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Olivia Hampton

Gathering music, new and old, from around the world, the thoughtful pianist finds the core of humanity amid the chaos.


Max Barrett/Lara Downes

Pianist Lara Downes heals loss with her new album 'Love at Last'

Sergio Olmos

The Los Angeles Metro is using classical music on its light rail system to deter homeless people from congregating and sleeping in a downtown station.


Provided

LA is blasting classical music to deter homeless people from gathering at metro stations

Classical Programs - Saturday Cinema A Potpourri of "Best of" Lists

On the April 22, 2023, episode of ‘Saturday Cinema,’ host Lynne Warfel ventures outside of the American Film Institute’s  lists of best scores to explore a collection from the Guardian, the New York Times, Variety and other polls of movie score favorites. Hear music from ‘Casablanca,’ the Harry Potter and James Bond films, and a lot more.


A Potpourri of 'Best of' Lists

Friday Favorites - 04212023

On this episode of Friday Favorites, for April 21, 2023, with host Steve Staruch, Eileen celebrates wrapping up Tax Day with a piece by Beethoven, Bill prepares for a spring performance as a member of the South Metro Chorale and Vicky hears a request for Hermann Baumann. 


Friday Favorites: Tax Day, the South Metro Chorale and Hermann Baumann

Tom Huizenga

Hear an excerpt from the most fantastical and kaleidoscopic orchestral works of our time, ‘Dante,’ written by British composer Thomas Adès and inspired by the iconic masterpiece by Dante Alighieri, “The Divine Comedy.” 


Marco Borggreve/Courtesy of the artist

Composer Thomas Adès presents a ballet inspired by Alighieri's 'The Divine Comedy'

With a piano draped in spring flowers, Lara Downes plays a smart set of music, new and old, that offers the power of renewal. 


Estefania Mitre/NPR

Lara Downes performs a spring-themed Tiny Desk Concert full of renewal

Mallory Yu

Patrick Jarenwattananon

Mary Louise Kelly

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. about starring in the 2022 movie Chevalier, which tells the forgotten story of Joseph Bologne, a Black composer and violinist of the 1700s.


Photo by Larry Horricks. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.

'Chevalier' tells the forgotten story of a Black composer in the 1700s

New Classical Tracks - Deborah Moriarty and Zhihua Tang (Extended)

New Classical Tracks - Zhihua Tang and Deborah Moriarty

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, pianists Deborah Moriarty and Zhihua Tang release four-hand piano music from around the world on their first album, ‘Connecting Cultures.’ 


Michigan State University

Pianists Deborah Moriarty and Zhihua Tang bring many cultures together

Ahmad Jamal was a pianist, composer and bandleader. His influence and admirers spread far and wide in jazz. In 1994, he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Fellowship.


Measured maestro of the jazz piano, Ahmad Jamal, dies at 92

Classical Programs - Saturday Cinema 5,6,7,8

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

On the April 15, 2023, episode of ‘Saturday Cinema,’ host Lynne Warfel explores scores from movie musicals — including music from ‘The King and I,’ ‘Sound of Music,’ ‘West Side Story,’ ‘Showboat,’ ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ ‘Singin' in the Rain’ and ‘The Bandwagon.’ Listen now.


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