboration by composer-performers Ted Hearne and Philip White. A tribute and commentary to both classic and ephemeral artists of the pop landscape, R WE WHO R WE uses pop music like graffiti uses public space, exploiting the tension between theft and tribute.

Composer, conductor, and performer Ted Hearne joins us. He attended Manhattan School of Music and Yale School of Music, and has studied with Martin Bresnick, Aaron Jay Kernis, Ezra Laderman, David Lang, Nils Vigeland and Julia Wolfe.

    The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, named a National Historic Landmark in 1989, is in use over 100 days a year. Since it opened its doors in 1875, the Hall has hosted performances by numerous world-renowned artists, including Marion Anderson, Dizzy Gillespie, Pete Seeger, Ella Fitzgerald, Isaac Stern, Yo-Yo Ma, Vladimir Horowitz, Yehudi Menuhin, and Arthur Rubenstein, among many others.

Another regular tenant is the Albany Symphony Orchestra. The hall is known far and wide for the perfect acoustics of the second floor performing space. We welcome their Executive Director, JonElbaum.

    RPI has a strong program and deep history of music and arts education. In addition to being the home of EMPAC - where we sit today - their School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences provides an imaginative and distinctive approach to Rensselaer’s 200-year old founding mission "to apply science to the common purposes of life." Alan - RPI also has numerous music, dance, and arts clubs - including but not limited to - ballroom dance, street dance, choir, a cappella, improv comedy, sketch comedy, orchestra, pep band, graphic design and public speaking!

    The Dogs of Desire is the Albany Symphony Orchestra’s groundbreaking, eighteen-member, chamber ensemble. The ensemble performs all-new music from some of America’s most creative up-and-coming living composers. Since 1994, the Dogs have commissioned well over 100 new works from emerging American composers, gaining a national reputation among young composers as a proving ground for emerging talent.

    We begin our broadcast from the Albany Symphony's American Music Festival by speaking with David Alan Miller.

David Alan Miller has established a reputation as one of the leading American conductors of his generation. As Music Director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra -- a position he has held since 1992 -- he has proven himself a creative and compelling orchestra builder.

Through exploration of unusual repertoire, educational programming, community outreach and recording initiatives, he has reaffirmed the Albany Symphony’s reputation as the nation’s leading champion of American symphonic music and one of its most innovative orchestras.

    The Girls of Atomic City rescues a remarkable, forgotten chapter of American history from obscurity. Denise Kiernan captures the spirit of the times through these women: their pluck, their desire to contribute, and their enduring courage.

At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was home to 75,000 residents, consuming more electricity than New York City. But to most of the world, the town did not exist. Thousands of civilians--many of them young women from small towns across the South--were recruited to this secret city, enticed by solid wages and the promise of war-ending work. Kept very much in the dark, few would ever guess the true nature of the tasks they performed each day in the hulking factories in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains. That is, until the end of the war--when Oak Ridge's secret was revealed.

    Chet Walker has been the Director of Jacob's Pillow's Jazz/Musical Theatre Dance program for the past 14 seasons. The choreographer has worked on Broadway for 40 years - starting at the age of sixteen when he appeared in the first revival of On the Town. He was in the original Broadway production of Pippin and this year returns to that show as choreographer for the multi-nominated Diane Paulus directed revival - the show's first since its original run closed in 1977 (after 1,944 performances).

Today's panelists are WAMC’s Alan Chartock, WAMC's Ray Graf and University at Albany Journalism Professor and investigative reporter, Rosemary Armao.

Topics include:
President Obama's national security address
The IRS/tea party scandal
The Boy Scouts of America allow gay scouts, but not gay scout masters
Anthony Weiner comes back on the political scene

    Jim Breuer is one of the most recognizable comedians in the business, known for his charismatic stage antics, dead-on impressions and hilarious stand-up. In 1995 Breuer joined the cast of SNL, where< he quickly became a fan-favorite for his original character “Goat Boy” and his dead-on impressions of actor Joe Pesci.

Breuer will be at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, MA on Thursday June 6.

Hudson Chocolates are exceptional chocolates and confections crafted and designed by master chocolatier Francisco Migoya. Poughkeepsie, NY's newest chocolate shop opened its doors to the public on Saturday, March 23rd.

Master chocolatier, Francisco Migoya, was named one of the "Top Ten Pastry Chefs in America" by Dessert Professional Magazine in 2011 and theHuffington Post in 2013, Migoya also served as the executive pastry chef at Thomas Keller's Michelin three-star restaurant, The French Laundry, as well as Bouchon Bakery, and Bouchon Bistro.

He joins us to tell us more about this exciting confectionery adventure.