Last Monday, November 15, we had the great pleasure of streaming Lincoln Center's White Light Festival: Credo, a truly inspiring show featuring world premieres by Kjartan Sveinsson and Jónsi Birgisson, members of the Icelandic art-rock band Sigur Rós, performed by a stellar roster of international ensembles, including the Hilliard Ensemble, the Latvian National Choir and the Wordless Music Orchestra led by Jeffrey Milarsky.

On Friday, November 12, the Latvian National Choir, known at home as the State Choir "Latvija," made its U.S. debut with an hour-length recital as part of Lincoln Center's inaugural White Light Festival. Led by the towering presence of Estonian conductor, Tõnu Kaljuste, the evening presented an at turns, pacific, threatening and charming spin on the festival's theme of spirituality and reflection. 

Tonight at 8pm on Q2, hear the Russian pianist Alexei Lubimov in a recital of elegiac piano miniatures, from Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach to the contemporary Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian.

Tonight at 7pm, join me for a special pre-concert feature in anticipation of tonight's White Light festival concert, featuring music composed by Sigur Rós members Jón Þor "Jónsi" Birgisson and Kjartan Sveinsson, performed by the Hilliard Ensemble, the Latvian National chorus, and the Wordless Music Orchestra.

Russian pianist Alexei Lubimov recently performed the complete Schubert Impromptus as part of Lincoln Center's White Light Festival. Listen to the full recital on demand. 

On Monday at 7:30 pm, WQXR and Q2 present a live audio Web cast of Credo, an evening with members of the Icelandic art-rock band Sigur Rós, the Hilliard Ensemble, the Latvian National Choir and the Wordless Music Orchestra.

Contemplative, soothing, generically religious music is making a comeback. Just as Lincoln Center presents a White Light festival of spiritual music, here are some notable new recordings in soulful styles.

The rising young British conductor tells us about the primal power of Orff’s Carmina Burana, the youth movement on podiums and why a TV commercial for after-shave turned him on to classical music.

Equipped with diverse musical interests, a keen programmatic awareness, and a vast repertoire, pianist Alexei Lubimov is not exactly a proponent of conventionality. The breadth of his musical interests are on full display as part of his two White Light Festival "Late-Night Elegies" recitals on November 11 and 13, both of which are being recorded at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse for future inclusion on WQXR and Q2.

On October 28, Lincoln Center launches a new annual fall festival, called the White Light Festival, which will focus, in the words of Lincoln Center Vice President of Programming Jane Moss, on "music's transcendent capacity to illuminate our larger interior universe." With live and delayed audio Webcasts from the festival and coverage of key musicians and ensembles, WQXR and Q2 throw back the veil of the introspective and contemplative White Light sound worlds.