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.




Courtesy of Luther College

Christmas at Luther: Awake! and Greet the New Morn 

Connor Chee - Unbroken (in 4 movements)

Scott Blankenship started his radio career in college when he began working as a volunteer at a local cable radio station, announcing alternative and new rock music. His love and appreciation of classical music began at public radio station KVNO in Omaha, where he spent 13 years in various on-air and management roles, five of those years as the morning drive-time host.

Indications that radio was in his blood go back to age five, when he used a corkboard and a battered phonograph as a makeshift radio studio; his father's Air Force issue flashlight served as his "on air" light. In his spare time, Blankenship is an avid cyclist and amateur playwright with several produced scripts to his credit.


Scott Blankenship

As part of a project to record more music by composers of color and women, we recently commissioned Navajo pianist Connor Chee to write ‘Unbroken: Music for the Navajo Code Talkers.’ Listen to this engaging piece now!


Courtesy of the artist

Listen: Connor Chee's 'Unbroken' pays tribute to Navajo Code Talkers of WWII

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

Rhapsody in Black - MCCFARRIN

Jazz vocalist Bobby McFerrin is a musical multi-tasker like no other. Not afraid to break tradition, McFerrin has opened up the world of music to embrace all different kinds of sounds. Find out more in the latest episode of the 'Rhapsody in Black' podcast. 


Pablo Porciuncula/AFP/Getty Images

Bobby McFerrin boldly embraces the body to create music

New Classical Tracks - Amanda Lee Falkenberg (Extended)

New Classical Tracks - Amanda Lee Falkenberg

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 Amanda Lee Falkenberg wants you to experience the beauty of our solar system through the story of its moons in her latest album, ‘The Moons Symphony.’ 


Paul Myer Hopkins

Amanda Lee Falkenberg's latest album is out of this world

Hear an excerpt of Raven Chacon's 'Voiceless Mass' 

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Tom Huizenga

A composer, performer and installation artist from the Navajo Nation, Chacon's winning piece, Voiceless Mass, was composed for chamber orchestra and a specific Milwaukee pipe organ.


Adam Conte/Courtesy of the artist

Meet Raven Chacon, the first Native American to win the Pulitzer Prize for music

'Drawn to opening doors:' Minnesota Orchestra's leader works on anti-racism efforts

Jacob Aloi

The Minnesota Orchestra's season is in full swing, but behind the scenes the organization says it is addressing diversity with the help of a new leader. Sheri Notaro, the new vice president of people and culture, started her job with the orchestra earlier this month. Her newly created position provides “strategic direction and tactical support” for human resources and leads anti-racism initiatives. Find out more below. 


Courtesy of George Heinrich

'Finding Her Beat' spotlights female Taiko drummers - MPR News

'Finding Her Beat' spotlights female Taiko drummers

Cathy Wurzer is the host of Morning Edition for MPR News. She is also the co-host of Almanac, a weekly public affairs program produced by Twin Cities Public Television for Minnesota's statewide public television network. Wurzer has won four Emmy Awards for her work on Almanac. Prior to her return to radio, she was an anchor and reporter for WCCO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Minneapolis. She has also been a talk show host for WCCO-AM radio, a producer for KMSP-TV, and political reporter for KSTP-AM radio. She holds degrees in broadcast journalism and urban studies from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Wurzer was a trustee for the UW-River Falls Foundation and a member and past president of the Society for Professional Journalists Minnesota chapter. She is the author of "Tales of the Road: Highway 61." In her spare time, Cathy rides, trains and shows horses, fly fishes for trout, and loves clay sculpture and creating mosaics.


Cathy Wurzer

MPR News Staff

Minnesota filmmakers Dawn Mikkelson and Keri Pickett have collaborated on a new documentary that follows a group of women taiko drummers, a Japanese tradition historically dominated by men, in their effort to claim their place in the art form and on the stage. ‘Finding Her Beat’ is getting its Minneapolis premiere this Friday at the Sound Unseen Music & Film Festival in Minneapolis.


Courtesy Finding Her Beat/Dawn Mikkelson

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

Native American Heritage Day started in 2008 to honor the contributions that Native Americans gave to the United States. While these pieces represent only a fraction of the indigenous people’s heritages, celebrate the rich tapestry of cultures with six compositions from Native American composers. 


6 works by Native American composers 

Watch the rising young cellist transform a Bob Marley classic, explore brand new preludes and unspool a weepy Welsh ballad.


YouTube

Bob Boilen/NPR

Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason performs a personal Tiny Desk Concert

Giving Thanks

Classical Feature - Giving Thanks 60 2022

Join host John Birge and special guest Ada Limón as they create a thoughtful, contemporary reflection on the meaning of Thanksgiving through music and poetry. This is ‘Giving Thanks.’


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