The Interlochen Collection

Cristian Măcelaru was surprised when he learned he'd been admitted to Interlochen Arts Academy because he thought he'd filled out the application for Interlochen Arts Camp instead.

At the Academy, Măcelaru discovered conducting, an experience that would change his life completely.

William Shakespeare's plays have inspired operas, operettas, musicals, concert works, incidental music, songs and choral music.

This week, we'll hear a variety of pieces of music based on works of the Bard, all performed by Interlochen students over the decades.

In 1977, Interlochen Center for the Arts celebrated its 50th camp season.

A World Youth Symphony Orchestra concert on August 7 featured guest conductor Howard Hanson.

Hanson had conducted student orchestras at Interlochen since the camp's first summer in 1928. 

On this program, we revisit a Sunday night in 1961 when Joe Maddy led the National High School Symphony Orchestra in two Tchaikovsky masterpieces: "Romeo and Juliet" and the Symphony no. 6.

This program explores the concerto grosso, from its roots in the eighteenth century to several 20th-century interpretations of the genre.

We'll hear Interlochen Arts Camp and Academy students perform hundreds of years of concerti grossi.

Founded in 1993, the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation seeks to help people in many ways.

The Foundation not only offers grants to support those who need medical and dental care, but it also regularly awards scholarships to music students.

The Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation Scholarship has supported dozens of Interlochen Arts Camp and Academy students over the past two decades. 

This week's program features a variety of music written in memory of someone or something.

Hear decades of Interlochen Arts Camp and Academy students perform a variety of elegies, requiems and memorials.

In April of 1982, esteemed American composer Alan Hovhaness visited Interlochen Arts Academy.

During his residency, Hovhaness worked with Academy students and faculty on his music.

His visit culminated with two concerts featuring his music for choir, band and orchestra.

The life and music of clarinetist David Shifrin is the focus of this week's episode.

David Shifrin spent four summers at the National Music Camp and two years at Interlochen Arts Academy, graduating in 1967. 

On this edition of The Interlochen Collection, it’s a variety of sacred and secular music for the Christmas season. 

Texts from the Book of Psalms have inspired composers for centuries.

This program features a variety of psalm settings performed by decades of students from Interlochen Arts Camp and Academy.

In July of 1985, soprano Marvis Martin visited Interlochen and presented a recital with pianist Gary Ledet.

When Martin gave her New York debut recital in 1981, a critic for the New York Times called her "promising" (she was only 21 years old at the time) and praised the "unusual brightness, evenness and quality" of her lyric soprano voice. 

This program features the career of Darita Seth, from his time as a student composer at Interlochen Arts Academy to his tenure with the ensemble Chanticleer to his current work as the artistic director of the chamber choir Choral Audacity.

Seth, the son of Cambodian refugee immigrants, was the first generation of his family born in the United States.

Drama, humor, passion, tragedy, love and death - opera has it all.

This week's program features decades of Interlochen students performing music from the operatic stage, including works composed by Aaron Copland, Umberto Giordano, Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner.

On this episode, we revisit a 1987 recital by pianist, composer, humorist and Interlochen Arts Camp/National Music Camp alumnus Jerry Bilik featuring "musicological oddities of the early years of Interlochen."

According to Bilik, many popular songs like "Stardust" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" were actually created by Interlochen campers.

On this episode, we celebrate the orchestral music of Ludwig van Beethoven, including over half a century of Interlochen students playing the composer's Symphony no. 7. 

Gohar Vardanyan walked into World History with Mr. McCall for her first day of classes at Interlochen Arts Academy. The TV was on, and horrible images were on the screen.

It was September 11, 2001.

This program features music that is "petite," "little," "miniature," "small" and, of course, "kleine."

Hear decades of student musicians from Interlochen Arts Camp and Academy perform music of Mozart, Gonoud, Turina, Bach, Haydn and Debussy. 

In May 1977, the esteemed American choral conductor Gregg Smith visited Interlochen.

Smith founded the Gregg Smith Singers in the 1950s and specialized in the music of the United States at a time when not many musicians were doing so.

This program features a variety of music by American composers performed by Interlochen Arts Academy and Camp students.

There will be American hymns, dances, and folk and patriotic songs, plus music about baseball.

This episode is devoted to the music of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Hear decades of student performances from Interlochen Arts Academy and Camp, featuring incidental music, choral music, folk song transcriptions and a very famous fantasia by Vaughan Williams.

Composer, percussionist, producer, drummer and studio musician Clara Warnaar is featured on this week's program.

A 2009 graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Warnaar is now based in New York City and has a multifaceted career. 

This program features music from the medieval and renaissance eras, but reimagined by 20th-century composers.

Hear Notre Dame polyphony, Renaissance keyboard pieces and a variety of instrumental dance music brought to life by modern wind bands, brass ensembles and orchestras.

This week's program features music of Sergei Prokofiev.

Join us for an hour of music performed by Interlochen Arts Camp and Arts Academy students through the decades. 

The program includes archival recordings of Prokofiev's music for opera, ballet and film, plus chamber music inspired by folk sounds of Kabarda, a remote region of the Caucasus. 

On this program, we revisit a radio broadcast from July 1974 that featured a complete performance of The Planets by Gustav Holst.

The performance included the World Youth Symphony Orchestra, High School Women's Chorus and student narrators Abbe Sher and Phillip Silverman.