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Scott Simon

Tenor Limmie Pulliam just made his Carnegie Hall debut at 47. He tells NPR's Scott Simon what pushed him away from singing and what twist of fate brought him back to the stage.


Courtesy of the artist

Opera singer Limmie Pulliam reflects on his Carnegie Hall debut at 47

This week’s episode of Saturday Cinema, with host Lynne Warfel, features movies about wizards and magic including ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ ‘Willow’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ Listen now!

Wizards, Warlocks and Wonderful Music

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 movies about wizards and magic including ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ ‘Willow’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ Listen now!


Warner Bros.

An ecstatic exploration of classical music that’s aesthetically and uncompromisingly Black.

Rhapsody in Black - Nina Simone

American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger and activist Nina Simone found her calling in jazz after a career as a classical pianist was halted before her eyes. Find out more in the latest episode of the 'Rhapsody in Black' podcast.


Mike Lawn/Getty Images

Singer Nina Simone is the high priestess of soul

Extra Eclectic - Jan. 19

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

Classical music truly has become a global village in the 20th and 21st centuries. This week on Extra Eclectic, host Steve Seel transports us to Asia in the first hour of the program. In the second hour, it's a tapestry of musical dreams, from John Cage, Ellen Reid, "Blue" Gene Tyranny and Anna Thorvaldsdottir.

 


Unsplash 

A midweek classical meditation 

New Classical Tracks - Christopher Tin (Extended)

New Classical Tracks - Christopher Tin

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

In this week’s New Classical Tracks, composer Christopher Tin and vocal ensemble Voces8 team up on his latest album, ‘The Lost Birds,’ a musical memorial to bird species driven to extinction by humankind. 


Andy Wilkinson

Composer Christopher Tin and Voces8 team up to remember extinct birds

Fatma Tanis

Founded by refugee musicians, a music institute in southern Turkey tries to revive forgotten Syrian classics and integrate Turkish and Syrian cultures with traditional music that the two countries have shared for centuries.


Louai Beshara/AFP via Getty Images

A music school wants to revive Turkish and Syrian connections through song

Elizabeth Blair

The new children's book 'The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music' recounts the story of singer Roberta Flack's father finding her a beat-up, old, upright in a junkyard — a treasure that led to a life in music.


Random House

Roberta Flack's first piano came from a junkyard – five Grammys would follow

Ahoy Mateys! This week’s episode of Saturday Cinema, with host Lynne Warfel, features movies about pirates including ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ ‘Captain from Castile’ and ‘The Seahawk.’ Listen now!

Swashbuckling Scores

Ahoy Mateys! This week’s episode of Saturday Cinema, with host Lynne Warfel, features movies about pirates including ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ ‘Captain from Castile’ and ‘Hook.’ Listen now!


Wikimedia Commons

Jeffrey Yelverton is a digital producer of classical music for Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media. He supports the digital portfolio of MPR/APM by creating original content and providing production support for YourClassical Storytime, New Classical Tracks and various seasonal events.


Digital Producer, Classical

Jeffrey Yelverton

Jeff Beck, who died Jan. 10 at 78, was known as one of rock music's greatest guitarists. But he also had an interesting connection to classical music — "Beck's Bolero," a 1966 tune hailed as one of his genre's best instrumentals and based on Maurice Ravel's famous “Bolero.”


Keystone/Getty Images

Guitar legend Jeff Beck looked toward Ravel for inspiration 

Rhapsody in Black - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s life often focuses on his pivotal moments such as his "I Have a Dream" speech. But music filled and inspired his most intimate moments that made him the leader he is remembered as today. Find out more in the latest episode of the 'Rhapsody in Black' podcast.


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