It's KBAQ's "This week in classical music" -- an update on what's happening in the classical music world... I'm Randy Kinkel.

Cellist-Conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, 79, has been hospitalized in Moscow for an undisclosed illness in satisfactory condition and improving, according to his spokeswoman. "He has gotten a bit sick, but he will be OK, said spokeswoman Natalia Dollezhal. Rostropovich was originally hospitalized in Paris on Tuesday, and then decided to return to Moscow.

John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath" has been made into an opera, and it premiered this weekend in St. Paul, Minnesota. The opera, written by Composer Ricky Ian Gordon with Librettist Michael Korie, may not strike audiences as particularly "operatic" in the traditional sense. The work is a hybrid between opera nad a traditional broadway musical. Librettist Korie said, "I'm hoping people will want to see it-regular people." Brian Leerhuber, the Baritone who sings the role of Tom Joad, says, "I wouldn't be surprised to hear people humming some of the tunes in the bathroom during intermission... you can't say that about many new American operas." Deanne Meek, who sings the part of Ma Joad, agrees. "It's as relevant today as the day it was written, and I think people are going to be struck anew by that. These are issues that are present in our own back yards."

The 10th annual Sphinx Competition wraps up today in Detroit. Some of the finest young minority string players in the nation, backed by the all-black and latino Sphinx Symphony will compete for more than $100,000 in prizes and scholarships to top music schools and opportunities to play with American Orchestras. The organization reaches into Detroit neighborhoods with teachers and instruments for beginners, and runs an intensive summer camp, as well as teacher training and visits by musicians that reach 20,000 kids a year. Founder Aaron Dworkin says the program increases exposure to the classics and helps fill the gaps left by dwindling school music programs.

For more information on these and other items and events, go to the KBAQ website at KBAQ.org... be listening every week at this time for another update, and join me at noon every weekday for the Mozart Buffet, an hour of music by Mozart and his contemporaries. I'm Randy Kinkel, for KBAQ's "This week in Classical Music" on 89.5 KBAQ Phoenix, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University.

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February 11th, 2007 by Randy Kinkel courtesy of KBAQ.

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Title: February 11th, 2007
Author: Randy Kinkel
Publisher: KBAQ 89.5 FM
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