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Friday Favorites - Dec. 6, 2024

Steve Staruch can be heard on Classical Minnesota Public Radio from 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays, including hosting Music with Minnesotans, Regional Spotlight and Friday Favorites. Prior to joining the staff of MPR in 2004, Steve presented a variety of radio programs on WCAL in Northfield, Minn., where he created an immensely popular call-in program, and on WXXI in Rochester, N.Y. Outside radio, Steve also enjoys work as a freelance tenor and violist. Steve and his wife, Naomi, enjoy traveling, gardening and hosting dinner parties.


Steve Staruch

Incredible musical talent (singer and multi-instrumentalist) and train enthusiast, Thomas Baker-Trinity joined Steve Staruch as the Project DJ co-host for this week’s ‘Friday Favorites.’ Listen now!


Friday Favorites

Provided

Friday Favorites: Listener requests with Project DJ co-host Thomas Baker-Trinity

Where we turn up the voices of Black artists in the world of classical music, with host Vernon Neal.

Rhapsody in Black - Whitney Houston

Vernon Neal is the host of the podcast ‘Rhapsody in Black,’ where we turn up the voices of Black artists in the world of classical music.


Host/Producer

Vernon Neal

Whitney Houston’s musical legacy was recently celebrated in a concert tribute at the Kennedy Center. Her powerful voice soared through heart-rending pop ballads, and she could hold her own in an operatic aria, too. Find out more on the ‘Rhapsody in Black’ podcast.


Rhapsody in Black - 20241205

Woman sings passionately in front of a large crowd.

Whitney Houston, Pavarotti, Sting, Elton John - La Donna e Mobile 1994

Rhapsody in Black

George Rose/Getty Images

The voice of Whitney Houston

Extra Eclectic - Dec. 4, 2024

Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg wanted to create sounds that hover in his Viola Concerto, and it seems he succeeded — as we hear in one of the showcased works on this episode of ‘Extra Eclectic.’ Listen now with host Steve Seel!


Extra Eclectic

Philip Gatward

Contemporary concertos

New Classical Tracks (extended interview): Jeremy Denk

New Classical Tracks - Jeremy Denk

Julie Amacher's desire to introduce others to great music is what led her to radio. She began her professional broadcast career at a station in Sun Prairie, Wis. She went from rock 'n' roll to the Rocky Mountains, where she found her niche in public radio at KUNC in Greeley, Colo. Julie spent 13 years at KUNC, where she managed the announcers and their eclectic music format. During that time, she earned four national awards for best announcer. She joined Minnesota Public Radio in 1997 as an on-air host and also produces New Classical Tracks, a weekly podcast critiquing a new release each week. It airs locally at 7:15 a.m. Wednesdays and 5:15 p.m. Fridays.


Julie Amacher

On the latest episode of ‘New Classical Tracks’ with host Julie Amacher, pianist Jeremy Denk collaborates with violinist Stefan Jackiw to highlight Charles Ives’ piano and violin sonatas in celebration of the composer’s 150th birth anniversary. Listen now!


Jeremy Denk Performs Charles Ives' 'The Alcotts'

New Classical Tracks® 

Jeremy Denk celebrates Charles Ives' 150th anniversary with new album

Christmas at Luther

Longtime music host and performer Andrea Blain presents classical music programming including national specials, opera and other live broadcasts and holiday programs. She also is part of a team that works on content and scripting for ‘Rhapsody in Black’ and has voiced several episodes of YourClassical Storytime.


Andrea Blain

Each December, the Center for Faith and Life at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, rings out with the sacred and the exuberant: the sounds of the Christmas season. Enjoy the 2023 program, ‘Love, the Rose, Is on the Way.’


Holiday

Christmas at Luther: 'Love, the Rose, Is on the Way'

How a theater in the Amazon is staging a comeback

Carrie Kahn

There is a historic opera house in the Amazon that is a destination for some famous singers, musicians and local fans.


The Amazon's historic opera house

A Chanticleer Christmas 

Celebrate the season with song! Steve Staruch hosts this one-hour program of holiday favorites, new and old, presented live in concert by Chanticleer, the two-time Grammy-winning 12-man ensemble known as ‘an orchestra of voices.’


A Chanticleer Christmas 2023

'Chanticleer Christmas'

Patrick Warfield with Steve Staruch

Musicologist Patrick Warfield, who’s the director of the School of Music at the University of Minnesota, recently joined YourClassical MPR host Steve Staruch in the studio to share an hour of stories and some of his favorite music. Listen now!


Steve Staruch welcomes Patrick Warfield, University of Minnesota School of Music director 

Carols, Customs and Candlelight

The Celtic lands of Northwestern Europe have an especially rich musical heritage, and many Christmas songs and carols come from Celtic nations. Listen as host Andrea Blain explores music and customs that have roots in ancient winter celebrations and traditional Christmas festivals. 


Carols, Customs and Candlelight: A Celtic Christmas Celebration

Welcome Christmas

For host Bonnie North, classical music is more than just a genre — it's a way of life. She stumbled into the world of radio after responding to a newspaper ad for Vermont Public Radio seeking a classical music DJ for its Sunday afternoon show. Despite having no previous radio experience, she was confident in her knowledge of classical music and took a chance. She created an audition tape, and the rest is history. Her favorite composer depends on her mood. Sometimes she seeks the meditative sounds of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, while other times she craves the angular compositions of Igor Stravinsky. Of course, she also loves the classics by composers who include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. But she is always looking for contemporary composers and is eager to discover new musical talents. Outside of work, she loves to attend live music events. She also enjoys traveling and having friends and family scattered throughout the United States and Europe. But her love for animals is just as strong, and she often volunteers at animal shelters. She is an avid duathlon participant, combining her love for running and biking in one exciting event.


Bonnie North

‘Welcome Christmas’ is a perennial Christmas favorite from VocalEssence, one of the world's premier choral ensembles. Join host Bonnie North for an hour of traditional carols and new discoveries, including the world premiere of three beloved Latvian carols by composer Ēriks Ešenvalds.


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