Michael Kownacky
Program HostMichael is program host and host of the WWFM Sunday Opera, Sundays at 3 pm, and co-host of The Dress Circle, Sundays at 7 pm.
You can also hear Michael, along with his The Dress Circle co-host, on JazzOn2, every Wednesday evening from 7pm, eastern, for Strike Up the Band, a program celebrating the big bands and dance bands of jazz.
-
Shakespeare seems to get credit for a great many things, but this time, he deserves it even if the quote is a bit “off.” We’re “Gilding the Lily” on this week’s Dress Circle (8/15 7:00 p.m.), well, we’ve amassed songs about beauty and its secrets, dressing to impress or excess, and a few make-up tips from a variety of musicals. -
We're off to Bavaria for a performance of Mozart's "Idomeneo" which features love, heroism, sacrifice, and a happy ending! -
It's back to school time, so we've turned to musicals from Broadway, London's West End, television, and film for a selection of songs to illuminate several aspects of the happy event. -
We’re off to Liege for this week’s Sunday Opera (9/1 3:00 p.m.) and the Opera Royal de Wallonie production of Antonin Dvorak’s “Rusalka.” This opera about the second most famous water nymph will be followed by more music of Dvorak including his "almost lost" Symphony No, 2. -
Even though September is a quiet month for Broadway musical openings, we've turned to twelve shows covering 123 years of Broadway history from 1898 to 2021 for some wonderful songs. -
We’re featuring one of the most often augmented operas on this week’s Sunday Opera (8/25 3:00 p.m.) when we turn to the La Scala production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Don Carlo.” -
August is Happiness Happens month, and nothing makes us happier than a musical, so on this week’s Dress Circle (8/25 7:00 p.m.), we’re looking to fourteen songs about happiness from a variety of musicals. -
We're back in Paris this week for the Orchestre National de Paris' production of "Damnation of Faust" by Hector Berlioz. After the opera, we'll hear two more works by Berlioz, his autobiographical Symphonie Fantastique as well as its "sequel" "Lelio, or The Return to Life." -
Broadway lovers are all buzzing since it was announced that Kristen Chenoweth would be coming back in a new Stephen Schwartz musical during the 2025-2026 season. Starring opposite F. Murray Abraham, she'll be Jackie Siegel in a musical adaptation of the documentary "The Queen of Versailles" which seems to be about the Siegels and their difficulties in trying to build their $100,000,000 home in Orlando, Florida. To that end, we'll be sampling songs from many of her stage appearances such as "Wicked" as well as a few of her solo CDs. -
We're heading off to the Paris Opera for Marc Antoine Charpentier's tragic revenge opera "Medee" featuring Lea Desandre in the title role. We'll follow the opera with the ballet suite "The Sea" by Nikos Skalkottas.
