SOUND ADVICE with Rick Phillips to be Streamed on Universal Music’s UMUSIC.CA from April 22, 2008

Toronto, April 21, 2008 - Universal Music Canada is pleased to announce that Rick Phillips' SOUND ADVICE, will begin streaming on www.umusic.ca from April 22, 2008.

Phillips' popular show SOUND ADVICE, which aired on CBC Radio for 14 seasons, ended its run this past March. The show's programming, so beloved by his listeners, will continue in the new streaming format. The first portion of his program will consist of recent release reviews critiqued using his star rating system. The second portion will continue with The Library, an in-depth look at an artist or repertoire of special interest.

The new program will be bi-weekly and it will be posted on alternate Tuesdays coinciding with the new release Tuesdays established by the recording industry. SOUND ADVICE will feature solo, chamber and orchestral music as well as featuring more vocal, choral and operatic fare than his previous show.

Says Phillips, "It is a great pleasure to be continuing SOUND ADVICE with Universal Music Canada and to have the show archived and available on demand, allowing audiences to listen at their convenience.

Thom McKercher, Director of Classics and Jazz added "We are pleased to announce that Rick has joined the Universal family. Having listened to his show for years, I know we are working with a professional critic who knows recorded music as well as anyone in Canada".

Also, the ever popular Music Quiz portion of the program remains intact with a prize being awarded every show.

About Rick Phillips

For 14 years, Rick Phillips was the Host and Producer of SOUND ADVICE, the weekly guide to classical music and recordings on CBC Radio One and Radio Two. Rick continues to offer adult music appreciation courses at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto. He is the author of "The Essential Classical Recordings -101 CDs" published by McClelland & Stewart with an accompanying soundtrack distributed by Universal Music Canada. Rick also writes program notes and music-related articles, hosts concerts and guided musical tours to Europe, and presents pre-concert talks. He holds a B. Mus. from McGill University and a M. Mus. from the University of Toronto.

American Public Media and The San Francisco Symphony's The MTT Files Wins Peabody Award

Contact: Brad Robideau

(651) 290-1113

brobideau@americanpublicmedia.org

www.americanpublicmedia.org

American Public Media and The San Francisco Symphony’s The MTT Files Wins Peabody Award

(St. Paul, Minn.) April 4, 2008—The MTT Files™, a public radio series produced by American Public Media™ and the San Francisco Symphony and hosted by the renowned San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas, has won a 2007 Peabody Award.

Michael Tilson Thomas, also known as MTT, is acclaimed for his work as a conductor, composer and as one of the great communicators about music in the world today. In The MTT Files, Tilson Thomas metaphorically pulls out some of his "files" – files full of ideas about music and art, and reminiscences of the legendary artists he has known throughout his career—to create eight very original and personal one-hour radio programs. The series includes an episode featuring Tilson Thomas in conversation with James Brown, in one of the soul singer’s final interviews before his death.

Announcing the Peabody Award, Horace Newcomb, Director of the Peabody Awards, said, “In these beautifully crafted radio pieces, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas examines a series of his personal files that range over an expansive world of music from Igor Stravinsky to James Brown. The subjects and topics in Tilson Thomas’s explorations broaden our knowledge as they delight our brains and our imaginations.”

The Peabody Awards are the oldest honor in broadcasting and widely considered electronic media’s most coveted award. The Peabody Awards recognize excellence and meritorious work by radio and television stations, networks, Webcasters, producing organizations and individuals. For more information, visit www.peabody.uga.edu.

The Peabody Awards will be presented June 16, 2008, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Brian Williams, anchor of NBC Nightly News, will host the ceremony.

The MTT Files was produced and mixed by Tom Voegeli of American Public Media. Voegeli also wrote, produced and mixed American Mavericks®, a public radio series also produced in association with the San Francisco Symphony and hosted by Tilson Thomas. American Mavericks won a Peabody Award in 2004. Voegeli is also the executive producer of From the Top, a weekly radio showcase of America's top young classical musicians, hosted by acclaimed pianist Christopher O’Riley.

The MTT Files are supported by a grant from Koret Foundation Funds and by members of Minnesota Public Radio. The MTT Files are part of Keeping Score, made possible with lead funding from the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund and with generous support from The James Irvine Foundation, Marcia and John Goldman, Nan Tucker McEvoy, William and Gretchen Kimball Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, and others.

The MTT Files are on the Web at www.mttfiles.org.

In November 2006, the San Francisco Symphony launched Keeping Score, a national television series aimed at making classical music more accessible to people of all ages and musical backgrounds. The Keeping Score project features PBS telecasts, a national radio series, interactive websites, and a K-12 education program. For additional information, visit www.sfsymphony.org and www.keepingscore.org.

American Public Media has the largest broadcast audience reach of any classical music radio producer in the United States. Through global partnerships with leading music organizations, the European Broadcasting Union, the BBC, orchestras, festivals, vocal ensembles, and artists, American Public Media’s classical music service delivers performances and insight from around the world to its listeners. American Public Media’s classical music portfolio includes nationally renowned programs Performance Today®, SymphonyCast®, Pipedreams®, and Saint Paul Sunday®.

American Public Media is the largest owner and operator of public radio stations, also producing top programs reaching more than 15 million listeners weekly. A complete list of stations, programs and additional services for the American Public Media national network can be obtained at www.americanpublicmedia.org.

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Canadian Music Centre and Canadian League of Composers Shocked By Decision to Disband CBC Radio Orchestra

March 28, 2008, Toronto, ON – Today, the Canadian Music Centre and the Canadian League of Composers, are trying to come to terms with the CBC Radio's decision to disband its orchestra – the last radio orchestra still functioning in North America. This announcement, made privately yesterday in Vancouver with less than a 24 hour notice to the orchestra's musicians, has left much of the Canadian musical community questioning the broadcaster's commitment to both classical music and its own broader cultural mandate.

Elisabeth Bihl, CMC Executive Director, believes that "the decision to disband the CBC Radio Orchestra must have been a decision made with little to no input from the Canadian public or our music community. The orchestra may have been around for some 70 years - but since when is longevity equated automatically with having already served its purpose?"

She further states that "the need for CBC Radio to fulfill its mandate to showcase Canadian talent has not evaporated with time. If CBC management can simply destroy such a vitally important infrastructure for Canadian talent, then it must be held publicly accountable. As a government funded institution, it must see beyond its immediate actions of budget cutting and pursue its mandate cultural role – for the benefit of all Canadians."

Jennifer McGuire, Executive Director of CBC English Radio, indicated yesterday that the money "saved" as a result of this decision will be used more efficiently by spending it on other Radio 2 musical programs. While also asserting that CBC Radio was still committed to innovative and creative Canadian music, she made no concrete indication that this funding would be used to directly support future classical music programming.

As organizations focused on the promotion of Canadian composers and their work, the Canadian Music Centre and Canadian League of Composers, see this most recent CBC Radio announcement as yet another in a series of decisions made without input from the communities to which the broadcaster is ultimately accountable – both its listeners and the broader Canadian public. Sadly, the disbanding of the CBC Radio Orchestra came as a fait-a-compli news yesterday afternoon.

Ms. Bihl feels that the following statement made today (via e-mail) by Sarah Davis Buechner, a piano professor at the University, all too accurately sums up this situation: "It is a sad day in the history of this country when artists have to stand up to defend their contributions against the very institutions which were founded to foster cultural understanding, emotional connection and pride in the Canadian national character."

Established in 1959, the Canadian Music Centre exists to stimulate the awareness, appreciation and performance of Canadian music, making the music of its Associate Composers available through its music libraries and through various promotional and outreach activities. The CMC is Canada's primary information resource, producer, distributor of concert music and sound recordings.

Founded in 1951, the Canadian League of Composers is the oldest organization in Canada that speaks for professional composers in an official capacity. It represents the interests of composers, monitoring and influencing the conditions that affect their livelihood and public image.

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For further information, please contact:

Steven W. Foster

Manager of Communications & Resource Development

Phone: 416.961.6601 ext. 303 Email: sfoster@musiccentre.ca

Moses Znaimer Calls Frustrated CBC Radio 2 Listeners

For immediate release – Wednesday, March 26, 2008

ATTENTION CBC Radio 2 CLASSICAL MUSIC LISTENERS!
KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
There Is An All Classical Alternative: www.classical963fm.com

"CBC Management should have the right to manage!
In any case, they cannot be held hostage to
the claim that there is no other source for classical music in English Canada."
– Moses Znaimer, Zoomer and Proprieter, The New Classical 96.3 FM

Calling all frustrated CBC Radio 2 listeners! Media innovator and Zoomer Moses Znaimer, proprietor of The New Classical 96.3 FM and 103.1 FM (in the Greater Toronto Area) wants Canadians in search of classical music to know that they DO have an alternative. Across Canada, and worldwide, classical music is available around the clock at http://www.classical963fm.com and for Bell ExpressVu's 1.8 million subscribers, on Channel 963.

Since its official re-launch in September 2007, Moses has dramatically transformed the content, look, and sound of The New Classical 96.3 FM and 103.1 FM, starting with Live in The Concert Lobby, a series of live and interactive hours of 'Concert and Conversation' with the greatest artists on the world stage today! These exclusive and high-profile performances have quickly established The New Classical 96.3 FM as a premier promotional stop for every major classical artist on tour. Most recently listeners were treated to the exquisite sounds of piano marvels Lang Lang and Yundi Li who performed to packed houses of VIPs and members of the Classical 96.3 FM Classical Club, now standing at 15,000 members and growing. Past performers have included vocal superstars Measha Brueggergosman and Ben Heppner; violinist Lara St. John; The Gryphon Trio; The Canadian Brass; and pre-eminent pianists Angela Hewitt and Leif Ove Andsnes.

Other station innovations include revitalized morning, drive-home and late-night shows with the station's CJs (Classical Jocks); the re-introduction of vocal music; and more themed weekend programming including a By-Request Hour and Sunday Night At The Opera.

The New Classical 96.3 FM is also the premiere source for the breaking news in the classical music world. In addition to the usual up to the minute news, traffic and weather, there is information on the arts: season announcements, special concerts and awards ceremonies. On the horizon, Moses plans to dispatch "The Classical Corps", a battalion of mobile young reporters who will cover a multitude of cultural events. A classical music game show is also in the works. There you have it – the future of classical music in Canada is alive and well at The New Classical 96.3 FM. Moses Znaimer invites all classical music lovers to turn on and tune in anywhere in Canada, and the world.

AT THE NEW CLASSICAL 96.3 FM, IT'S ALL CLASSICAL, ALL THE TIME
Tune in to the next "Live in The Concert Lobby" event:
TOMORROW! Thursday, March 27 from 12noon – 1pm
Canadian Vocal Sensations Baritone Russell Braun and Tenor Michael Schade

96.3 FM and 103.1 FM (GTA+)
http://www.classical963fm.com
Bell ExpressVu Channel 963

Media contact:
Leanne Wright, MZMedia
416.367.5353 X 200
leanne@mzmedia.com
www.mzmedia.com

New Website for Producer/Host of Art Fine Living with Jona

For Immediate Release

March 23, 2008

New Website for Producer/Host of Art Fine Living with Jona

Jona Rapoport, the producer and host of Art & Fine Living with Jona on Radio Shalom, is thrilled to have launched her official website at www.jonarapoport.com. The site features an extensive guest photo gallery, press releases and a section dedicated to her client, American art song and opera composer, Lori Laitman.

Art & Fine Living with Jona is an acclaimed weekly program dedicated to arts and culture, featuring insightful interviews with talents in dance, music, visual arts, theatre, cinema and literature. The show also highlights upscale lifestyle trends and features the latest classical and jazz album releases.

Art & Fine Living with Jona airs on Radio Shalom CJRS 1650 AM, and can also be accessed online at http://www.radio-shalom.ca/showemission.php?ID=1015.

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Playwright Daniel Lillford Interview on Art & Fine Living with Jona

Playwright, actor and director Daniel Lillford made a guest appearance on Art & Fine Living with Jona to air March 23^rd and 26^th, 2008. In a lively conversation, the creator of The Mystery of Maddy Heisler, to premiere at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal in late March, spoke candidly about his fascination with the two great wars of the last century, about his own family's strife in the German-occupied Channel Islands and about the making of the mystery which was already nominated for five East Coast awards.

The play is set in rural Nova Scotia during WWII, where a young local man falls in love with an older woman who arrives mysteriously and disappears in the midst of their rapturous love affair. Years later, the young man, now an aging mystery writer, is approached by a young woman carrying a small notebook, the contents of which open an unexpected door to the past.

Art & Fine Living with Jona is produced and hosted by Montrealer Jona Rapoport. The program showcases talents in theatre, music, opera, dance, literature and visual arts, with a delightful mix and commentary on fresh classical and jazz releases. The show airs on Sundays at 7pm and on Wednesdays at 3pm on Radio Shalom 1650 AM, and shows are archived on the host's page at www.radio-shalom.ca for downloading.

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Source:

Jona Rapoport

jonarapoport@gmail.com

[Montreal] Jona Rapoport to Represent Celebrated American Composer Lori Laitman

"It is difficult to think of anyone before the public today who equals her exceptional gifts for embracing a poetic text and giving it new and deeper life through music." (Journal of Singing, 2007)

Canadian artist manager and publicist Jona Rapoport will be representing American composer Lori Laitman worldwide. Ms Rapoport has managed the career of several classical vocalists in the past, and is currently the producer and host of the radio program "Art & Fine Living with Jona" on CJRS 1650 in Montreal. She is listed in the international directory of Musical America.

Lori Laitman is one of America's most prolific and widely performed composers of art song. She has composed nearly 200 songs, setting the words of classical and contemporary poets to music, among them the lost voices of poets who perished in the Holocaust. The composer's first opera, "Come to Me in Dreams" premiered by Cleveland Opera in 2005, and her upcoming opera, based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter", to libretto by poet David Mason, will premiere at The University of Central Arkansas in the fall of 2008.

Laitman's songs have been released on Albany Records, Naxos, Channel Classics and others, showcasing the talents of some of today's top musicians. Among the many artists are: vocalists Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Jennifer Check, Patricia Green, Sari Gruber, William Sharp and Randall Scarlata; pianist Warren Jones; bassist Gary Karr; cellists Thomas Kraines and Marcy Rosen; saxophonist Gary Louie and violinist Juliette Kang.

In a review of her latest compilation, "Becoming a Redwood", the prestigious Gramophone Magazine remarked: "An extraordinarily impressive achievement… [which indicates] increasing evidence of a major talent. Lori Laitman's beautiful, sensitively crafted songs deserve to be performed widely". A review of her 2000 release, "Mystery – The Songs of Lori Laitman" by Opera News says: "Composer Lori Laitman knows how to let the voice soar and explore…spinning lyrical neo-romantic vocal lines over shifting post-modern sonorities". A Journal of Singing review of her 2003 album, "Dreaming", posits her firmly alongside another legendary composer: "This is a stunning collection of widely varied songs by one of the finest art song composers on the scene today...Lori Laitman deservedly stands shoulder to shoulder with Ned Rorem for her uncommon sensitivity to text, her loving attention to the human voice and its capabilities, and her extraordinary palette of musical colors and gestures".

Lori Laitman graduated magna cum laude from Yale College and received her Master of Music degree in flute performance from The Yale School of Music. Her recordings are available on her website, www.artsongs.com, as well as Amazon and ITunes. Sheet music can be ordered from Classical Vocal Reprints (1-800-298-7474), www.classicalvocalrep.com.

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For inquiries and interviews contact:

Jona Rapoport Artist Management

Montreal, Canada

jonarapoport@radio-shalom.ca

jonarapoport@gmail.com

Tel: 514 488 0246

Showcasing Yuli Turovsky, James Ehnes, Ohad Naharin, Yannick Nezet-Seguin and Opera Moments on Art & Fine Living with Jona

February 8, 2008

For Immediate Release:

Art & Fine Living with Jona is a weekly radio program about classical arts, culture and upscale lifestyle trends, with a delightful mix of interviews, classical and jazz releases and educational series. This month, highlights include conversations with Israeli composer Ofer Ben-Amots; Cellist/conductor Yuli Turovsky; violinist James Ehnes; conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin; Jazz artist Bill Prouten and choregrapher Ohad Naharin. Recent interviews with violinist Jonathan Crow; opera vocalists Denis Sedov and Manon Feubel; film director Mike Newell and theatre director Daniel Brooks can be accessed and downloaded from Jona's page on the radio's website. The first segment in the Opera Moments series with Opera de Montreal Pierre Vachon can also be accessed from recent archives.

Art & Fine Living with Jona can be heard live on Radio Shalom CJRS 1650 AM on Sundays at 7pm and on Wednesdays at 3pm. Livestream on the radio website at: www.radio-shalom.ca, and archived on the show's page.

Contact:

Jona Rapoport

jonawriter@hotmail.com

Media Partner of:
The Centaur Theatre Company
The Opera de Montreal

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Du nouveau le 7 janvier à Espace Classique, la webradio d'Espace musique, L'AMBIANCE «ODYSSÉE»

Montréal, jeudi 3 janvier 2008 ESPACE CLASSIQUE, la webradio d'Espace musique, est heureuse d'annoncer la mise en ligne, le 7 janvier 2008, de sa toute nouvelle ambiance musicale : ODYSSÉE.

Cette sélection permettra aux internautes de découvrir des oeuvres complètes, à grand déploiement, qui existent dans tous les styles et à toutes les époques, pour instrument solo comme pour grand orchestre. Écouter ODYSSÉE, c'est partir pour la grande aventure!

Cette ambiance remplace la sélection saisonnière, NOËL, qui se termine le 6 janvier. Elle rejoint ZEN et VITAMINE toujours disponibles au www.radio-canada.ca/espaceclassique . Ce choix d'ambiances permet au public de personnaliser son écoute en fonction de l'atmosphère désirée : ZEN pour une ambiance relaxante, VITAMINE pour une musique entraînante et ODYSSÉE pour s'évader au fil des grandes oeuvres du répertoire.

C'est avec une grande fierté qu'Espace musique, la radio musicale de Radio-Canada (100,7 FM à Montréal), en étroite collaboration avec le Secteur Internet et services numériques, dévoile cette nouvelle ambiance de la webradio classique, et elle souhaite à ses auditeurs et internautes une navigation toujours pleine de très belles découvertes.

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Renseignements : Isabelle Aubin
Déléguée, Communications - Espace musique
Services français de la radio
514 597-7374, isabelle_aubin@radio-canada.ca