Thursday October 8th, 2009 at 8pm marks the official launch of Classical WQXR 105.9, the new WNYC owned and programmed public radio station. The programming on this new station begins with a live broadcast from Carnegie Hall, featuring the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and hosts David Garland and Midge Woolsey.

Orpheus commences its 37th season with a program including Dumbarton Oaks by Stravinsky, Anton Webern's Fuga (Ricercare), a selection from Bach's Musical Offering, and the Beethoven Violin Concerto, with Henning Kraggerud as soloist. Also featured on the program is a world premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis's Concerto with Echoes, the latest installment of the "New Brandenburg" commissioning project initiated by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and inspired by the celebrated set of Brandenburg Concertos by Bach.

In addition to Classical WQXR 105.9, a new internet radio stream with a contemporary focus called Q2 will be launched and available through iTunes and www.wqxr.org. Festival programming and live concerts from around New York City will also be featured on this internet station.

Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud has performed throughout Scandinavia and Europe, with such orchestras as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, as well as many of the British orchestras including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra. In North America, he has appeared with the Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Colorado, St. Louis, Toronto and Utah symphonies and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and has performed recitals in New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.