Early Music Now with Sara Schneider

Series produced by The WFMT Radio Network

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Early Music Now with Sara Schneider is a one-hour program showcasing music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and early Baroque: from sonorous medieval chant and polyphony to delightful renaissance madrigals, dances, and consort music to magnificent baroque cantatas and keyboard music.

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This series is available free of charge to all affiliate stations for one broadcast through June 24, 2023.

Click here to listen to a 10-minute sample of Early Music Now on our Website!

For more information, please contact:

Estlin Usher at eusher@wfmt.com (p) 773-279-2112

Early Music Now with Sara Schneider is a one-hour program showcasing music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and early Baroque: from sonorous medieval chant and polyphony to delightful renaissance madrigals, dances, and consort music to magnificent baroque cantatas and keyboard music.

Host and producer Sara Schneider brings knowledge, charm, and passion to her presentation of seven hundred years of music history. From the latest recordings by today’s vibrant young ensembles, to classics from the dawn of the early music revival, Early Music Now makes this repertoire accessible and enjoyable to a wide audience.

About the Host, Sara Schneider

After studying musicology at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Michigan native Sara Schneider put her love of music to work at Classical 89.5, KMFA in Austin, Texas; first as an announcer and producer, and subsequently as Music Director until 2014. From 2014 to 2016, Sara lived in Lübeck, Germany, where she researched and authored a novel, The Eagle and the Songbird.

Sara has interviewed numerous early music luminaries, including Ton Koopman, Anonymous 4, Jordi Savall, and the late Gustav Leonhardt. She is a two-time Gracie Award® winner: in 2011 she received the award for her program Michael Nyman: Motion and Emotion, and in 2018 for Her Name Shall Endure, a program about medieval woman of letters Christine de Pizan.

Sara serves on the board of Texas Early Music Project. In her spare time, she enjoys travel, hiking, and writing historical fiction, and she recently completed a teacher training program in Kundalini Yoga. Hide full description

Please login to PRX.org to preview program audio.


This series is available free of charge to all affiliate stations for one broadcast through June 24, 2023.

Click here to listen to a 10-minute sample of Early Music Now on our Website!

For more information, please contact:

Estlin Usher at eusher@wfmt.com (p) 773-279-2112

Early Music Now with Sara Schneider is a one-hour program showcasing music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and early Baroque: from sonorous medieval chant and polyphony to delightful renaissance madrigals, dances, and consort music to magnificent baroque cantatas and keyboard music.

Host and producer Sara Schneider brings knowledge, charm, and passion to her presentation of seven hundred years of music history. From the latest recordings by today’s vibrant young...

Show full description

42 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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In commemoration of Holy Week, we're listening to an unusual setting of the Passion story by Adrian Willaert. With its innovative polyphony and hom...

  • Added: Mar 20, 2024
  • Length: 58:30
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A heartfelt setting of Stabat Mater by Bohemian composer František Tůma lay forgotten in a monastery library in Germany until it was rediscovered b...

  • Added: Mar 12, 2024
  • Length: 58:30
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We're celebrating all things Celtic on this week's show, including music by the Irish harper and bard Turlough O'Carolan, selections from Jordi Sav...

  • Added: Mar 05, 2024
  • Length: 58:30
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Two famous medieval personalities are at the heart of this program: philosopher and teacher Peter Abelard (1079-1142) and visionary and polymath Hi...

  • Added: Feb 27, 2024
  • Length: 58:30
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Peter Paul Rubens was not only called the prince of Belgian painters, he was a savvy diplomat as well. He traveled widely, and this week we'll foll...

  • Added: Feb 20, 2024
  • Length: 58:30
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This week we're hearing from several composers who served the French court, such as François Couperin, Robert de Visée, and Henry du Mont. Royal co...

  • Added: Feb 14, 2024
  • Length: 58:30
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The 15th-century poet Martin le Franc praised the music of Guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchois, specifically the 'wondrous pleasure which makes the...

  • Added: Feb 06, 2024
  • Length: 58:30
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This week's show explores how 20th and 21st-century composers have interacted with early music. We'll hear a range of examples including Carlos Cha...

  • Added: Jan 30, 2024
  • Length: 58:30
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The town of Freiberg, Saxony was once home to legendary Baroque organ builder Gottfried Silbermann. We'll hear several of his instruments on this w...

  • Added: Jan 23, 2024
  • Length: 58:30
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La Púrpura de la Rosa was first heard in Lima, Peru in 1701, making it the first opera to be performed in the New World. Tomás de Torrejón y Velasc...

  • Added: Jan 17, 2024
  • Length: 58:30
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We're checking out some more new recordings that have come over the transom in recent months, including music for solo violin by Matteis and Vilsma...

  • Added: Jan 09, 2024
  • Length: 58:30
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Much of the music composed by Jheronimus Vinders (fl. 1525) has been neglected in the past, but it's been resurrected thanks to a new performing ed...

  • Added: Jan 02, 2024
  • Length: 58:30
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A variety of music from the medieval era is on the menu this week, including selections from Ludus Danielis (The Play of Daniel), a liturgical dram...

  • Added: Dec 27, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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Christmas, St. Stephen’s Day, and the waning of the old year- we’re celebrating them all on this week’s show! We’ll hear more tracks from Cappella ...

  • Added: Dec 19, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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We'll hear plenty of familiar carols and chant on this edition of Early Music Now, along with festive selections for brass instruments and motets b...

  • Added: Dec 12, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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This show spans the mid- and late Baroque era in France with music by two composers: Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) and Pancrace Royer (1703-1755)...

  • Added: Dec 06, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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We're celebrating the season of Advent on this week's show, with works like Canite tuba by Giovanni da Palestrina, Charpentier's O Antiphons, Alma ...

  • Added: Nov 27, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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Praga Rosa Bohemiae is the name of a 2019 recording from Cappella Mariana, directed by Vojtêch Semerád. We'll hear music by Netherlandish composers...

  • Added: Nov 21, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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This week's show introduces Daniel Speer, a musician/composer of the German Baroque who worked in Göppingen, a small town near Stuttgart. We'll hea...

  • Added: Nov 14, 2023
  • Length: 58:30