Alec Baldwin loves classical music. According to the NY Times, Baldwin is not only invested in his role as announcer for the New York Philharmonic’s weekly radio broadcasts, but he is also a die-hard classical music fan. Daniel Wakin writes that Baldwin was offered the position after the Phil took notice of his patronage. The NY Phil regularly keeps tabs on its celebrity concert-goers, offering them tickets in exchange for publicity.

The Phil first booked Baldwin as narrator for an “Inside the Music” series in 2008—a program where a work is first explained and then performed. Then, after Baldwin joked that he’d like to quit acting and become a classical music radio presenter, the Phil pounced on his apparent interest and made an offer.

Now, as Baldwin records radio announcements between acting commitments like this winter’s “It’s Complicated” and NBC’s “30 Rock,” he sets his schedule around musical events he refuses to miss. Last May, he contracted time off to see Daniel Barenboim conduct Mahler’s ninth symphony. Baldwin’s interest in classical music began on a soap opera set when he was 24, when a staging director chided him for not recognizing Berlioz’s “March to the Scaffold” from Symphony Fantastique. Now, Baldwin listens to classical everywhere from his home to his car, and has a constantly expanding library of works.

Baldwin prefers mostly romantic composers; he says he likes more “emotive” kinds of music. Some of his favorites include Mahler and Tchaikovsky, having earned his preference by his own standard: music he wants played at his funeral.

Read the full story here.

Posted on December 19th, 2009 at 9:18 pm | Filed under General |