Frank Dominguez

Remembering a Friend of Classical Music in Charlotte

December 4, 2009Frank DominguezUncategorizedLeave a comment

Last Sunday, the Charlotte-area arts community lost one of its more beloved figures, Dr. George Stegner. For decades he was a music teacher at Queens University (then College) in Charlotte.
He was also well known to Charlotte Symphony patrons for his 37 years of writing the detailed and enlightening program notes for the CSO concerts. He and his wife, Jackie, were a constant presence at local music events. If you bumped into them at a concert, they were always available for pleasant chats about music.
The Stegners supported WDAV from the very beginning. I have many fond memories of George phoning me here at the station to chat about the music I was currently playing on the air, or a piece of music that he felt WDAV listeners would enjoy. And it was always a highlight of my day whenever I saw George and Jackie at the concerts.
I will always hold George dear in my heart. And I am comforted to know that I will still be able to see Jackie at the Friends of Music at Queens concerts.
Details about Dr. George Stegner’s wonderful life are here.

– Ted Weiner, WDAV Music Director

Holiday specials begin on WDAV

November 23, 2009Frank DominguezUncategorizedA Carolina Christmas from Biltmore Estate with Kathy Mattea, holiday specials, WDAVLeave a comment

Call me crazy, but while other folks are anticipating the turkey and gravy, the favorite side dishes made from family recipes, and the overall feast of goodwill that is Thanksgiving, I look forward to the start of the holiday specials on WDAV.
As Program Director for the station, one of my responsibilities is setting up the broadcast schedule. That means I personally select the holiday specials which we’ll carry, and I decide where on the program schedule they belong to bring good cheer to the maximum number of listeners.

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CSO On Campus

November 9, 2009Frank DominguezUncategorizedCSO on Campus, Davidson College, Jonathan Martin, Levine Museum, Mint Museum of ArtLeave a comment

The Charlotte Symphony is continuing an innovative project for a second year with some of the area’s major arts groups as partners. CSO on Campus is a series of multi-disciplinary events presented in collaboration with the Levine Museum of the New South and the Mint Museum of Art, and taking place on six local college campuses, including Davidson College.
The programming draws from exhibits at both museums – Changing Places: From Black and White to Technicolor at the Levine Museum, and Loïs Mailou Jones: A Life in Vibrant Color at the Mint Museum of Art – and consists of lectures, exhibits and performances in a variety of venues.
According to CSO Executive Director Jonathan Martin, “It is especially important in these times that cultural organizations work together. It produces richer, multi-layered cultural expressions for the local community.”
There’s a complete schedule of events at the Charlotte Symphony website.

Alicia de Larrocha Dies at 86

September 28, 2009Frank DominguezUncategorizedAlicia de Larrocha, Barcelona, pianist, piano, Spain, SpanishLeave a comment

A diminutive Spanish pianist with a giant talent passed away Friday night. Alicia de Larrocha was beloved as an interpreter of both Mozart and Spanish composers, and played with a lightness and subtlety that seemed to match her small stature. She gave her first recital at five, had her orchestral debut at age nine, and continued her career until just a few years ago when she formally retired. In addition to her role as a concert artist, she was a capable and respected teacher and arts administrator at the Frank Marshall School in Barcelona, where she herself studied with the founder as a child. Read about the highlights of her career and her approach to music making by clicking here.

Reflections on WDAV’s 30th

December 1, 2008Frank DominguezUncategorized30th Anniversary, classical music, classical public radio, classical radio, Frank Dominguez, WDAV2 Comments

WDAV’s 30th anniversary has special significance for me, and not simply because I work at the station.
I’ve been here in one position or another long enough to be considered a “veteran,” but many of my co-workers, such as Ted Weiner and Rachel Stewart, have been here even longer. Even our most youthful music host, Jennifer Foster, who started as a student announcer, has been here longer than I (although she has left and come back a few times).
But I’d have fond memories of WDAV even if I’d never had the privilege of working here. My first recollection of WDAV traces back to my last night as a single man.

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The Mysterious Barricades in Classical Music

September 29, 2008Frank DominguezUncategorizedAcademy of St. Martin in the Fields, classical music, classical music terminology, classical term, WDAV3 Comments

Some listeners from Mint Hill happened to be in Davidson the other day and decided on an impulse to drop by the station with a burning question: what the heck is the Academy of St. Martin-in -the-Fields? They knew it was an orchestra, of course, but were mystified by the name – as well as by how often they hear it on WDAV. Just how many recordings has the orchestra made, anyway?
The question took me by surprise at first, and then I remembered how I’d had a similar thought hearing their recordings played on the radio as a young listener. I also had a completely inaccurate mental image of conductor Neville Marriner that was influenced by my love of comic books – the only other “mariner” I’d ever heard of was Marvel’s Namor, The Submariner, who lived under the sea wearing nothing but scaly trunks and wings on his ankles. Wings under water? But that’s a question for comic book legend Stan Lee, not this blog.

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9/11: Music and Remembrance

September 10, 2007Frank DominguezUncategorizedLeave a comment

There are dates that come along once in a generation during which something occurs – usually catastrophic in nature – that indelibly impresses the date in our collective memories.
No one who witnessed September 11th, 2001, even from afar, will ever forget those events. The anniversary of the attacks has been triggering such memories in me for years, and apart from the images of horror we’re all familiar with, my memories revolve around WDAV.

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The Latest Movie/Music Phenom

August 21, 2007Frank DominguezUncategorized1 Comment

Recently a WDAV listener was moved to write to the station about the new movie Vitus. You can see a trailer for it at http://www.sonyclassics.com/vitus/ .
It seems that every few years there’s a new art house flick that delves into the oft neglected realm of classical music. This one tells the fanciful story of a prodigy’s adjustment to his family’s ambitions and the world around him.

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