KZSM — Classical music, your music

In keeping with our mission to engage, enlighten, and entertain, KZSM.org proudly presents the latest addition to our eclectic roster of locally produced programming: “Appreciating Classical Music,” with host Patsy Liao airs from 2-3 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of every month.

Each broadcast features a composer or composers born during that month. Liao offers a glimpse into the composer’s life and plays some short selections. Her goal is to “play enough for listener to get the idea but still stay brief, because my point is to allow people to appreciate and maybe pique their interest to 10 more and learn about the composer.” She points out that “classical music is part of our life whether we know it or not.”

Liao’s fascination with classical music began in the sixth grade, when the music instructor “opened my eyes and ears” with Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf,” the first classical music she had ever heard. The instructor “talked about the music and explained the ways Prokofiev used the instruments to portray different animals — that intrigued me!” Also, “she enticed me with the challenge of being able to listen to music and to win an award for identifying pieces correctly.” Liao adds a “plug for music teachers and all teachers — you never know who you might be influencing.”

Much later, she earned an MA in Liberal Studies from Rice University, writing her Capstone essay on Tchaikovsky. After she relocated to San Marcos and retired from her work as an accountant, friends persuaded her to share her love for classical music on KZSM.org.

This Thursday, March 24, “Appreciating Classical Music” will “march three centuries and tens of thousands of miles” to feature three very different composer born during the month: Antonio Vivaldi, Modest Mussorgsky, and Samuel Barber. From Vivaldi, she will play “music that people may not be familiar with” — selections from oboe and recorder concertos rather than the very popular “Four Seasons.” Selections from Mussorgsky will include parts of the original piano version of “Pictures at an Exhibition” and “Night on Bald Mountain,” the mysterious fantasy made famous by the classic Disney film “Fantasia.” Liao explored Barber’s works for the first time for this broadcast because she wanted to include an American to demonstrate that classical music isn’t the exclusive province of Europeans.

If, like our newest host, you have an absorbing interest you’d like to share, email KZSMSanMarcos@gmail.com.