Fishko Files Since 1999, WNYC's Sara Fishko has been producing insightful personal essays on the arts by mixing colorful sound, intimate interviews and thoughtful commentary. NPR presents Fishko Files: on music.

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Fishko Files

Personal essays on the arts by mixing colorful sound, intimate interviews and thoughtful commentary.

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Cover art for the American release of Peter And The Wolf on RCA Victor. Courtesy RCA Victor hide caption

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Courtesy RCA Victor

'Peter And The Wolf' Turns 75

WNYC Radio

May 2, 2011 • Prokofiev's classic musical fairytale turns 75. It's an innocent piece written during troubled times.

'Peter And The Wolf' Turns 75

7:05

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Monk At Town Hall: Five Decades Of Jazz Lore

WNYC Radio

February 28, 2009 • Fifty years ago, Thelonious Monk stepped onto the stage of New York's Town Hall theater with nine other musicians to perform new arrangements of some of his best-known tunes. The concert has become the stuff of legend. This week, two groups of younger players took the same stage for tribute concerts.

Opinion

The Real-Life Drama Behind 'West Side Story'

WNYC Radio

January 7, 2009 • Written in the mid-1950s, West Side Story showcased adult themes and harsh language, which was bold for musical productions. Sara Fishko reflects on its behind-the-scenes tension and cultural impact.

The Real-Life Drama Behind 'West Side Story'

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Moran On Monk: Finding Rhythm And Space

WNYC Radio

October 15, 2008 • Jazz pianist Jason Moran has been praised for his eclectic and distinctive sound. But sometimes, Moran says, he's in danger of becoming inhabited by the brilliant jazz innovator of another time, Thelonious Monk. Here, Moran talks about discovering one of his biggest musical influences.

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Playing Five Beats To The Measure

WNYC Radio

September 26, 2008 • One of the appealing things about Lalo Schifrin's theme to Mission Impossible is that it's written in 5/4 time: five beats to the measure, instead of the more commonplace three or four. WNYC's Sara Fishko explores the atypical time signature's usage in music by Tchaikovsky, Dave Brubeck and more.

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Lalo Schifrin's American Rhapsody

July 27, 2008 • One of the most quintessentially American composers of the 20th century was not an American. But as a boy in Argentina, Schifrin discovered George Gershwin and Louis Armstrong, setting him — and his celebrated film scores — on a path to fame.

The Sound Of Summertime In Six Notes

WNYC Radio

July 18, 2008 • It's an extraordinarily simple song from a work initially met with indifference. But with summer now at full tilt, George Gershwin's enduring ode to the season is again in the air wherever the living is easy.

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On Rostropovich: Cellists Remember a Master

WNYC Radio

April 28, 2008 • He was a conductor, an activist, and a public figure in the world of classical music. But before all that, Mstislav Rostropovich captivated the world with his cello. Sara Fishko talks to leading cellists about "Slava" and his legacy.

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7:22

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Navigating Through the Toscanini Maze

WNYC Radio

March 25, 2008 • The first time Arturo Toscanini conducted an orchestra, he was 19, and the year was 1886. The last time he conducted a live performance came 68 years later, in 1954. Sara Fishko tries to weave through the immense web of musical history he left behind.

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7:07

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How Van Cliburn Took Moscow

WNYC Radio

February 29, 2008 • Fifty years ago, a classical pianist from Texas took advantage of a thaw in the Cold War and left for the first International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in the Soviet Union. He came back to a ticker-tape parade in New York.

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7:11

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Why Do We Love the 'Moonlight' Sonata?

WNYC Radio

January 31, 2008 • With more than 80 different recordings available, just about every pianist of note has interpreted Beethoven's famous piano sonata. Yet pianists continue to return to the piece in order to make it their own.

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