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

128 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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This program includes selections from Jean-Baptiste Lully's final completed opera, Acis et Galatée, based on one of the stories from Ovid's Metamor...

  • Added: Mar 14, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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We're spending some time with two 16th century composers from the Low Countries who made it big in Italy: Adrian Willaert and Cipriano de Rore. We'...

  • Added: Mar 06, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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We're kicking off Women's History Month with a program of music by women composers and performers. We'll hear selections from Musica Secreta's late...

  • Added: Feb 27, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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This week we're delving into two recent releases of music by composers who worked for the Austrian court at Innsbruck. Singer Pur performs motets a...

  • Added: Feb 20, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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Guillaume Dufay returned to his hometown of Cambrai at the end of his life, and while there he composed his final masterpiece: Missa Ave Regina Cel...

  • Added: Feb 14, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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Host Sara Schneider shares a program of Italian love songs for Valentine's Day, including music by Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, and Biagio Marini. Our ...

  • Added: Feb 07, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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This week's show presents music from Renaissance Coimbra, performed by A Capella Portuguesa. We'll also get to know Vicente Lusitano, one of the fe...

  • Added: Jan 30, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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We're sampling some more recent releases this week, including tracks from Lux Aeterna, the sixth album from the Gesualdo Six. We'll also hear violi...

  • Added: Jan 24, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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This all-English program includes selections from Psyche by Matthew Locke, performed by Ensemble Correspondances. We'll also hear from the Palladia...

  • Added: Jan 17, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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The highlight of this week's show is a recent release from the UK-based ensemble Fount & Origin, directed by James Tomlinson. The program was inspi...

  • Added: Jan 10, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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This week we're visiting St. Thomas' Church in Leipzig, to hear how an Epiphany service might have sounded in 1740. This recreation by Paul McCrees...

  • Added: Jan 03, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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Let's ring in the New Year with music from medieval Germany, including fresh reconstructions of the 13th century Carmina Burana by Norbert Rodenkir...

  • Added: Dec 27, 2022
  • Length: 58:30
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With all due respect to Carole King, Antoine Brumel is making the earth move under our feet this week! We'll listen to his Missa Et ecce terrae mot...

  • Added: Dec 21, 2022
  • Length: 58:30
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We're hearing Christmas music from German-speaking lands on today's show, including tracks from a recent release of motets from Heinrich Isaac's Ch...

  • Added: Dec 13, 2022
  • Length: 58:30
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This week we'll hear selections from a stunning new release of a reconstructed Christmas Vespers service as it may have been heard in San Marco, Ve...

  • Added: Dec 06, 2022
  • Length: 58:30
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The 2008 film In Bruges tells the story of two hitmen hiding out in the eponymous Belgian town. Renaissance composer Jacob Obrecht also lived throu...

  • Added: Nov 29, 2022
  • Length: 58:30
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Antonio Vivaldi wasn't the only virtuoso violinist working in Venice in the 18th century- there was also his close contemporary Giovanni Battista R...

  • Added: Nov 22, 2022
  • Length: 58:30
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This week we're getting to know a mysterious figure from the middle of the 15th century named Johannes Tourout. He was born in Flanders, and eventu...

  • Added: Nov 14, 2022
  • Length: 58:30
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The vivid instrumental colors on today's show mirror the gorgeous illuminations found in Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. We'll hear Sephardic...

  • Added: Nov 08, 2022
  • Length: 58:30