Regional Spotlight: Alexandria Festival of the Lakes

String quartets bring vitality, warmth and intimacy to any wedding ceremony. With so much music available, however, it can be daunting to know where to begin. Here are a few highlights that go beyond the standard wedding fare and can help jump-start the process.

We asked listeners to tell us their favorite chamber music pieces. Here are the top 20 vote-getters.

Classical MPR host John Birge caught up with the Arianna Quartet after its 17th summer at Madeline Island.

On this episode of YourClassical Story, Doris Leipziger from Plantation, Fla., shares how her father's love for classical music was imparted on her.

As classical music videos go, making sure everyone looks their best while being doused with water from filled balloons is probably not a primary concern. But that's how the latest promotional clip by the Diderot String Quartet plays out. And we can't stop watching.

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.

Two members of the Cypress String Quartet join Learning to Listen to discuss Beethoven's "Middle String Quartets" - also known by the name of the Russian count who commissioned them, Andrey Razumovsky.

Franz Schubert was a teacher. In his journals he noted the drudgery of teaching and his indifference towards his students - but the opening movement of Schubert's String Quintet in C Major D. 956, commonly known as the Cello Quintet, seems to mirror my own classroom and reminds me of rich discussion.

Chamber ensemble names tend to fit into a few categories, I've found.

Another fine performance from last summer's Alexandria Festival of the Lakes. Feel the warmth!