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I first heard of guitarist Samantha Fish four to five years ago; probably on YouTube. She got great exposure with earlier tunes like the wonderful "Crow Jane," where Samantha performs on a cigar box guitar. I knew, eventually, I'd like to see her live and possibly do an interview, all of which all happened thanks to Ms Fish and her team!

It’s only natural that there should be an affinity between various genres of music, and that includes classical and more popular formats — musical comedy, for example, or jazz. This week, we’ll look at some composers and songwriters who have shared more than one limelight. The names will all be familiar but the selections might be somewhat extra-curricular. Or maybe not. It depends on your point of view.

Paul Hindemith, Kurt Weill, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Igor Stravinsky had little in common — except that they chose not to live and work in their native countries: On this week’s program, we’ll listen to some music from these four composers who chose to absent themselves from the Third Reich and the Soviet Union.

There wasn’t a lot of Christmas programming on television in 1952…..There wasn’t much programming, period. It was anyone’s guess as to where this new entertainment medium was headed. NBC commissioned a one-hour opera from Gian Carlo Menotti, and Amahl and the Night Visitors aired on Christmas eve. This tale of a visit by the Three Kings became an instant holiday classic, and we’ll have a performance of it this Sunday.

When the Pilgrims left Southampton in 1620, they left behind a thriving European musical scene. Not that the Pilgrims listened to much music; actually they tended to frown on it. But just for fun, we’ll listen to some of the tunes they might have heard if they had been listening — which they weren’t.

Wilhelm Furtwangler was music director of the Berlin Philharmonic during World War II, and his political legacy is complicated — and not necessarily what you might expect. He was also widely regarded as one of the greatest Beethoven interpreters of the last century, and we’ll have a rare live recording of him conducting the Eroica Symphony this Sunday.

Antonio Vivaldi liked the springtime and autumn of the year; summer and winter, not so much. Regardless of whether he was reveling in the new greenery or kvetching about the sleet, he was one who could turn observations of the weather into an art.

The Siena Pianoforte was salvaged from a Tel Aviv dump after having been used as a hive for bees, a chicken coop, and maybe even a smokehouse for sausages. Of such tales are legends made — some of them might even be true!

Niccolo Paganini, perhaps the most flamboyant and famous violinist of his time, acquired a new viola and he wanted to show it off. Paganini’s solution was to commission Hector Berlioz to write a concert showpiece.

Aaron Copland — a city boy — made a name for himself with music evocative of the American West. It’s a romanticized West, of course it is, but we’ll look at one of the first of his “oater-ballets,” Billy the Kid, this Sunday, and we’ll hear a couple of the others in upcoming weeks as well.