Get a head start on your April Fool's Day pranks this Friday at 6 PM when Classical IPR presents Igudesman and Joo: You Just Have to Laugh!
Produced, written and hosted by the violinist Aleksey Igudesman and pianist Hyung-ki Joo, this one-hour special highlights the pair’s lively banter as they explain—offering musical clips, tidbits and performances as evidence—what makes some composers and their compositions downright funny. Igudesman & Joo’s give-and-take, a mix of erudition and verbal hijinks, provides an enlightening and comic spin on your average classical music experience.
For Igudesman & Joo, it’s all of the above and listeners will learn and laugh along with them. Inspired by their musical heroes, Igudesman & Joo have penned their own comic classics, which are liberally sprinkled into the show, including the series’ theme song “You Just Have to Laugh,” a satirical ode to Wagner, “Ride of the Oy Valkeries,” and “Horror Movies,” a screamingly funny paean to film scores.
No strangers to radio, the duo has performed several times at WFMT and were acclaimed for giving one of the year’s most memorable live in-studio New York performances on WNYC-FM’s celebrated music program “Soundcheck.” Canada’s CBC Radio commissioned Igudesman & Joo to produce three comical skits for their own broadcasts, with the mission to “fix all of classical music’s problems,” following in the sizeable footsteps of another multi-faceted artist who transformed the medium, Glenn Gould.
