A VOA Snapshot - Part of the continuing coverage in this, VOA's 60th Anniversary Year
Through much of VOA's history, classical music was part of our Sunday evening English schedule.
Washington area musician Rich Kleinfeldt hosted the Concert Hall for more than a decade until it went off the air in 1999. "I wanted people to hear in the voice of the artist - what they did, how they presented the music, their background in classical music, how they thought of it and what it meant to them," recalled Mr. Kleinfeldt.
"I had Zubin Mehta on the program once, the great conductor. He grew up in India. In India, he had some wonderful stories about growing up in his father's orchestra and sitting with the musicians in the orchestra."
Over the years, Concert Hall built a faithful audience. Rich Kleinfeldt received letters from classical music lovers all over the world. He says one of the letters he remembers most fondly came from a lady who was in charge of a nursing home in Malaysia.
"She wrote to me and said [that] the program was on Sunday nights, which was a perfect time because it gave her a chance to play the music for the people at the nursing home and have them all sit around and listen and enjoy the calming qualities of classical music," he said.
Concert Hall and many other shows were discontinued in 1999 when VOA News Now went on the air. But this year, in celebration of our 60th anniversary, VOA is hosting a series of classical music concerts in our auditorium. The concerts will be broadcast, once again on Sunday evenings, through the rest of the year.
To write to us about our anniversary, send an email to anniversary@voanews.com. Or send regular mail to:
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