3-Minute Insect Essential #47 from the INSECT NEWS NETWORK

CLASSICAL BUGS: Insects in Symphonic Music on Dr. Paul Sheehan Classical Music Hour (INN #47). To hear the full show, visit www.insectnewsnetwork.com and type in the number 47 - that's pound 4-7 in the search bar.

On today's show, I was pleased to be featured on the KDRT's classical musical hour hosted by Dr. Paul Sheehan. Not only was Dr. Paul an aspiring entomologist during his master degree studies, he became a career dentist and lover of the classical genre.

Together we explore the vast and inspiring influence of the microcosm on some of the most compelling pieces of classical music ever written. We start with he most famous - Flight of the Bumblebee - and cover over 400 years of classical orchestral and operatic music. Each piece is introduced with a theme in Cultural Entomology From Renaissance songs that extol the virtues of "El Grillo" - the cricket, to the empathic melodies of the Mighty Five composers in Russia, to a theme song from a movie that features the depths of human depravity, these pieces feature some of the most beloved classical artist of all time including Paul Robeson, Yo Yo Ma, Modest Muggorsky, Bela Bartok.

Along we the way we explore the most compelling and sublime aspects of the world of insects, which suggest the pinnacle of human achievement in Cultural Entomology. Themes of Faust and the Devil, the projection of human emotions onto bugs, and the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet - the world renown Butterfly Lovers written in the middle of the last century.

The music is beautiful somber, inspiring and provocative. Just like the Insect News Network.