Virtuoso Voices(tm)

Series produced by Listener Directed Productions, Inc.

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Virtuoso Voices is a collection of timely and topical sound bites from classical music's leading performers. Each sound bite (or clip) will bring your listeners an insider's perspective to the classical music they enjoy on your station. Virtuoso Voices offers classical music announcers an additional way to enhance their breaks by using the voice of the artist whose recording they're about to play on their shift.

Virtuoso Voices is an interview clip service for classical music stations, presenting today's most influential classical music performers, conductors and composers talking in 20 to 35 second clips.

These topical and evergreen sound bites will enable announcers to bring an additional insider's perspective to the music they play on their shifts.

For example, an announcer playing Joshua Bell's recent recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto could introduce it by using a clip of Mr. Bell talking about how he tries to bring a fresh sound to this very familiar work. After the clip, the announcer returns and segues into playing the recording.

The Virtuoso Voices service provides you a Suggested Host Intro to effectively set up each clip, and includes a brief Outro to help you segue to the music. Your announcers can use this copy verbatim, or as inspiration to write their own version.

Virtuoso Voices clips are versatile. In addition to music intros, you can also use them to enhance forward promotion, create compelling billboards and create content for your website.

Virtuoso Voices provides stations with a new strategy for presenting classical music on the radio by directly involving the performer in the introduction of the music. These topical and evergreen clips enable announcers to bring an additional insider's perspective to the music they introduce and play on their shifts.

Program content is taken from interviews with internationally recognized classical music performers, such as Gil Shaham, Yo-Yo Ma, Marin Alsop, Lorin Maazel, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn and Michael Tilson Thomas.

As of January 2010, we are offering our Virtuoso Voices Performer Clips to all stations for free. We offer three types of distribution.

-- Downloaded off our ftp site: no charge

-- Downloaded from PRX: (triple PRX points) – requires PRX station membership

-- 10 months a year, receive a CD: $100 flat fee to cover postage and handling for the year.

For more information and to see additional ways to use these clips, please visit our website, www.virtuosovoices.org.

Signing up is easy and free. To receive a short subscription form, please send an email to info (at) listenerdirect.org or call (703) 751-0342.

Virtuoso Voices™ Fundraising Service

Virtuoso Voices(tm) is also Public Radio's primary source for classical music fundraising messages.

Twice a year, we provide your station with three types of fundraising messages, with options enabling you to customize each spot to the specific sound and fundraising terminology of your station. These messages, from performers like Anne-Sophie Mutter, Sarah Chang and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, follow Public Radio's Best Practices for fundraising.

These produced fundraising messages are distributed in February and September in advance of when most stations fundraise, including the nationally coordinated drives. Stations may request custom fundraising scripts read by the performers we interview. We fill these requests whenever possible and in the order in which they are received.

Our Virtuoso Voices fundraising material is offered as a separate subscription, with fees based on market size (as determined by Arbitron) – and cover a portion of the production expenses for Virtuoso Voices.

This service includes a (minimum) of 40 fundraising messages – a combination of Custom Station Spots, Straight Read Spots, Produced Funders and Unhosted Produced Funders

-- $500 for stations with a market ranking of 1 to 50;
-- $325 for stations ranked between 51-150;
-- $150 for stations with an Arbitron market ranking of 151 and above.

Please visit the fundraising page of our website for further examples and further information. www.virtuosovoices.org/fundraising.

VIRTUOSO VOICES

"Classical Music's Virtuosos Want a Word with Your Listeners."

Virtuoso Voices is a trademark of Listener Directed Productions, Inc. Hide full description

Virtuoso Voices is an interview clip service for classical music stations, presenting today's most influential classical music performers, conductors and composers talking in 20 to 35 second clips. These topical and evergreen sound bites will enable announcers to bring an additional insider's perspective to the music they play on their shifts. For example, an announcer playing Joshua Bell's recent recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto could introduce it by using a clip of Mr. Bell talking about how he tries to bring a fresh sound to this very familiar work. After the clip, the announcer returns and segues into playing the recording. The Virtuoso Voices service provides you a Suggested Host Intro to effectively set up each clip, and includes a brief Outro to help you segue... Show full description


Additional Files

642 Pieces

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Two of violinist Joshua Bell's most recent recordings are devoted to well-known songs and arias that he arranged for violin and piano and violin an...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jul 30, 2007
  • Length: :17
  • Purchases: 1
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If you've heard or read only one thing about Haydn, it's probably that he is the undisputed "Father of the Symphony". Conductor Roy Goodman thinks...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jul 30, 2007
  • Length: :30
  • Purchases: 1
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Joshua Bell's relationship with the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto goes back more than 35 years. It's not just one of the world's favorite concertos ...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jul 30, 2007
  • Length: :21
  • Purchases: 1
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If you're a horn player, Mozart's a likely hero. He wrote four gorgeous concertos for horn plus some shorter solo pieces. Admirers of Mozart's ho...

Bought by WHRV and WITF


  • Added: Jul 30, 2007
  • Length: :33
  • Purchases: 2
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You don't need to be Russian to play Rachmaninoff, although some well-meaning Russians have been known to make that nationalistic claim. Still, pi...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jul 30, 2007
  • Length: :32
  • Purchases: 1
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Somebody always falls asleep at a concert. It's been a long day; the concert is at the end of the day. Maybe the performance is a real "yawner." ...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jun 26, 2007
  • Length: :29
  • Purchases: 1
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Yolanda Kondonassis is an advocate for harp music new and old. When she lobbies today's composers, she encourages them to both appreciate and thin...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jun 26, 2007
  • Length: :28
  • Purchases: 1
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Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 is very well known, primarily because of its Second Movement. Besides the concert hall and CD, you're also likely to...

Bought by WHRV and WITF


  • Added: Jun 26, 2007
  • Length: :26
  • Purchases: 2
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Carlos Salzedo was an innovative man of the harp. He performed, he taught, he built instruments and composed. As a composer, Yolanda Kondonassis ...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jun 26, 2007
  • Length: :31
  • Purchases: 1
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Two of the most frequently used key strokes on the computer are "copy" and "paste." It probably saves us hours of time each week. Pianist Maurizi...

Bought by WHRV and WITF


  • Added: Jun 26, 2007
  • Length: :23
  • Purchases: 2
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Traditionally, composers have gone beyond their own national boundaries for their creative inspiration. One composer who frequently thought and co...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jun 26, 2007
  • Length: :29
  • Purchases: 1
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Mozart originally conceived many of his Piano Concertos as works he would both play and conduct. Occasionally, pianist Maurizio Pollini performs t...

Bought by WHRV and WITF


  • Added: Jun 26, 2007
  • Length: :33
  • Purchases: 2
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If you're a conductor, it's helpful to have a living composer at your side to answer questions about their music that may come up during rehearsals...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jun 26, 2007
  • Length: :28
  • Purchases: 1
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Before Pope John Paul II, Poland's most celebrated national hero was Frederic Chopin. His music was a source of inspiration and comfort for a coun...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jun 25, 2007
  • Length: :27
  • Purchases: 1
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There is ample evidence that composer Aaron Copland wanted his music performed straight, as is, with little added emotion or nuance by the performe...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jun 20, 2007
  • Length: :26
  • Purchases: 1
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Aaron Copland is called the "Father of American classical music" for his ability to set American landscapes and the American spirit to music. Befo...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jun 20, 2007
  • Length: :23
  • Purchases: 1
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In Classical Music, "Impressionism" means the music of Debussy and Ravel - and light washes of sound and pastel-like colors. Though impressionism ...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jun 20, 2007
  • Length: :23
  • Purchases: 1
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It's natural to wonder how a composer can write music that touches us in such powerful ways. With Aaron Copland, that question is more specific. ...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: Jun 20, 2007
  • Length: :34
  • Purchases: 1
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When you love your work, it's more than just a "job." And that's certainly the case with many musicians, including violinist Gil Shaham (SHAH-hahm)...

Bought by WITF and New England Public Media


  • Added: May 31, 2007
  • Length: :32
  • Purchases: 2
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Violinist Gil Shaham plays with his sister Orli and her husband, conductor David Robertson. He also performs with his wife, violinist Adele Anthon...

Bought by WITF


  • Added: May 30, 2007
  • Length: :25
  • Purchases: 1