Fishko Files from WNYC

Just over 60 years ago, a now-famous classical concert turned into a musical battleground - with very instructive results. WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells the story in this edition of Fishko Files. (Produced in 2006)

‘Reds,’ Warren Beatty’s improbable epic saga about the Leftist American journalist John Reed, was released 35 years ago, just as a generation of early 20th century activists was aging. Beatty’s film captured their stories and combined them with star-studded drama. As WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us, the film’s DVD release allows audiences to look into the film’s curious construction. (Produced in 2006)

With the academic year now in full swing, WNYC’s Sara Fishko talks to a seasoned pianist – now settling into a new university position, to share the music. Sara Davis Buechner comes home, in this edition of Fishko Files. For bonus tracks of Sara Davis Buechner performing Busoni and Mozart live in the WNYC studios, visit Fishko Files at our website, wnyc.org.

Earlier this month, a gathering of musicians paid tribute to the late record producer Orrin Keepnews, who formed close ties with jazz musicians starting in the late 1940s. Keepnews and Thelonious Monk had a special connection, as WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us in this Fishko Files. Sara Fishko appears live at Metrograph Cinema tomorrow night to introduce the new film from WNYC STUDIOS, “The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith.” For tickets and more information, visit metrograph.com or wnyc.org/jazzloftthemovie.

In the 1950s, Edward Steichen of the Museum of Modern Art wanted to say something about the world. He said it, as Sara Fishko tells us, with a photo exhibit that made history. In this edition of Fishko Files, a look back at "The Family of Man." (Produced in 2004) A celebrated Life Magazine photographer's massive archive is the subject of WNYC Studios' The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith, directed by Sara Fishko and released by FilmBuff. Opens Friday, September 23 at Metrograph Cinema in New York For tickets and more information, visit metrograph.com or wnyc.org/jazzloftthemovie/

In this archival edition of Fishko Files: insights into photographing jazz musicians from two late, great jazz photographers, Herman Leonard and Roy DeCarava, both interviewed by WNYC’s Sara Fishko toward the end of their lives. (Produced in 2008) Opening Friday, September 23 at Metrograph Cinema is a new documentary directed by Sara Fishko, The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith. A film about jazz, photography, New York - and the struggle to lead a creative life.  For more information, visit wnyc.org/jazzloftthemovie/.

A frustrated concert pianist is the subject of a new opera by David Lang. More from WNYC’s Sara Fishko – in this Fishko Files. The Loser premieres at the Next Wave Festival at BAM on Wednesday, September 7th and runs through Sunday, September September 11th.

A concert coming up in Williamsburg next week features the Chiara String Quartet playing by heart - that is, without the score. To memorize, or not to memorize? asks WNYC's Sara Fishko, in this edition of Fishko Files.

This month marks 35 years since the death of screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. As WNYC’s Sara Fishko tells us, the multiple-Oscar-winning Chayefsky fought to the death for every fierce and furious word he wrote. Here is the next Fishko Files. (Produced in 2006)

This Friday sees the release of a new movie starring Meryl Streep as soprano Florence Foster Jenkins. Long before American Idol and the Amateur Hour, Jenkins sang about as badly as anyone had ever sung in public - but people have been fascinated by her style and her story since her death in the 1940s. Sara Fishko asks: was she so bad she was good? Here is the next Fishko Files.

American composer William Bolcom's compositions are widely performed and recorded; he's written music of every type, comfortably mixing styles and genres. As WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us, Bolcom was, and is, a careful, passionate music-listener as well, and what he listens to tells us a lot about the history of music, both high and low. Here is the next Fishko Files. (Produced in 2006) William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience (William Blake) is available for purchase at Amazon.com

“Heart and Soul,” a 1930s song of modest melody and lilting rhythm, occupies a special place in the culture of piano-playing. Without its lyrics - with just its simple, jaunty tune - it’s become an iconic American tradition, especially at social gatherings. Why? WNYC’s Sara Fishko meditates on the mysteries of a popular tune. (Produced in 2006)

In honor of the ongoing Shakespeare400 celebration this year, WNYC’s Sara Fishko charts several iterations of Romeo and Juliet, and considers how that classic Shakespeare tragedy inspired a great Russian ballet score. (Produced in 2007)

Diane Arbus, the photographer who made her name taking pictures of ordinary people with extraordinary characteristics, is the subject of an exhibit which opened this week at the Met Breuer. More on Arbus from WNYC's Sara Fishko in this episode of Fishko Files.

Tomorrow is the hundred fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the French composer Erik Satie.  As WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us, Satie's music and thinking were more in tune with our time than with his own, in this edition of Fishko Files.