A Baroque flute/lute combo greets this morning's sun at 6:22am. Later, JS Bach's flute/harpsichord sonata at 8:05am and Vaughan Williams's ethereal depiction of a lark ascending at 9:36am. @WETAClassical, where you're always invited.

Highlights this morning (Aug. 12) on WETA Classical include Beethoven to greet the sun for Classical Sunrise 6:20am; Dvorak's poignant song, "Songs My Mother Taught Me", performed on cello 7:56am; and a Mozart Flute Quartet at 8:16am. Refresh on this August morning with us!

Greeting a nice August morn's sun with Classical Sunrise at 6:14am on WETA. Also, segments of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations for piano 6:46am; a confectionary Concerto Symphonique 8:47am; and the lovely Adagio for cello by Woldemar Bargiel (Clara Schumann's half-brother!)

In the ancient Islamic world, a Kalandar Prince was a wandering mystic living in poverty and relying on charity for sustenance. Rimsky-Korsakov's sensitive musical portrayal of the Kalandar Prince from Arabian Nights collection is featured 8:44am today @WETAClassical.

Highlights this morning @WETAClassical: 1st movement of Beethoven's earliest "grand" piano sonata 7:05am; Fauré's lovely Sicilienne for oboe d'amore 7:47am; Chabrier's ode to Spain 8:46am; and finale of Scriabin's (contemporary of Rachmaninoff) piano concerto 9:17am. Join us!

Liberté, égalité, fraternité! Bastille Day @WETAClassical this morning showcases les musiciens français during 8am hour. Allons enfants, bring a café au lait and croissant and join us.

Today's World Chocolate Day, honoring the 1st day it entered Europe in 1550, although earliest record of using cacao seeds dates from 1100 BC in Central America. Something to enjoy with wonderful Classical music this morning on WETA Classical. And early Classical Sunrise 5:50am!

It's been suggested that Beethoven's "Ghost" Piano Trio is so-named because of the spooky mood of its slow movement or maybe it was intended as music for LvB's setting of an opera based on Shakespeare's Macbeth. Hear the entire trio today 9:05am on WETA Classical.

Some highlights this AM on WETA Classical include a Baroque lute/flute duo at 7:12am; orchestral segments of operas Der Rosenkavalier and Das Rheingold starting at 8:30am; and Robert Schumann's exuberant Piano Quintet at 9:05am. You're always invited.

Happy birthday to Grammy Award-winning conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, born 1958 in Helsinki, Finland. Former music director of LA Phil and Philharmonia Orchestra in London, recently concluded his directorship of the San Francisco Symphony. 🎂🎈.

Renaissance/Baroque composer Giovanni Gabrielli used two lofts in San Marco Basilica in Venice to place choirs of instruments to create a stereo effect for his Canzons for brass and strings from 1615. Hear one 6:55am this morning @WETAClassical. Chill with us.

Two musician birthdays of note today, June 18: Ignaz Pleyel (b. 1757), Austrian composer and piano builder, and Sir Paul McCartney (b. 1942), English singer and songwriter and former 🪲. Happy birthday to all.

A trio sonata by influential Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli is tomorrow (June 17)'s Classical Sunrise at 5:42am @WETAClassical, followed by a lovely piano tone poem about aspen trees composed by American George Chadwick. Early, yes, but I think worth it. Join us.

Highlights on WETA Classical for this warm Washington DC morning include a mandolin performance of a JS Bach concerto 6:23am; Brahms cello sonata 8:29am; a Baroque lute & flute concerto 8:55am; and Vaughn Williams's Lark Ascending 9:35am. Hope you'll spend some time with us.

Viola da gamba, a member of the viol family, was widely used during Renaissance and Baroque eras; a fretted, stringed instrument held between the legs but slightly different from the cello. Hear it this morning in a work from the 18th century at 7:47am on WETA Classical.

Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, a sober story of an obsession with gambling, the supernatural and a powerful secret that leads to madness. This season's finale of live Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. Today 1pm @WETA Classical.

Major birthdays on this June 6 include writer Alexander Pushkin (1799), whose work inspired great opera like Eugene Onegin; Nobel Prize-winning author Thomas Mann (1875); conductor Klaus Tennstedt (1926); and tennis great Björn Borg (1956).🎂.

Of Robert Schumann, renowned pianist Martha Argerich said she's drawn to his honesty, spontaneity and touching soul. In honor of her 84th birthday today, her performance of the finale of Schumann's Piano Concerto at 7:29am on WETA Classical. ¡Feliz cumpleaños!🎂🎹.

We follow the sun at WETA Classical each weekday morning to determine the time of the Classical Sunrise feature. A wise philosopher once said, "The sunrise holds many secrets". Tomorrow (June 4) a 20th century piano quintet is Classical Sunrise at 5:44am.

Chamber music you may enjoy this morning @WETAClassical includes Brahms Piano Quintet (1960 performance with Leon Fleisher) at 6:36am; Mozart piano/violin/cello trio at 8:05am; Fauré Piano Trio 8:35am. And Beethoven cello music for early Classical Sunrise at 5:46am. Join us!