| June LeBell
The first female announcer on a major commercial classical music radio station in the U.S., June remained behind the microphone at WQXR for almost 30 years. In that time, she also earned more than 15 important awards for outstanding broadcasts, interviewed hundreds of musical celebrities, wrote a cookbook (published by Doubleday, with illustrations by Al Hirschfeld), became a music critic, and had articles published in Opera News, Gourmet, Stagebill, The New York Times and - currently - the Longboat Observer.
A well known and popular lecturer, she continues her longrunning series, "The Sound of Broadway", at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, as well as speaking engagements in a variety of venues here in Sarasota.
Before becoming a radio personality, June was a professional concert singer. She attended the High School of Music and Art, the Mannes College of Music in New York City and the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, and was a private student of Adele Addison.
She produces the Music Monday Series at SILL, serves on the boards of SILL, the Sarasota Concert Association and Gloria Musicae (where she is also Executive Director), as well as the Board of Overseers of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the advisory board of the Marilyn Horne Foundation.
|
