Virtuoso Voices(tm)

Series produced by Listener Directed Productions, Inc.

Series image

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

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Lorin Maazel
What does a conductor really do? It's a long list, but for Lorin Maazel, there one thing that's definitely not on that list. Use this 24 second c...

Bought by BYUradio/KUMT/KBYU-FM


  • Added: Oct 30, 2009
  • Length: :25
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Joshua Bell
When you think "Tango," you think romance, passion and maybe even a gritty, romantic passion. But violinist Joshua Bell says there's another way t...

  • Added: Oct 30, 2009
  • Length: :18
Caption: Lorin Maazel
There's musical fluff that lasts a moment and then quickly disappears into the air, and then there's music that is mistaken for fluff. In that las...

Bought by BYUradio/KUMT/KBYU-FM


  • Added: Oct 30, 2009
  • Length: :20
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Joshua Bell
Violinist Joshua Bell has a CD – "At Home with Friends" – where he recaptures the musical get-togethers he hosts in his Manhattan home with friends...

  • Added: Oct 30, 2009
  • Length: :22
Caption: Lorin Maazel
There are coffee breaks, lunch breaks, and at one point in his career, conductor Lorin Maazel found the need to take a Mahler break. Use this 28 s...

  • Added: Oct 30, 2009
  • Length: :28
Caption: Joshua Bell
Violinist Joshua Bell's CD "At Home with Friends" is an eclectic mix of classical music, Blue Grass, Jazz, Indian music and more. In a sense, this...

  • Added: Oct 30, 2009
  • Length: :26
Caption: Pascal Roge
Some performers dread hearing their old recordings, or any of their recordings for that matter. Pascal Roge's performances of the Saint-Saens Pian...

Bought by BYUradio/KUMT/KBYU-FM


  • Added: Oct 30, 2009
  • Length: :21
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Lorin Maazel
How does a conductor get the orchestra to play for him or her? Conductor Lorin Maazel says that's the wrong question to ask if you want to get a g...

Bought by BYUradio/KUMT/KBYU-FM


  • Added: Oct 30, 2009
  • Length: :23
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
French pianist Pascal Roge enjoys a personal connection with French composers – not just because they come from French soil, but because they're so...

Bought by BYUradio/KUMT/KBYU-FM


  • Added: Oct 30, 2009
  • Length: :27
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Pascal Roge
Pianist Pascal Roge has fond memories of his student days at the Paris Conservatory. He studied with Marguerite Long, who was one of Debussy's fav...

Bought by BYUradio/KUMT/KBYU-FM


  • Added: Oct 29, 2009
  • Length: :23
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Pascal Roge
All children go through phases and stages. They can be cute, adorable, precocious and obnoxious. Pianist Pascal Roge went through each of these p...

Bought by BYUradio/KUMT/KBYU-FM


  • Added: Oct 29, 2009
  • Length: :15
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Lorin Maazel
Some obsessions and compulsions are better than others, and conductor Lorin Maazel admits that at one point in his career, he spent too much time a...

Bought by WXXI Rochester, KVLU, KUHF, and BYUradio/KUMT/KBYU-FM


  • Added: Oct 29, 2009
  • Length: :29
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Lorin Maazel
Since leaving the New York Philharmonic in 2009, conductor Lorin Maazel has been as busy as ever, but never too busy to look back at his seven year...

Bought by BYUradio/KUMT/KBYU-FM


  • Added: Oct 29, 2009
  • Length: :27
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Joshua Bell
Violinist Joshua Bell's CD "At Home with Friends" includes an appearance by composer and pianist, Sergei Rachmaninoff. Rachmaninoff actually died ...

  • Added: Oct 29, 2009
  • Length: :24
Caption: Joshua Bell
No one's perfect – even virtuosos like violinist Joshua Bell make mistakes on stage. Throughout his career, he's learned to prioritize his flubs a...

Bought by BYUradio/KUMT/KBYU-FM


  • Added: Oct 29, 2009
  • Length: :26
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Michael Tilson Thomas
"Keeping Score" is the incredible PBS music series that redefines everything we ever knew about "music education" and "music appreciation." The se...

Bought by PRX Demo Station


  • Added: Sep 27, 2009
  • Length: :26
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Michael Tilson Thomas
The PBS Series, "Keeping Score" returned with a series of three programs, each devoted to a single composer and one of their pivotal pieces of musi...

  • Added: Sep 27, 2009
  • Length: :34
Caption: Michael Tilson Thomas
The PBS Series, "Keeping Score" returned with a series of three programs, each devoted to a single composer and one of their pivotal pieces of musi...

  • Added: Sep 27, 2009
  • Length: :30
Caption: Michael Tilson Thomas
The PBS Series, "Keeping Score" returned with a series of three programs, each devoted to a single composer and one of their pivotal pieces of musi...

  • Added: Sep 27, 2009
  • Length: :28
Caption: Michael Tilson Thomas
The PBS Series, "Keeping Score" returned with a series of three programs, each devoted to a single composer and one of their pivotal pieces of musi...

  • Added: Sep 27, 2009
  • Length: :27