Early Music Now with Sara Schneider

Series produced by The WFMT Radio Network

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Early Music Now with Sara Schneider is a one-hour program showcasing music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and early Baroque: from sonorous medieval chant and polyphony to delightful renaissance madrigals, dances, and consort music to magnificent baroque cantatas and keyboard music.

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This series is available free of charge to all affiliate stations for one broadcast through June 24, 2023.

Click here to listen to a 10-minute sample of Early Music Now on our Website!

For more information, please contact:

Estlin Usher at eusher@wfmt.com (p) 773-279-2112

Early Music Now with Sara Schneider is a one-hour program showcasing music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and early Baroque: from sonorous medieval chant and polyphony to delightful renaissance madrigals, dances, and consort music to magnificent baroque cantatas and keyboard music.

Host and producer Sara Schneider brings knowledge, charm, and passion to her presentation of seven hundred years of music history. From the latest recordings by today’s vibrant young ensembles, to classics from the dawn of the early music revival, Early Music Now makes this repertoire accessible and enjoyable to a wide audience.

About the Host, Sara Schneider

After studying musicology at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Michigan native Sara Schneider put her love of music to work at Classical 89.5, KMFA in Austin, Texas; first as an announcer and producer, and subsequently as Music Director until 2014. From 2014 to 2016, Sara lived in Lübeck, Germany, where she researched and authored a novel, The Eagle and the Songbird.

Sara has interviewed numerous early music luminaries, including Ton Koopman, Anonymous 4, Jordi Savall, and the late Gustav Leonhardt. She is a two-time Gracie Award® winner: in 2011 she received the award for her program Michael Nyman: Motion and Emotion, and in 2018 for Her Name Shall Endure, a program about medieval woman of letters Christine de Pizan.

Sara serves on the board of Texas Early Music Project. In her spare time, she enjoys travel, hiking, and writing historical fiction, and she recently completed a teacher training program in Kundalini Yoga. Hide full description

Please login to PRX.org to preview program audio.


This series is available free of charge to all affiliate stations for one broadcast through June 24, 2023.

Click here to listen to a 10-minute sample of Early Music Now on our Website!

For more information, please contact:

Estlin Usher at eusher@wfmt.com (p) 773-279-2112

Early Music Now with Sara Schneider is a one-hour program showcasing music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and early Baroque: from sonorous medieval chant and polyphony to delightful renaissance madrigals, dances, and consort music to magnificent baroque cantatas and keyboard music.

Host and producer Sara Schneider brings knowledge, charm, and passion to her presentation of seven hundred years of music history. From the latest recordings by today’s vibrant young...

Show full description

52 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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Music for the Eucharist is the focus of this week's show, including Girolamo Frescobaldi's Toccata per Elevatione, Jesus Christus, nostra salus, by...

  • Added: May 30, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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In honor of Memorial Day we're listening to a stunning performance of Heinrich Biber's Requiem from a 2021 release featuring Vox Luminis and the Fr...

  • Added: May 23, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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Wonderful musical depictions are sprinkled throughout the works of Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer, from lute-playing angels to trumpets and drum...

  • Added: May 17, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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We'll hear about the life and times of Giovanni Boccaccio on this week's edition of Early Music Now, interspersed with music by his contemporaries ...

  • Added: May 08, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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The air is soft, the trees are blooming, and composers are wooing! We'll hear love songs set in the month of May by Ludwig Senfl and Raimbaut de Va...

  • Added: May 02, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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In honor of the coronation of King Charles III, we're off to Westminster Abbey to enjoy some of the music that was heard at the coronation of his p...

  • Added: Apr 25, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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This week we'll sample a recent release of music by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, performed by Ensemble Amarillis, and hear selections from a rar...

  • Added: Apr 18, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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Today's show presents a recent release from the Boston-based ensemble Blue Heron, directed by Scott Metcalfe. We'll hear selections from Guillaume ...

  • Added: Apr 11, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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We're celebrating Easter with motets by Thomas Crecquillon, Nicolas Gombert, Heinrich Isaac, and more, with performances by Stile Antico, The Talli...

  • Added: Apr 04, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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We'll hear chant and polyphony from medieval England from The Lily & the Lamb, performed by Anonymous 4, plus contemplative motets like Salve crux ...

  • Added: Mar 28, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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This week we're hearing from several composers who were driven to leave their homelands due to war or personal circumstances. Music by Antonia Bemb...

  • Added: Mar 20, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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This program includes selections from Jean-Baptiste Lully's final completed opera, Acis et Galatée, based on one of the stories from Ovid's Metamor...

  • Added: Mar 14, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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We're spending some time with two 16th century composers from the Low Countries who made it big in Italy: Adrian Willaert and Cipriano de Rore. We'...

  • Added: Mar 06, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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We're kicking off Women's History Month with a program of music by women composers and performers. We'll hear selections from Musica Secreta's late...

  • Added: Feb 27, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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This week we're delving into two recent releases of music by composers who worked for the Austrian court at Innsbruck. Singer Pur performs motets a...

  • Added: Feb 20, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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Guillaume Dufay returned to his hometown of Cambrai at the end of his life, and while there he composed his final masterpiece: Missa Ave Regina Cel...

  • Added: Feb 14, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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Host Sara Schneider shares a program of Italian love songs for Valentine's Day, including music by Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, and Biagio Marini. Our ...

  • Added: Feb 07, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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This week's show presents music from Renaissance Coimbra, performed by A Capella Portuguesa. We'll also get to know Vicente Lusitano, one of the fe...

  • Added: Jan 30, 2023
  • Length: 58:30
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We're sampling some more recent releases this week, including tracks from Lux Aeterna, the sixth album from the Gesualdo Six. We'll also hear violi...

  • Added: Jan 24, 2023
  • Length: 58:30