Regional Spotlight™

Earlier this year, the ensemble Sybarite5 workshopped several new works by student composers at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. This week's Regional Spotlight is the second installment of new music from Luther College.

Earlier this year, the ensemble Sybarite5 worked with student composers at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. The musicians of Sybarite5 were so impressed with these student composers that they decided to perform all of these student works. Over the next two weeks, Classical MPR brings you these student composer pieces .

The Ancia Saxophone Quartet give a stylish performance of the 'Canzona and Variations' from the Alexander Glazunov Saxophone Quartet. It's in this week's Regional Spotlight.

Miro String Quartet perform the Beethoven sixth quartet with an inspired restraint. Their technical finesse is especially noticeable in the final movement, where the composer's instruction is: 'This piece is to be played with the greatest delicacy.'

Modeled after one of Beethoven's favorite Mozart quartets (which Beethoven himself copied by hand), the Beethoven Op 18 No. 5 is a romp of a work. The Miro Quartet certainly thinks so. You'll hear its performance from a Chamber Music Society of St Cloud recital in this week's Regional Spotlight.

The Summer Singers recently completed their season: Why We Sing. Russell Adrian leads the Summer Singers in two works, "I will Lift Mine Eyes" by Jake Runestad, and a newly commissioned piece by Joshua Shank, "This is Why We Sing."

Pianist Reed Tetzloff was one of 12 semi-finalists in the most recent Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition. He spoke with Steve Staruch about his budding career as a pianist and shares musical highlights from his performances in Moscow.

YMM (Young Musicians of Minnesota) astound with a performance from their Summer Festival in this week's Regional Spotlight.

Scott Lykins and Taylor Ward are the brains and the talent behind the Lakes Area Music Festival, which begins this coming weekend in the communities in and around Brainerd, Minn. Lykins and Ward are Steve Staruch's guests in this week's the Regional Spotlight.

The theorists tell us that a composer shares his most intimate thoughts in the key of c minor. Beethoven bears his teeth in a performance of his String Quartet No. 4 with the Miro Quartet from a Chamber Music Society of St Cloud recital.