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 Town Meeting: What is the Difference Between Socialism and Welfare?
January 24, 1950 (596th broadcast)
Moderator: George V. Denny
Speakers: Helen Gahgan Douglas, Herman W. Steinkraus and Norman Thomas
Norman Thomas (1884-1968)
An American Socialist politician. Ordained a Presbyterian minister, he resigned from the ministry and founded and edited World To-Morrow, he was the associate editor of The Nation, and the director for the League of Industrial Democracy. He was the Socialist candidate for president of the United States from 1928 through 1944, and author of America's Way Out - A Program for Democracy, As I See It, and War-No Profit, No Glory, No Need.
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 Kurt Weill Concert
Saturday, February 3, 1951
Featuring The Three Penny Opera in concert version as well as excerpts from One Touch of Venus, Knickerbocker Holiday, and Mahagonny.
Lotte Lenya (1898-1981)
An Austrian singer and actor. After gaining fame as Jenny in the Berlin production and film version of Brecht and Weill's Die Dreigroschenoper, she also created the roles of Anna in Die Sieben Todsurden, Miriam in the Eternal Road, The Duchess in The Firebrand of Florence, she also appeared in the films From Russia with Love and Cabaret. Learn more about Lotte Lenya on line at www.kwf.org/
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 Claudio Arrau
Saturday, October 17, 1953
Program One
Presenting the 32 Piano Sonatas by Ludwig Van Beethovan in Grand Cycle of Seven Recitals
Claudio Arrau (1903-1991)
A child prodigy, made his debut as pianist in Santiago at the age of five. Esteemed as one of the century's greatest musical artists.
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 New York Sinfonia -
Clayton Westerman, conductor
Wednesday, January 23, 1957
Soloists: Joseph Fuchs, violin and Lillian Fuchs, viola
Clayton Westerman (1931-)
An American conductor known for conducting the New York Sinfonia. The New York Sinfonia made its Town Hall debut on December 12, 1956.
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 Ravi Shankar in a sitar recital
February 1957
Accompanied by Chanur Lal
Program: Rága Maru Bihág and Rága Kirwáni for sitar and tabla; Tabla Solo by Chantur Lal, Rága Ábhogi sitar solo and Rága Sindhi Bhairavi in Thurmi style
Ravi Shankar (1920-)
Sitarist and composer. He is considered India's most esteemed musical Ambassador and a singular phenomenon in the classical music worlds of East and West. As a performer, composer, teacher and writer, he has done more to advance Indian music than any other musician. He is well known for his pioneering work in bringing Indian music to the West. In 1986 he was nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha, India's upper house of Parliament. His recording Tana Mana, released on the private Music label in 1987, brought Mr. Shankar's music into the "New Age" with its unique method of combining traditional instruments with electronics. Read more about Ravi Shankar on line.
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 Jazz Concert for the Benefit of The Herald Tribune Fresh Air Fund
Wednesday, April 17, 1957
Featuring: Oldest Established Permanent Floating Jazz Band, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra and the Herald Tribune Fresh Air Fund Disc-Jockey Awards.
Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
Composer, bandleader, and pianist. Edward Kennedy Ellington was recognized in his lifetime as one of the greatest jazz composers and performers. Nicknamed "Duke" by a boyhood friend who admired his regal air, the name stuck and became indelibly associated with the finest creations in big band and vocal jazz. A genius for instrumental combinations, improvisation, and jazz arranging brought the world the unique "Ellington sound" that found consummate expression in works like Mood Indigo, Sophisticated Lady, and the symphonic suites Black, Brown, and Beige and Harlem. Read more about Duke Ellington on line.
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 Carlos Montoya
Friday, October 11, 1957
Program: La Rosa, Guajiras, fandanguillo, Tientos, Malaguenas, Zamba, Granadinas, Saeta, Soleres, Zambrilla, Bulerias, Alegrias, Farruca, Seguiriya Gitana, Trantas and Jota Aragonesa.
Carlos Montoya (1903 -1993)
A leading flamenco guitarist. He began playing in Cafes Cantantes at age 14. He toured Europe, Asia and the US playing major concert halls with leading symphonic orchestras.
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 Betty Allen, mezzo-soprano
Sunday, January 5, 1958
Paul Ulanowsky at the piano, assisted by the Beaux-Arts String Quartet.
Betty Allen (1930-)
Mezzo-soprano who was the recipient of a scholarship to Tanglewood, where she was selected by Leonard Bernstein to sing his Jeremiah Symphony. Bernstein chose her to solo in his last concert as musical director of the New York Philharmonic. She made her operatic debut in Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts. Currently she is the Executive Director of the Harlem School of the Arts, and a member of the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.
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 American Opera Society presents
The Coronation of Poppea
Conductor, Arnold Gamson, Chorus director, Margart Hills, Director, George Mully
Cast: Donald Gramm, Frank Porretta, Glade Peterson, Leontyne Price, Robert Rounseville, Mariquita Moll, Sarah Fleming, Ezio Flagello, Judith Raskin, Florence Kopleff and Larence Chelsi
Leontyne Price (1927-)
An American opera singer. Acclaimed as one of the greatest sopranos of her time, she has been called the "girl with the golden voice," and "the Stradivarius of singers." A concert given by Marion Anderson in Jackson, Mississippi inspired her to try for a career in music. She caught Virgil Thomson's attention when he heard her sing in a student production at Julliard, and he invited her to sing in the Broadway revival of his opera Four Saints in Three Acts. Her debut was at The Town Hall in 1954.
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 The Thelonius Monk Orchestra at Town Hall
Recorded Live: February 28, 1959
Cover produced and designed by Paul Bacon - Kevin Braren - Harris Lewine
1989, Fantasy Inc.
Thelonius Monk (1917-1982)
One of the most brilliant and original performers in jazz, Thelonious Monk was also one of the century's outstanding composers. 'Round Midnight is one of the most recorded jazz songs of all time. He has a unique ability to meld intricate, surprising harmonic shifts and rhythmic quirks into appealing, funky riffs. His compositions exact incisive improvising. His improvisations are at once witty, terse and thought provoking.
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 Nina Simone at Town Hall
Recorded Live: September 15, 1959
Nina Simone (1933-2003)
Songstress. She is an uncompromising personality. Her interpretations of pop, soul, jazz, blues and standards are both compulsive and unique. Simone studied at New York's Juilliard School of Music. Her jazz credentials were established in1959 when she secured a hit with an emotive interpretation of George Gershwin 's I Loves You Porgy. Her influential 60s work included Gin House Blues, Forbidden Fruit, I Put A Spell On You, and Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood. The singer's popular fortune flourished upon her signing with RCA Records. Ain't Got No - I Got Life, a song from the musical Hair, was a UK number 2 hit, while her searing version of the Bee Gees' To Love Somebody reached number 5. In America, her own composition, To Be Young, Gifted And Black, dedicated to her late friend, the playwright Lorraine Hansberry, reflected Simone's growing militancy.
Read more about Nina at ninasimone.com/
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 Igor Stravinsky with Robert Craft
Sunday, December 20, 1959
The Columbia Symphony Orchestra, The American Concert Choir and special guests - the composer pianist: Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss, Roger Sessions, with Mildred Allen, soprano, Elaine Bonazzi & Regina Sarfaty, mezzo-sopranos, Loren Dricoli, tenor and Robert Oliver, bass.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
An American composer who was recognized as one of the greatest composers of the 20th Century. His early work was influenced by the teachings of Rimsky-Korsakov, a style that he abandoned to develop a neo-classical idiom. Stravinsky's fresh, meticulously crafted, innovative music revitalized European musical expression and achieved new sonorities and orchestral colors.
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