On Friday, July 29, Yue Bao, assistant conductor of the Houston Symphony, examined the role of destiny as she led the Minnesota Orchestra, alongside soprano Jessica Rivera, in works by Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Strauss and Ludwig van Beethoven. Listen to the concert now!


Courtesy of the artist

Listen: Conductor Yue Bao and the Minnesota Orchestra examine the role of destiny together

Listener Requests for July

Lynne has been at this radio thing since 1984 when she fell into an historic job at KFAC AM and FM, the commercial classical station in Los Angeles.  She was the first woman staff announcer in the station's history, and it was such big news back then, it made the LA newspapers and national radio publications.  She is thrilled women in radio is no longer newsworthy.


Lynne Warfel

This week’s episode of Saturday Cinema, with host Lynne Warfel, features YOUR requests including some really interesting and lesser heard film music from ‘Kikujiro’ and ‘Princess Mononoke.’ Listen now!


July Listener Requests

Listen to the Story

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Elizabeth Blair

A family of Afghan musicians in the U.S. wants to raise awareness about their plight.


Sachyn Mital/Sachyn Mital

Thousands of Afghan artists are still trying to flee the Taliban

Timo Andres: in the moment

Steve Seel is the host of YourClassical’s weekly SymphonyCast and the trailblazing music show Extra Eclectic. He possesses a broad knowledge of many musical genres, having hosted radio programs ranging from classical to jazz and even avant-garde music at radio stations around the country. Steve began his love affair with public radio at 24 working whatever shifts he could at his hometown station of WUSF-FM in Tampa, Florida, and from there worked his way to snowy Buffalo, New York, and its renowned classical station WNED-FM, where he hosted middays and the weekly experimental-music show Present Tense.  In 2005, Steve became one of the founding voices on Minnesota Public Radio's eclectic station, the Current. While there, he hosted afternoons and mornings, and conducted in-depth interviews with pop music luminaries ranging from Brian Eno to David Byrne to Tori Amos. Steve is a basement composer obsessed with all things both minimalist and slow, and might actually be incapable of writing anything that exceeds 75 beats-per-minute.


Steve Seel

Composer Timo Andres is inspired by music from Brahms to Radiohead.


Michael Wilson

New Classical Tracks - Aznavoorian Duo (Extended)

New Classical Tracks - Aznavoorian Duo

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 sharing behind-the-scenes stories about a new release each week. It airs locally at 7:15 a.m. and 5 p.m. Wednesdays and at 9 a.m. on Saturdays.


Julie Amacher

In this week’s New Classical Tracks, cellist Ani and pianist Marta Aznavoorian celebrate the sounds of their ancestral homeland on their debut album, Gems From Armenia. 


Aznavoorian Duo celebrates the sounds of Armenia

Elizabeth Kramer

Cousins struggle with debts and may have to sell property long held by their family in a work created by former poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy K. Smith and composer Gregory Spears.


Philip Groshong/Cincinnati Opera

'Castor and Patience' opera explores systematic barriers to Black land ownership

NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with composer Rhiannon Giddens about the Silkroad Ensemble. A couple of years ago she replaced famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma as the creative director of the ensemble.


Nonesuch Records

Rhiannon Giddens relaunches the Silkroad Ensemble

Bob Mondello

Bob Rafelson, who became an influential figure in the New Hollywood era of the 1970s, died on Saturday at his home in Aspen, Colo. He was 89. ‘Five Easy Pieces,’ one of his best known works, tells the story of a once-brilliant classical pianist who's been knocking around as a rough-mannered oil-rigger, but is caught up short by the news that his father is dying.


Bob Rafelson, 'Five Easy Pieces' director and 'The Monkees' co-creator, has died

Hitchcock Muses:  Bernard Herrmann, Miklos Rozsa, Dmitri Tiomkin and (wait for it)  John Williams. 

Hitchcock and His Muses

This week’s episode of Saturday Cinema, with guest host Bill Morelock, features composers who supplied the music foundation for those suspenseful Hitchcock scenes. Not just Herrmann! Listen now!


STF/AFP/Getty Images

Hitchcock's Muses

Gary Hines talks about origins of Sounds of Blackness

Sounds of Blackness is more than a band or gospel choir; it's a cultural institution. That, says the group's longtime director, Gary Hines, was the mission given to them by a mentor at Macalester College in St. Paul, where the Grammy-winning group was founded more than 50 years ago.


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