By Cheryl Willoughby

Classical New England is proudly participating in Public Radio Music Month this April!

Artist of the Day: Pianist Daniil Trifonov

Free Download

Hear Trifonov with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on-demand

Public Radio Music Month is a nation-wide celebration of the cultural wealth and diverse musical voices heard every day on public radio stations around the country. Classical New England is joining the celebration, and you can too!

Share a special story, a favorite memory, or an appreciation for music you’ve heard on Classical New England. Maybe it was the first time you joined us at the Esplanade for the annual Pops 4th of July celebration ... or that interesting piece of music that really grabbed you when you were listening to the radio.

Leave a comment below, or join the conversation on Twitter or Facebook, tagging your social media comments with #thankspublicradio, and learn what's going on around the country at the Public Radio Music Month blog.

And be sure to subscribe to the WGBH Music Channel at YouTube to SEE some of the great live music happening in our Fraser Performance Studio and in the community!

Classical New England will also celebrate with music on the radio and online from two special events you can attend. On April 3, the Tokyo String Quartet will visit our Fraser Performance Studio to perform in Boston for the final time as it retires from the concert stage. For tickets, visit the Celebrity Series of Boston.

Later in the month, join us at the New England Conservatory as the NEC Philharmonia and conductor Hugh Wolff commemorate the centenary of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Information about this FREE concert is available at New England Conservatory.

Did you know...?

• Public radio stations air 5.2 million hours of music each year. As a 24/7 classical radio service, Classical New England broadcasts 8,736 hours of classical music annually. And our partner station WGBH 89.7 brings more than 600 hours annually of jazz and Celtic music to the region!

• More than 40 per cent of nationwide listening to public radio is for music programming, such as the kind that Classical New England provides on a round-the-clock basis on-air and online.

• 183 public radio stations nationwide play music full time, and another 661 public radio stations include music as part of their programming lineup. 85% of classical radio stations in the U.S. are public radio stations. Classical New England, a public radio service, is the only 24/7 broadcaster for classical music in the greater Boston metro area.

• Public radio stations nationally host 7,500+ in-studio music performances, and more than 4,000 community performances each year. In the last year alone, Classical New England and WGBH have presented more than 70 performances in the community, and in our own Fraser Performance Studio.

It was with these incredible facts in mind that Public Radio Music Month was born. While our own listeners know first-hand the critical role that WGBH and Classical New England have played in our local music culture and industry, Public Radio Music Month is a new opportunity to join together in spreading that message to the wider community, in New England and across the nation.

It’s also an opportunity for us to thank YOU for supporting Classical New England! Your generous support enables the work that stations like ours do in preserving America’s musical traditions and fostering and nurturing the development of music talent, every day.