Friday Favorites - Sept. 1, 2023

Steve Staruch hosted a live recording of Friday Favorites at the Minnesota State Fair on Aug. 24 with Project DJ co-hosts Charity Duran and Jacob Barsness. That special edition was aired Sept. 1. Listen now.


Ines Guanchez

Friday Favorites visits the State Fair, with Project DJ co-hosts Charity Duran and Jacob Barsness

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

Is the recorder the best instrument ever? Find out the many ways the recorder is not only a classical instrument but has planted itself firmly within pop culture. 


Yamaha 

Is the recorder the best instrument ever?

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Jay Gabler

The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin performs an Irish lullaby that dates from 1904.


Listen to a haunting century-old Irish lullaby

YourClassical Storytime - Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come

Henry can't wait for kindergarten to begin, but he has a slight case of the first-day jitters. What will he do to calm his nerves? Find out in the latest episode of YourClassical Storytime, ‘Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!’ by Nancy Carlson, featuring narration by Melanie Renate and music by Franz Hoffmeister.


Provided

'Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!'

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

Rhapsody in Black - Andre Watts

Pianist André Watts made his debut at 16 when he was featured in a Young People’s Concert, with Leonard Bernstein conducting. Bernstein was blown away by the performance. Find out more in the latest episode of the 'Rhapsody in Black' podcast.


Pianist André Watts, a performer we all learned from

Triking with a tuba in tow, from delta to headwaters

Anyone in marching band who carried a tuba around had a more physically demanding job than most. Now, imagine pulling a tuba behind you while traveling the length of the Mississippi River — by tricycle. Jon Hodkin is a tuba player from Scotland and he’s in Minnesota nearing the end of just such a journey. He joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about why.


Courtesy of Jon Hodkin

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

Thursday night was the the super blue moon, and Extra Eclectic host Steve Seel continued his visits to the 2023 BBC Proms festival. Listen now.


Chuttersnap/Unsplash  

In space, no one can hear you — sing?

New Classical Tracks (Extended Interview) - Andre Dowell, Sphinx Virtuosi

New Classical Tracks - Andre Dowell Sphinx

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

On this week’s New Classical Tracks, the Sphinx Virtuosi ensemble presents its debut album, ‘Songs for Our Times,’ featuring Black and Latin American composers, present and past.


Courtesy of the artist

Sphinx Virtuosi ensemble uplifts Black and Latin American composers on 'Songs for Our Times'

Watch as Minnesota Opera baritone Andrew Wilkowske takes us for a ride on the Great Big Wheel at the Minnesota State Fair! Opera's in the air, with ‘Deh, Vieni Alla Finestra’ from Mozart's ‘Don Giovanni.’


Seiji Cataldo/MPR

Opera's in the air at the Minnesota State Fair

Listen to the Story

Tom Huizenga

Absent from the recording studio for more than a decade, the restless musician has commissioned six composers for his new album. 


Listen

Stories