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Petroc Trelawny explores the music of North Texas, with guests including conductor Robert Spano and composer Quinn Mason, and live music from Orpheus Chamber Singers.

The third of four special live programmes across the US, as 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Live from WRR studios in Dallas, North Texas, Petroc Trelawny explores the musical life within one of the largest metropolitan areas in the US, with specially recorded performances from the Orpheus Chamber Singers, Dallas's foremost professional choir.

With a range of the greatest music by US composers and musicians throughout the programme, the focus inevitably falls on recordings made by the area's two main symphony orchestras: Petroc visits the Bass Performance Hall to meet conductor Robert Spano, musical director of Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera, and meets members of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and their musical director Fabio Luisi. Petroc also talks to Shira Samuels-Shragg, an alumna of Dallas's International Opera Award-winning Hart Institute for Women Conductors.

Dallas-born composer Quinn Mason talks about his love for the city, and with a visit to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza in downtown Dallas, Petroc remembers the role of Barber's Adagio for Strings as played by the National Symphony Orchestra at the funeral in 1963. Petroc embraces his inner cowboy at the Fort Worth Stockyards, and WRR host Emilio Alvarez joins him live in the studio to talk about the area's rich tradition of community music-making, and the historic centre of blues music, Deep Ellum.

29 days left to listen

2 hours, 59 minutes

Last on

Today09:00
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • George Frideric Handel

    All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray (Messiah HWV 56, original version)

    Orchestra: Dallas Bach Society Chorus & Orchestra.

  • Charles-Marie Widor [1844-1937]/Marcel Dupré

    Marche américaine, Op 31

    Performer: Christopher Herrick.

  • Miklós Rózsa

    Violin Concerto, Op 24 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Jascha Heifetz. Orchestra: Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Walter Hendl.

  • Sophia Jani

    I Wish You Daisies and Roses

    Orchestra: Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Fabio Luisi.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Symphony No 3 in F major, Op 90 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Fabio Luisi.

  • Samuel Barber

    To Be Sung on the Water

    Ensemble: Orpheus Chamber Singers. Conductor: J D Burnett.

  • Trad.

    Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel

    Music Arranger: Moses Hogan. Ensemble: Orpheus Chamber Singers. Conductor: J D Burnett.

  • Malcolm Arnold

    Quintet for Brass (1st mvt)

    Performer: Dallas Brass.
    • Dallas Brass.

  • Santiago Jiménez

    Ay Te Dejo en San Antonio

    Singer: Santiago Jiménez. Singer: Leonardo "Flaco" Jiménez. Singer: Juan Viesca.
    • His First and Last Recordings.
    • Arhoolie Records.
    • 6.

  • Scott Joplin

    The Entertainer

    Performer: Lara Downes. Performer: Joe Brent. Music Arranger: Lara Downes. Music Arranger: Joe Brent.
    • REFLECTIONS: Scott Joplin Reconsidered.
    • Rising Sun Records.
    • 7.

  • Gaetano Donizetti

    Al dolce guidami (Anna Bolena)

    Performer: Maria Callas. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Nicola Rescigno.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Leonore Overture No 3, Op 72b

    Orchestra: Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Shira Samuels-Shragg.

  • Quinn Mason

    Svitani

    Orchestra: A Far Cry.

  • Aaron Copland

    Buckaroo Holiday (4 Dance episodes from Rodeo)

    Orchestra: Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Donald Johanos.

  • Trad.

    I'd Like to Be in Texas when they Roundup in the Spring (reprise)

    Performer: Don Edwards.

  • Vincenzo Bellini

    Ah non credea mirarti (La sonnambula)

    Performer: Cecilia Bartoli. Performer: Juan Diego Flores. Orchestra: Orchestra La Scintilla. Conductor: Alessandro De Marchi.

  • Claude Debussy

    Clair de Lune (Suite Bergamasque)

    Performer: Van Cliburn.

  • Trad.

    Texas Trilogy (Yellow Rose of Texas, Streets of Laredo, Deep in the Heart of Texas)

    Music Arranger: David Hanson. Orchestra: Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Waddie Mitchell.

  • Jerrold Immel

    'Dallas' Theme

    Orchestra: Studio Orchestra.
    • Burning Girl.

  • Léo Delibes

    Sous le dôme épais (Lakmé)

    Singer: Renée Fleming. Singer: Susan Graham. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Sebastian Lang-Lessing.
    • Guilty Pleasures.
    • Decca.
    • 9.

  • Samuel Adler

    Violin Sonata No 2 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Michelle Ross. Performer: Michael Brown.
    • Samuel Adler: Chamber & Instrumental Music.
    • Toccata Classics.
    • 3.

  • Traditional American

    Deep Elem Blues (excerpt)

    Performer: The Shelton Brothers.
    • The Allen Brothers.
    • JSP Records.
    • 75.

  • Traditional American

    It's Nobody's Fault but Mine (excerpt)

    Composer: Blind Willie Johnson. Performer: Blind Willie Johnson.
    • Dark Was The Night (Mojo Workin'- Blues For The Next Generation).
    • Columbia/Legacy.
    • 14.

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Pas d'action & Rose Adagio from The Sleeping Beauty

    Music Arranger: Andrew Litton. Orchestra: Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Litton.

  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony No 2 "Resurrection" (5th mvt)

    Performer: Barbara Hendricks. Choir: Westminster Choir. Orchestra: New York Philharmonic. Conductor: Leonard Bernstein.

  • Samuel Barber

    Adagio for Strings

    Orchestra: St Louis Symphony. Conductor: Leonard Slatkin.

  • Percy Grainger

    Shepherd's Hey

    Ensemble: Dallas Winds. Conductor: Jerry Junkin.
    • Reference Recordings.

  • Shavon Lloyd

    So Breaks the Sun

    Choir: Orpheus Chamber Singers. Conductor: J D Burnett.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Symphony No 9 in E Minor, Op 95, B178, "From the New World" (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic. Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel.
    • Dvořák: Symphonies Nos. 7-9.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).

Broadcast

  • Today09:00
    BBC Radio 3