Celebrated Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen will make her highly anticipated debut for the Schubert Club International Artist Series at the Ordway. Joined by her acclaimed recital partner, pianist James Baillieu, Davidsen will deliver an intimate, all-Schubert program that spans the vast emotional depth of human experience, from intense rapture to tragic encounters with death.

The carefully curated performance features iconic masterpieces like Gretchen am Spinnrade alongside haunting narrative ballads such as Der Zwerg and Der Tod und das Mädchen.

Listen live on YourClassical MPR on Friday, Oct. 23, starting 7:30 p.m. Central.

See the full program, along with song translations, in the program below, provided courtesy the Schubert Club:

In the fall of 1998, “I was watching with the rest of the world as it zoomed in on Laramie, Wyoming,” says composer/conductor Craig Hella Johnson. A young gay man named Matthew Shepard had been beaten and left to die, sparking grief and outrage across the country and the globe.

To Johnson, the news felt visceral. “It pierced me,” he says. “I guess I would say that something was planted in me that day that ended up being a soulful vocational calling.” The result was the 2016 oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard, which Minnesota audiences can hear performed by Rochester’s Choral Arts Ensemble in five concerts at the Chateau Theatre from Oct. 24 to Nov. 1.

Yes, the gestation of the three-part opus was a lengthy one. “I felt the call, but it took me a long time before I felt really willing and able to do anything with it,” Johnson says. “Years went by. I was thinking, how could I possibly do this story justice?”

With the Texas-based choral group Conspirare, which he founded, Johnson had been conducting emotive works such as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, “so uppermost in my mind, it was the story of suffering, a passion narrative. The passion of Matthew Shepard.”

A northern Minnesota native who attended St. Olaf College, Johnson first conceived the work as a song cycle, but realized the subject demanded something larger. After Conspirare performed eight movements in 2014, getting a powerful response from both singers and audience members, Johnson set about to complete the work. He combined poetry and writings from Michael Dennis Browne, Lesléa Newman, Hildegard of Bingen and Rumi to help tell the story.

Perhaps most powerful and poignant were passages from Shepard’s personal journal and writings from his parents. “I wanted to include Matt Shepard—his mother called him Matt, before all these dreadful things happened—who was he? That’s what the Prologue became.”

The “passion” portion comprises the middle section of the work, and the Epilogue served the function of “how do we exit this and meet this moment?”

Indeed, in the 10 years since the work’s premiere, the moment has endured. “When I wrote it, I guess I would say I had a naïve notion that it would be a historical piece: ‘This will help us remember so it doesn’t happen again,’” Johnson says.

“Sadly, it does feel absolutely more relevant and timely than ever. We have a dreadful human habit of projecting unresolved issues in ourselves onto the other. It’s alive and well in our world right now.”

But Johnson is comforted by the effect Considering Matthew Shepard has had on audiences over the past 10 years. “I’ve been humbled by it, and also in awe of where this piece has gone, and how it’s been engaged with. I wrote from my own heart, not looking ahead and not knowing it would have such an extended life.

“That’s been really meaningful; it still does connect with an overall issue we have not yet addressed and healed.”

Johnson estimates that the oratorio has been performed more than 200 times worldwide. Every time he personally conducts the work, with Conspirare or other groups, he finds new insights. “Certain things will have an emotional impact in any given performance, depending on where I am in life or even what day it is,” he says.

“I watch the artists, and they have different reactions. Sometimes they’re singing and they feel it, but it doesn’t impact them. That same moment two nights later they might have a different reaction.

“I want [singers] to be in their humanity as they share this. If they need to pop out for several phrases, I watch other singers rally and fill in, which is moving to witness as well.”

The effect on audiences has been similarly profound. Johnson says there hasn’t been a performance when he hasn’t gotten messages from people who have been deeply affected. And it has been restorative for those facing the same issues the work examines.

“One thing that’s consistent—it’s frequently a catalyst for families to talk,” he says. For those having a difficult time coming out as gay or transgender, “their families had an incredible opportunity to talk afterward, to really have fruitful conversations. Something about Matt’s story brings a lot of empathy.

“I tried to write this piece in a way that’s not combative or taking ideological positions. ‘Consideration’ is a really beautiful word. It invites you to live with the story, allow yourself to feel, without dictating a response. What questions does it raise? Over and over, families have had moments of renewal. That is very special to me.”

College communities and other institutions that have hosted concerts have had their time of reckoning as well, Johnson says, when protests or concerns have arisen. “It forces an institution to have those conversations, meet those questions and those issues,” he says. “It’s an opportunity to state their values, and I’m very touched by that.”

Johnson says he could talk for “two or three hours” about performances that have particularly moved him. But he zeroed in a couple of special ones.

Conspirare was invited to perform several movements of the oratorio at a 2018 service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., where Shepard’s ashes were to be laid to rest. Bishop Gene Robinson led the nationally televised service in which Shepard’s parents, Judy and Dennis, sat in the front row.

“Judy said that for the first time in over 20 years, they felt peaceful, that Matt was safe in that sanctuary,” Johnson says. “I was sort of sobbing, but I also felt incredible joy, to feel the community that day.”

Judy Shepard also figured in another memorable concert, at Boston’s Symphony Hall on a cold Super Bowl Sunday; it was the first time she’d heard the work live, observing it quietly from the back row.

As for the upcoming concerts in Rochester, Johnson says he’s touched that the Choral Arts Ensemble is opening its season with five performances of Considering Matthew Shepard. He had this advice and hope for those who attend.

“I really want people to have their own unique experience with it,” he says. “At the center, Matt Shepard’s name is in the title, but the main character is the listener, the individual whose consideration I am inviting and proposing. That’s really where I want to place the emphasis.

“In a musical sense, I wrote in the oratorio tradition, which has a storytelling tradition that’s centuries old. People long for a musical form they can he held inside of and be drawn into.

“Go in thinking of the whole thing as a meditation.”

Considering Matthew Shepard
Performed by: Choral Arts Ensemble
Concerts: 7 p.m. Oct. 24 & 30, 3 p.m. Oct. 25, 31 & Nov. 1; 810 3rd Ave. SE, 2nd Floor, Rochester, Minn.
Tickets: $10-$45, chorartsensemble.org

Minnesota Orchestra and YourClassical MPR's broadcast partnership continues for the 2026-27 season. This page features a schedule of the upcoming concerts that you can hear on YourClassical MPR, and when possible, on-demand audio of the performance available for 30 days after the broadcast. Bookmark this page for updates throughout the season!

When Franz Liszt saw that the language of music was changing, he felt that forms should change, too. His Piano Concerto No. 2 is constructed in six musical scenes, and on Friday, Oct. 22, pianist Simon Trpčeski and the Minnesota Orchestra brought the piece to life in a program that also featured Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 6 — a piece that quotes Martin Luther and was written to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession. Listen to the broadcast of this concert with host Melissa Ousley at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, on YourClassical MPR.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Jaime Martin, conductor
Simon Trpčeski, piano *

JOSEPH HAYDN Symphony No. 6 (Le Matin)
FRANZ LISZT Piano Concerto No. 2 *
FELIX MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 5 (Reformation)

Meet YourClassical MPR's Melissa Ousley

Previous Concerts

Minnesota Orchestra performs Ifukube, Glazunov and Mussorgsky

Born in 2011, violinist Himari has been described as a “once-in-a-generation” talent. She was 13 when she made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic. Now, it’s your turn to find out what makes her playing so extraordinary in this Minnesota Orchestra program featuring guest conductor Kahchun Wong. Next, imagine yourself in a Russian art gallery as music dramatically unleashes a collection of paintings in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Kahchun Wong, conductor
Himari, violin *

AKIRA IFUKUBE Dance of the Seven Veils, from Salome
ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV Violin Concerto *
MODEST MUSSORGSKY/MAURICE RAVEL Pictures at an Exhibition

Minnesota Orchestra continues season-opening celebration with Stefan Jackiw

American violinist Stefan Jackiw — praised for his poetic performances — made his Minnesota Orchestra debut in 1997 and last performed with the ensemble seven years ago. This time, he returned in his first collaboration with Thomas Søndergård to perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s sunny Violin Concerto No. 5, before the season-opening concerts ended with the tension and power of Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 6. At the top of the program, Gabriella Smith’s evocative nature-scape Tumblebird Contrails — a sonic depiction of the composer “imagining the ecstasy of wind in the wings.” Listen to the concert now!

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Stefan Jackiw, violin *

GABRIELLA SMITH Tumblebird Contrails
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Violin Concerto No. 5 (Turkish) *
SERGEI PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 6

Minnesota Orchestra and Sondergard open new season with pianist Kholodenko

The world premiere of Stravinsky’s first ballet, The Firebird, made him famous overnight. For the Minnesota Orchestra’s season-opening celebrations, the creativity of video designer and director Tal Rosner adds thrilling dimension to Stravinsky’s luminous score. Also on the program, Van Cliburn Competition gold medalist Vadym Kholodenko’s technical brilliance will dazzle in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Listen to the concert now!

Program

Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Vadym Kholodenko, piano *
Tal Rosner, video designer and director

JOHN STAFFORD SMITH ARR. STANISLAW SKROWACZEWSKI The Star-Spangled Banner
GEORGE WALKER Icarus in Orbit
SERGEI PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 2 *
Encore: SERGEI PROKOFIEV Gavotte from 10 Pieces Op. 12
IGOR STRAVINSKY The Firebird

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Upcoming Broadcasts

Friday, Nov. 6 — Nordic Soundscapes Festival: Søndergård, Parker and Sibelius

Audience favorite Jon Kimura Parker returns to Orchestra Hall to play Swedish composer Anders Hillborg’s seamless MAX Concerto, written for Emanuel (Manny) Ax and titled after a shortened version of his name: M. Ax. Then, Thomas Søndergård leads the Orchestra in Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, a work the composer began writing in 1901 while on holiday in Italy.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Jon Kimura Parker, piano *

EDVARD GRIEG Selections from Norwegian Dances
ANDERS HILLBORG Piano Concerto No. 2 (MAX Concerto) *
JEAN SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2

Friday, Nov. 13 — Nordic Soundscapes Festival: Vänskä, Chen and Nielsen

The flags of Finland and Denmark fly high with the Violin Concerto by Osmo Vänskä’s beloved late friend, Jaakko Kuusisto, and the last symphony by Carl Nielsen. At first, Nielsen thought it would be “completely idyllic” in character, a Sinfonia semplice. When it was finished 16 months later, he wasn’t sure the name still made sense. Come discover its complexities alongside the Minnesota Orchestra.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä, conductor
Stella Chen, violin *

OUTI TARKIAINEN Songs of the Ice
JAAKKO KUUSISTO Violin Concerto *
CARL NIELSEN Symphony No. 6 (Sinfonia semplice)

Friday, Nov. 20 — Elgar and Dvořák

Minnesota Orchestra’s special guest for this concert — mezzo Sasha Cooke — compares Elgar’s Sea Pictures to entering a painting by J.M.W. Turner: “They are very dark and murky, but beautiful with radiant, shimmering light.” They’ll ease audiences into Antonin Dvořák’s nature-infused Symphony No. 8, composed when one of his biggest fans, Johannes Brahms, said that Dvořák’s head was “full of ideas.”

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Dinis Sousa, conductor
Sasha Cooke, mezzo

KAIJA SAARIAHO Ciel d’hiver
EDWARD ELGAR Sea Pictures *
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 8

Friday, Dec. 18 — Handel’s Messiah

Dame Jane Glover — a specialist in Baroque-era and vocal music — returns to Orchestra Hall to lead the Minnesota Orchestra and various special guests in Handel’s Messiah, a piece that has been an integral part of her decades-long career.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Jane Glover, conductor
Lauren Snouffer, soprano
Clara Osowski, mezzo
Eric Ferring, tenor
Michael Sumuel, bass-baritone
Minnesota Chorale

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL Messiah

Friday, Jan. 1 — A New Year’s celebration with the Minnesota Orchestra

The 47 strings of the harp are notoriously difficult to keep in tune, something that is not evident when listening to Principal Harpist Cheryl Losey Feder play with the Orchestra each week. This time, she makes her debut as soloist in dances by Debussy. After intermission, hear how Ravel builds excitement as the theme from his Boléro makes its way around the Minnesota Orchestra.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor
Cheryl Losey Feder, harp *

CLAUDE DEBUSSY Danse sacrée et Danse profane
CLAUDE DEBUSSY Ibéria from Images *
ISAAC ALBENIZ/FRÜHBECK DE BURGOS Selections from Suite Española
MAURICE RAVEL Boléro

Friday, Jan. 8 — Mozart, Haydn and Shostakovich

Conductor David Afkham leads a program spanning the emotional range from Mozart’s thrillingly theatrical Don Giovanni Overture to Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8, a profound reflection on suffering and hope. Cellist Zlatomir Fung makes his Minnesota Orchestra debut with Haydn’s radiant Cello Concerto in D major. The youngest artist to win first prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, Fung combines dazzling virtuosity with exquisite sensitivity, establishing him as one of the most exciting rising stars of his generation.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
David Afkham, conductor
Zlatomir Fung, cello *

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Overture to Don Giovanni
JOSEPH HAYDN Cello Concerto in D Major *
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 8

Friday, Jan. 22 — Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

Sergey Khachatryan was 15 when he became the youngest-ever winner of the International Sibelius Competition. Now a seasoned professional, he’ll play Tchaikovsky for his Minnesota Orchestra debut. John Corigliano believes that music enables us to keep the people we’ve lost alive in our thoughts. This deeply personal symphony, composed when the AIDS epidemic was rampant, explores the excess of rage and the tenderness of remembrance.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Hannu Lintu, conductor
Sergey Khachatryan, violin *

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto *
JOHN CORIGLIANO Symphony No. 1

Friday, Feb. 12 — Søndergård, Hadelich and Prokofiev

In this Fire and Water Minnesota Orchestra program, the heat comes from a Dante-inspired ballet by Thomas Adès and Augustin Hadelich’s ability to make Sergei Prokofiev’s music sear itself into your consciousness. The water flows from Claude Debussy’s childhood fascination with the sea and an orchestral interlude from Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes that deepens our understanding of the story and its characters.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin *

THOMAS ADÈS Inferno Suite
SERGEI PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No. 1 *
BENJAMIN BRITTEN Passacaglia from Peter Grimes
CLAUDE DEBUSSY La Mer

Friday, Feb. 19 — Lunar New Year Concert

Celebrate the Year of the Goat with conductor Molly Turner and the Minnesota Orchestra! Lunar New Year marks the beginning of spring, with all the color and festive moods of the season of rebirth. Family traditions and themes of unity and health take center stage in this vibrant and compelling program.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Molly Turner, conductor
Silver Ainomäe, cello *
Ziniu Zhou, bass
Fei Xie, artistic consultant

JI SOO LEE Arirang Rhapsody
TAN DUN Crouching Tiger Concerto, for Solo Cello and Orchestra *
IGOR STRAVINSKY Fireworks
SUNGHYUN LEE Clockworks and Fireworks
GRACE ANN LEE Tiger's Pipe
TRADITIONAL Chinese Folk Song Selections
AN-LUN HUANG Saibei Dance from Saibei Suite No. 2

Friday, March 12 — Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky

Sergei Rachmaninoff’s fascination with bells dates to his childhood, when his grandmother would take him to town on church festival days. That special sound permeates his rarely performed choral symphony, The Bells. At the center of these Minnesota Orchestra concerts, First Associate Concertmaster Susie Park takes the spotlight in Karol Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 2 — the composer’s last major work — in her first solo concerto collaboration with Music Director Thomas Søndergård.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Susie Park, violin *
Felicia Moore, soprano
John Matthew Myers, tenor
Daniel Okulitch, bass-baritone
Minnesota Chorale

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Hamlet, Fantasy-Overture
KAROL SZYMANOWSKI Violin Concerto No. 2 *
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF The Bells

Friday, April 2 — Keefe, Shostakovich and Ravel

The role of concertmaster requires many non-musical skills: leadership, diplomacy and confidence, among them, and for 16 years, Erin Keefe has demonstrated them all. Hearing her tackle the demands of Shostakovich’s first violin concerto is a reminder that she’s an extraordinary soloist, too. The second half of this Minnesota Orchestra program presents one of the most brilliant depictions of daybreak ever composed in Ravel’s ballet, Daphnis and Chloé.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Lionel Bringuier, conductor
Erin Keefe, violin *

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Violin Concerto No. 1 *
FLORENT SCHMITT The Tragedy of Salome
MAURICE RAVEL Suite No. 2 from Daphnis and Chloé

Friday, April 9 — Beethoven Symphony No. 7

The first few minutes of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 hold so much promise, it’s hard to imagine how he could possibly sustain that level of intensity. He does exactly that with an exquisitely structured symphony of dances. Violinist Veronika Eberle makes her Minnesota Orchestra debut alongside first-time guest conductor Anja Bihlmaier in performances of Karl Hartmann’s Concerto funebre, an emotional work that embodies resistance, remembrance and resilience.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Anja Bihlmaier, conductor
Veronika Eberle, violin *

RICHARD WAGNER Overture to Tannhäuser
KARL HARTMANN Concerto funebre *
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7

Friday, April 16 — Ross, Beethoven and Sibelius

In this Minnesota Orchestra program of real and imagined heroes, audiences meet Lemminkäinen, a star of Finnish mythology. In the eyes of Sibelius, he was “fair of cheek and comely beneath his brows.” Then, Principal Cello Anthony Ross’ artistry is a perfect fit for Bloch’s concerto Schelomo, which depicts the cello as the “voice” of the biblical King Solomon.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Elias Grandy, conductor
Anthony Ross, cello *

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Overture to Egmont
ERNEST BLOCH Schelomo: Rhapsodie hébraïque *
JEAN SIBELIUS Lemminkäinen Suite

Friday, April 30 — Søndergård conducts Future Classics

The future of classical music will be stronger if we nurture the next generation of creative minds. In the Composer Institute, some of the nation’s top emerging composers experience a week-long residency with Thomas Søndergård and the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra. The week is capped off by this concert, when they (and Minnesota audiences) experience the thrill of hearing their pieces played brilliantly.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Kevin Puts, host and Composer Institute director

TBD

Friday, May 8 — Puccini’s Tosca

Puccini’s impeccable sense of timing and detail allows him to tap into our rawest emotions, capturing attention and illuminating the complexities of his title character, Tosca, a gifted, temperamental opera singer who lives her art for God. This story of passion and tragedy is filled with powerful moments, including her despairing aria “Vissi d’arte,” as she struggles to come to grips with what is happening around her, showcasing why Puccini remains one of opera’s greatest composers more than a century later. Offered as part of the Sound Unbound series — a multi-year series offering highly visual, imaginative treatments in the concert hall — this production will feature creative direction from Adam Larsen, who will incorporate lighting design and digital projections to create atmospheric, immersive experiences for audiences.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Adam Larsen, creative director
Ailyn Pérez, soprano (Tosca)
Joshua Guerrero, tenor (Cavaradossi)
Gevorg Hakobyan, baritone (Scarpia)
Brandon Cedel, bass-baritone (Angelotti)
Minnesota Chorale
Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs

GIACOMO PUCCINI Tosca

Friday, May 14 — Gershwin Concerto in F

Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, whose playing has been called “calmly commanding” and “unfailingly subtle” by The New York Times, makes her debut with the Minnesota Orchestra in a program that embraces the blues with George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F. Then, Wynton Marsalis’ playful concerto for the entire orchestra that is structured around the language of jazz.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano *

CARLOS SIMON Hellfighters’ Blues
GEORGE GERSHWIN Concerto in F *
WYNTON MARSALIS Concerto for Orchestra

Friday, June 4 — Dvořák Symphony No. 7

After Dvořák composed his first set of Slavonic Dances, his publisher was desperate for more. He liked that they were short, popular and lucrative. While Dvořák understood the attraction, he was determined to follow his own North Star with his Symphony No. 7. Minnesota Orchestra’s Principal Bassoon Fei Xie takes on a new concerto by Puts that was co-commissioned by three orchestras, including your Minnesota Orchestra.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Fei Xie, bassoon *

SOOMIN KIM World Premiere (MinnOrch Commission)
KEVIN PUTS Bassoon Concerto *
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 7

Friday, June 11 — Søndergård conducts Mahler Symphony No. 5

Thomas Søndergård draws attention to Burleske, Richard Strauss’ only work for piano and orchestra with decorated soloist Yeol Eum Son making her Minnesota Orchestra debut. There are many great moments in Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, including a moving Adagietto which some scholars have described as a love letter to his wife, Alma.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor
Yeol Eum Son, piano *

WITOLD LUTOSŁAWSKI Variations on a Theme by Paganini
RICHARD STRAUSS Burleske
GUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No. 5

Thursday, June 17 — Juneteenth with the Minnesota Orchestra

Kellen Gray conducts this annual Minnesota Orchestra Juneteenth concert that honors the rich legacy of Black artistry and creative expression.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Kellen Gray, conductor
Imani-Grace Cooper, vocals

DUKE ELLINGTON King of the Magi, from Three Black Kings
FLORENCE PRICE Juba, from Symphony No. 3
MARY ANN COOPER/BRUCE GREER Blessed Assurance
DUKE ELLINGTON/BRUCE GREER Caravan
MARGARET BONDS Prayer Meeting, from Montgomery Variations
BILLY STRAYHORN/GERI ALLEN Lush Life
WILLIAM GRANT STILL Autochthonous, from Symphony No. 4

Friday, July 16 — Beethoven and Barber

Nature is at the core of this program as Samuel Barber elevates a poem by James Agee to conjure nostalgic childhood memories of long summer evenings. Then, the Minnesota Orchestra will wander the countryside with Beethoven as he captures how it feels to listen to a nearby brook, gather with friends and experience a thunderstorm in his Pastoral Symphony.

Program

Minnesota Orchestra
Molly Turner, conductor
Ellie Dehn, soprano *

JEROD IMPICHCHAACHAAHA’ TATE Pisachi (Reveal)
SAMUEL BARBER Knoxville: Summer of 1915
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral)

Minnesota Orchestra - Listening Project will be recorded to be post produced on another date.

When the Minnesota Orchestra launched its Listening Project in 2021, our goal was to present and record top-notch performances of music by underrepresented composers—in other words, to share music that many of us were not hearing. The project continues this season with Music Director Thomas Søndergård and soprano Janai Brugger.

‘Thomas Søndergård: Taken by the Sound’

Melissa Ousley joined Minnesota Orchestra music director Thomas Søndergård in his native Denmark in 2024 to explore some of the most important places in his life. Join them as they walk through his memories, musical and otherwise, in this documentary short.

‘Celebrating a Century on the Airwaves’

On most Friday nights, no matter where you are in the state — or in the world, for that matter — you can look forward to tuning into YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio to hear a live concert. From a radio debut in 1923 under Bruno Walter to television transmissions in the 1950s and the ensemble’s unprecedented international broadcast from Havana in 2015, the orchestra has always been on the forefront of finding new ways to connect audiences with music.

Reflecting on 100 years of radio broadcast history, MPR host Melissa Ousley sat down with historian John Michel, technical director Michael Osborne and former broadcast host and current orchestra staffer Brian Newhouse for a spirited retelling of this vital history.

Mary Lou Williams’ artistic vision and her ability to blend diverse musical influences into a cohesive and unique composition are perfect for concert halls and jazz clubs. Find out more on the latest episode of the ‘Rhapsody in Black’ podcast.

Grammy-winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre’s latest project is a result of his personal rediscovery of meditation and his ‘deep, deep love for synthesizers.’ Listen as he speaks to host Julie Amacher about a recording that he describes as “Thomas Tallis meets ‘Blade Runner.’”

Explore the legendary career of Stevie Wonder, the influential artist who transformed R&B and funk music. From his soulful voice to his groundbreaking compositions, learn about his classical music roots, record-breaking hits and his magnum opus. Find out more on the latest episode of the ‘Rhapsody in Black’ podcast.

Grammy-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux started writing the music for his latest recording in 2020. The record is titled ‘Gratitude,’ and recently premiered at the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival. Listen now with host Julie Amacher.

For 22 years, the Youth in Music Marching Band Championships has brought together high school marching bands from across Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. This year’s gathering on Saturday, Oct. 10, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis showcased 35-plus high school ensembles from Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Rosemount, which has ruled the largest class of bands (AAAA) for years and was the defending champion, won again. It was the school’s 10th championship in a row.

All of the bands competed during the day, in various classes based on size. Then the top 11 bands returned to compete in the finals at night. Minnesota’s Rosemount High School won the championship, capping a day and night filled with outstanding performances and musicianship. (Check out the scores from prelims and finals.)

Rosemount’s main competition the past few years, Lincoln High School of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, finished second.

Out-of-state bands hailing from South Dakota, North Dakota and Wisconsin were part of the event. New to the competition this year was the Grand Rapids High School Marching Band.

Exhibition performances were presented by bands from Minneapolis’ Edison High School; St. Croix Central High School of Hammond, Wisconsin; Hudson High School of Hudson, Wisconsin; the North Dakota State University’s Gold Star Marching Band; and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Blugold Marching Band.

Besides the musical performances, Youth in Music bestows several awards and scholarships. Awards given out annually include a Hall of Fame inductee, volunteer of the year, and awards honoring school administrators who support the arts. Paul Brizzi, Andrew Nelson and Brian Johnson are this year’s Hall of Fame recipients, and the Administrator of the Year award is shared between Kelly Jones, Summer Schultz and Rob Franchino.

At the event, the YourClassical booth shared information for students who are interested in preparing an entry for the 2027 Karin Larson YourClassical Prize, which features a cash prize, recording session, and more.

Relive the excitement and pageantry of the Youth in Music Championships through our huge photo galleries below.

All photos by Jorge Valenzuela Mora and Todd Snover of Ceremony Photos, exclusively for YourClassical MPR, which does not make reprints available. To order official photos from the event, go to Ceremony Photos.

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Eastern Carver County + Questionable Legalities

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Eden Prairie

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Minnetonka

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NDSU Gold Star Marching Band

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Youth in Music lineup

Youth in Music Marching Band Championships at U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Oct. 10

Note: All are Minnesota high schools unless noted otherwise.

• Blaine: 7 a.m.

• Andover: 7:15 a.m.

• Hutchinson: 7:30 a.m.

• Osseo: 7:45 a.m.

  

• Lourdes: 8 a.m.

• Minnetonka: 8:15 a.m.

• Coon Rapids: 8:30 a.m.

• Anoka: 8:45 a.m.

• Harrisburg (S.D.): 9 a.m.

• Hudson (Wis., exhibition): 9:15 a.m.

• Sioux Falls O'Gorman (S.D.): 9:30 a.m.

• Baldwin - Woodville (Wis.): 9:45 a.m.

• Chippewa Falls (Wis.): 10 a.m.

• Onalaska (Wis.): 10:15 a.m.

• Sioux Falls Roosevelt (S.D.): 10:30 a.m.

• Waseca: 10:45 a.m.

• Hastings: 11 a.m.

• Champlin Park: 11:15 a.m.

• St. Croix Central (Wis., exhibition): 11:30 a.m.

• Class A and AA Awards: 11:45 a.m.

• Mankato Area 77 Lancers: 12:15 p.m.

• Grand Rapids: 12:30 p.m.

• River Falls (Wis.): 12:45 p.m.

• Lakeville South: 1 p.m.

• Farmington: 1:15 p.m.

• Brookings (S.D.): 1:30 p.m.

• Marshall: 1:45 p.m.

• Eden Prairie: 2 p.m.

  

• Irondale: 2:15 p.m.

• Thomas Edison (Minneapolis, exhibition: 2:30 p.m.

• North Dakota State University (N.D., exhibition): 2:45 p.m.

• Brandon Valley (S.D.): 3 p.m.

• Greendale (Wis.): 3:15 p.m.

• Sioux Falls Lincoln (S.D.): 3:30 p.m.

• Eastview: 3:45 p.m.

• Rosemount: 4 p.m.

• University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, exhibition: 4:15 p.m.

• Class AAA and AAAA Awards: 4:30 p.m.

Pamela Z is a visionary artist who embraces new ideas about identity and technology in her music. Find out more in the ‘Rhapsody in Black’ podcast.

All 46 member musicians of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra have voted to authorize a strike after they say Minnesota Opera management declined cost-of-living increases in addition to other demands.

“Striking is always the very last thing that we want to do,” said Rebecca Arons, who has been a cellist with the opera for 29 years. “We want to play. We're really looking forward to the start of the season, which is Oct. 31, and we are hoping that we can get to an agreement before then.”

The opera’s 2026-27 season is set to begin on Halloween with the world premiere of “The Many Deaths of Laila Starr.” The musicians are members of the American Federation of Musicians, Twin Cities Local 30-73.

Arons, who is chair of the negotiating committee, said management “started out with suggesting cuts to the orchestra, and now the suggestion is to keep our salary flat. It has been flat for the last four years.”

Minnesota Opera management shared a statement with MPR News that it is disappointed with the strike authorization announcement.

The statement also said the opera “is committed to reaching a fair and sustainable agreement that supports our orchestra musicians and protects the organization’s long-term artistic and financial health. While we respectfully disagree with several characterizations made by the Union — including the cost and impact of its proposal — we want to work through our differences at the bargaining table.”

Musicians in the Minnesota Opera Orchestra last authorized a strike in 2023. Arons said it avoided a strike after negotiations established a guaranteed minimum salary for musicians, even though it meant a pay cut. During those negotiations, Arons said the union conceded to no wage increases because “we were coming out of the pandemic.”

If the Minnesota Opera’s current contract proposal is adopted, Arons said that would mean eight years without a cost-of-living increase.

A Minnesota Opera web page titled “Claims Vs. Facts” states that orchestra compensation has increased because scale rates of pay and pension did not remain flat.

The union also claims that in the past four years, the opera authorized an 18 to 20 percent increase in salaries for the opera’s top four paid administrative positions. The opera counters that “the salaries of the highest-paid administrative staff only increased 2 percent from FY20 to FY25. The increases to which the Union refers represent a restoration to previous pay scales from voluntary pay cuts taken during the pandemic.”

At a press conference Tuesday, violinist Ian Snyder said the Minnesota Opera Orchestra buoys the arts community.

“This is one orchestra, but when you retain this orchestra, this is what allows there to be people to teach your children in MSP, musicians to be available for Broadway shows, for ballet series,” Snyder said. “We really appreciate being part of the entire arts ecosystem, and we expect our management to invest in its community by retaining us.”

Negotiations continue Wednesday.

This article first published on the MPR News website.

Violinist María Dueñas’ latest recording pays homage to Jascha Heifetz, one of the greatest violinists of all time, and reunites her with Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. Listen now with host Julie Amacher.

Composer and pianist Julius Eastman’s personal philosophy was, “To be what I am to the fullest.” A graduate of the Curtis Institute, his music was highly acclaimed and challenged racist and homophobic stereotypes. Find out more in the ‘Rhapsody in Black’ podcast.

On the latest episode of ‘New Classical Tracks,’ violinist Ariana Kim sews an ‘(un)common thread,’ connecting a collage of composers through the art of improvisation, on her latest album. Listen now with host Julie Amacher!

As Steve Seel bids farewell to evenings on YourClassical for a new shift in the daylight hours, Extra Eclectic completes its decade-long run with a playlist of some of his favorite 21st-century classical music discoveries of over the years — and, works that elicited particular enthusiasm from listeners as well. Composers and musicians featured include Clarice Jensen, John Luther Adams, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Dobrinka Tabakova, Meredith Monk, Steve Tibbetts and many others. Listen now!

Playlist

Canticles of the Sky: Sky with Endless Stars
Composer: John Luther Adams
Conductor: Hans Jorgen Jensen
Orchestra/Ensemble: Northwestern University Cello Ensemble
Cold Blue 41

The Dharma at Big Sur: A New Day
Composer: John Adams
Conductor: John Adams
Orchestra/Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
Soloists: Tracy Silverman, violin
Nonesuch 512396

In Paradisum
Composer: Galina Grigorjeva
Conductor: Paul Hillier
Orchestra/Ensemble: Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Ondine 1245

Sky
Composer: Jane Antonia Cornish
Soloists: Vicky Chow, piano
Canteloupe 21174

Truro Canticles
Composer: Dobrinka Tabakova
Conductor: Christopher Gray
Orchestra/Ensemble: Truro Cathedral Choir
Soloists: Joseph Wicks, organ
Regent 530

Final
Composer: Clarice Jensen
Soloists: Clarice Jensen, cello
130701 1339

Life of Joel
Composer: Steve Tibbetts
Soloists: Steve Tibbetts, guitar and piano
ECM 2599

Rainbows, I
Composer: Stephen Scott
Orchestra/Ensemble: The Bowed Piano Ensemble
New Albion 107

Mass for the Endangered: Alleluia
Composer: Sarah Kirkland Snider
Conductor: Gabriel Crouch
Orchestra/Ensemble: Gallicantus
Nonesuch 791998

In This Life
Composer: Sophia Subbayya Vastek
Soloists: Sophia Subbayya Vastek, piano
SELF PROD 2022

Salt Air, Salt Earth
Composer: Clarice Jensen
Soloists: Maya Beiser, cello
Islandia 16

To the Hands: Ever Ever Ever
Composer: Caroline Shaw
Conductor: Donald Nally
Orchestra/Ensemble: The Crossing
Innova 912

Nightfall
Composer: Meredith Monk
Soloists: Sean Shibe, electric guitar
PentaTone 988

Canticles of the Sky: Sky with Endless Stars
Composer: John Luther Adams
Conductor: Hans Jorgen Jensen
Orchestra/Ensemble: Northwestern University Cello Ensemble
Cold Blue 41

There is nothing quite like opera: a full stage production where performers are asked to sing hours of music, in multiple languages, at the very top and bottom of their ranges, and all over a full orchestra. In this episode, Classically Training makes a trip to the Minnesota Opera to find out where this art form came from and how all the pieces come together.

The BBC Proms concerts return to YourClassical for the 2026 season. Enjoy live performances featuring world-class ensembles, conductors and soloists from the Royal Albert Hall in London. Listen at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. Central on weekdays through Friday, Sept. 25 — plus on-demand audio for 30 days afterward.

YourClassical and nationally

Listed in reverse chronological order, with most recent broadcast at top.

Friday, Sept. 25 – 10 p.m. Central

DVORAK: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"

Prom 65: Dvořák's New World Symphony | BBC Symphony Orchestra | Sakari Oramo, conductor | Jess Gillam, saxophone | Ben Goldscheider, horn | Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello

Recorded Sept. 6, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Friday, Sept. 25 – 10 a.m. Central

BRITTEN: Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

Prom 65: Dvořák's New World Symphony | BBC Symphony Orchestra | Sakari Oramo, conductor | Jess Gillam, saxophone | Ben Goldscheider, horn | Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello

Recorded Sept. 6, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Thursday, Sept. 24 – 10 p.m. Central

STRAUSS: Four Last Songs

Prom 69: Strauss' Four Last Songs | BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra | Paweł Kapuła, conductor | Natalya Romaniw, soprano

Recorded Sept. 9, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Thursday, Sept. 24 – 10 a.m. Central

SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished"

Prom 69: Strauss' Four Last Songs | BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra | Paweł Kapuła, conductor | Natalya Romaniw, soprano

Recorded Sept. 9, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Wednesday, Sept. 23, – 10 p.m. Central

MAHLER: What the Wild Flowers Tell Me

Prom 69: Strauss' Four Last Songs | BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra | Paweł Kapuła, conductor | Natalya Romaniw, soprano

Recorded Sept. 9, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Wednesday, Sept. 23 – 10 a.m. Central

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Prom 62: Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 9 | Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra | Andrew Manze, conductor | Simone Lamsma, violin: Vaughan Williams, Britten, Smickersgill

Recorded Sept. 4, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Tuesday, Sept. 22 – 10 p.m. Central

SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 2

Prom 66: Rattle conducts Schumann | Freiburg Baroque Orchestra | Sir Simon Rattle, conductor | Isabelle Faust, violin

Recorded Sept. 7, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Tuesday, Sept. 22 – 10 a.m. Central

SCHUMANN: Genoveva: Overture

Prom 66: Rattle conducts Schumann | Freiburg Baroque Orchestra | Sir Simon Rattle, conductor | Isabelle Faust, violin

Recorded Sept. 7, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Monday, Sept. 21 – 10 p.m. Central

SIMCOCK: Triple Concerto for Soprano Saxophone, Horn, and Cello

Prom 65: Dvořák's New World Symphony | BBC Symphony Orchestra | Sakari Oramo, conductor | Jess Gillam, saxophone | Ben Goldscheider, horn | Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello

Recorded Sept. 6, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Monday, Sept. 21 – 10 a.m. Central

BERKELEY: Serenade for Strings

Prom 64: Matinee - John Wilson and Sinfonia of London Strings | Julie Roset, soprano: Berkeley, Bridge, Britten, I. Holst

Recorded Sept. 6, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Friday, Sept. 18 – 10 p.m. Central

SCHUMANN: Violin Concerto

Prom 66: Rattle conducts Schumann | Freiburg Baroque Orchestra | Sir Simon Rattle, conductor | Isabelle Faust, violin

Recorded Sept. 7, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Friday, Sept. 18 – 10 a.m. Central

JANACEK: Sinfonietta

Prom 58: Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto | BBC Symphony Orchestra | Jakub Hrůša conductor | Lukáš Vondráček, piano: Kaprálová, Rachmaninov, Janáček

Recorded Sept. 1, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Thursday, Sept. 17 – 10 p.m. Central

BRITTEN: Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge

Prom 64: Matinee - John Wilson and Sinfonia of London Strings | Julie Roset, soprano: Berkeley, Bridge, Britten, I. Holst

Recorded Sept. 6, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Thursday, Sept. 17 – 10 a.m. Central

IMOGEN HOLST: Suite for String Orchestra

Prom 64: Matinee - John Wilson and Sinfonia of London Strings | Julie Roset, soprano: Berkeley, Bridge, Britten, I. Holst

Recorded Sept. 6, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Wednesday, Sept. 16 – 10 p.m. Central

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Symphony No. 9

Prom 62: Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 9 | Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra | Andrew Manze, conductor | Simone Lamsma, violin: Vaughan Williams, Britten, Smickersgill

Recorded Sept. 4, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Wednesday, Sept. 16 – 10 a.m. Central

MOZART: Symphony No. 35 "Haffner"

Prom 47: Matinee - Mozart's Haffner Symphony | Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields | Benjamin Marquise Gilmore, direction | Amy Harman, bassoon and Felix Klieser, French horn: Britten, Mozart, Musgrave, Elgar

Recorded Aug. 23, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Tuesday, Sept. 15 – 10 p.m. Central

BRITTEN: Violin Concerto

Prom 62: Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 9 | Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra | Andrew Manze, conductor | Simone Lamsma, violin: Vaughan Williams, Britten, Smickersgill

Recorded Sept. 4, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Tuesday, Sept. 15 – 10 a.m. Central

DEBUSSY: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

Prom 48: Gautier Capuçon plays Dvořák | BBC Symphony Orchestra | Alain Altinoglu, conductor: Stravinsky, Dvořák, Debussy, Varèse

Recorded Aug 23, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Monday, Sept. 14 – 10 p.m. Central

TORVUND: Symphonic Poem No. 1 "Forest Morning"

Prom 55: Stravinsky and Prokofiev with the Oslo Philharmonic | Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, conductor | Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin

Recorded Aug 29, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Monday, Sept. 14 – 10 a.m. Central

STRAUSS: Der Rosenkavalier Suite

Prom 51: The Met Orchestra plays Strauss | Metropolitan Opera Orchestra | Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor | Elza van der Heever, soprano

Recorded Aug 26, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Friday, Sept. 11 – 10 p.m. Central

WALLER-BRIDGE: Solitudes

Prom 53: Late Night - Ultimate Calm with Erland Cooper

Recorded Aug 27, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Friday, Sept. 11 – 10 a.m. Central

ELGAR: Enigma Variations

Prom 59: Elgar and Tchaikovsky | Berlin Philharmonic | Kirill Petrenko, conductor

Recorded Sept 2, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Thursday, Sept. 10 – 10 p.m. Central

HAYDN: Symphony No. 45 "Farewell"

Prom 45: Mahler's Song of the Earth | BBC Philharmonic | Anja Bihlmaier, conductor | Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano | Clay Hilley, tenor: El-Turk, Haydn, Mahler

Recorded Aug 21, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Thursday, Sept. 10 – 10 a.m. Central

KAPRALOVA: Rustic Suite

Prom 58: Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto | BBC Symphony Orchestra | Jakub Hrůša conductor | Lukáš Vondráček, piano: Kaprálová, Rachmaninov, Janáček

Recorded Sept. 1, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Wednesday, Sept. 9 (Extra Eclectic) – 10 p.m. Central

COPLAND: Appalachian Spring

Prom 49: American Classics | Philharmonia Orchestra | Marin Alsop, conductor | Marcus Roberts Trio: Tower, Bernstein, Gershwin, Moross, Copland, Grant Still

Recorded Aug. 24, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Wednesday, Sept. 9 – 10 a.m. Central

BERNSTEIN: On the Town: Three Dance Episodes

Prom 49: American Classics | Philharmonia Orchestra | Marin Alsop, conductor | Marcus Roberts Trio: Tower, Bernstein, Gershwin, Moross, Copland, Grant Still

Recorded Aug. 24, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Tuesday, Sept. 8 – 10 p.m. Central

DVORAK: Cello Concerto

Prom 48: Gautier Capuçon plays Dvořák | BBC Symphony Orchestra | Alain Altinoglu, conductor: Stravinsky, Dvořák, Debussy, Varèse

Recorded Aug. 23, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Tuesday, Sept. 8 – 10 a.m. Central

GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue

Prom 49: American Classics | Philharmonia Orchestra | Marin Alsop, conductor | Marcus Roberts Trio: Tower, Bernstein, Gershwin, Moross, Copland, Grant Still

Recorded Aug. 24, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Monday, Sept. 7 – 10 p.m. Central

MARSALIS: Concerto for Orchestra

Prom 37: Gershwin's Piano Concerto | BBC Symphony Orchestra | James Gaffigan, conductor | Yeol Eum Son, piano: Marsalis, Gershwin, Barber

Recorded Aug. 13, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Monday, Sept. 7 – 10 a.m. Central

GERSHWIN: Piano Concerto

Prom 37: Gershwin's Piano Concerto | BBC Symphony Orchestra | James Gaffigan, conductor | Yeol Eum Son, piano: Marsalis, Gershwin, Barber

Recorded Aug. 13, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Friday, Sept. 4 – 10 p.m. central

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral"

Prom 33: Dudamel and the LA Phil 1 | Los Angeles Philharmonic | Gustavo Dudamel, conductor: Beethoven and Adès

Recorded Aug. 11, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Friday, Sept. 4 – 10 a.m. Central

BERNSTEIN: West Side Story: Symphonic Dances

Prom 49: American Classics | Philharmonia Orchestra | Marin Alsop, conductor | Marcus Roberts Trio: Tower, Bernstein, Gershwin, Moross, Copland, Grant Still

Recorded Aug. 24, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Thursday, Sept. 3 – 10 p.m. Central

DVORAK: Symphony No. 8

Prom 46: Chineke! Orchestra with Angel Blue | Jonathon Heyward, conductor: Thornton Jenkins, Barber, Dvořák

Recorded Aug. 22, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Thursday, Sept. 3 – 10 a.m. Central

MOZART: Horn Concerto No. 3

Prom 47: Matinee - Mozart's Haffner Symphony | Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields | Benjamin Marquise Gilmore, direction | Amy Harman, bassoon and Felix Klieser, French horn: Britten, Mozart, Musgrave, Elgar

Recorded Aug. 23, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Wednesday, Sept. 2 (Extra Eclectic) – 10 p.m. Central

BARBER: Knoxville: Summer of 1915

Prom 46: Chineke! Orchestra with Angel Blue | Jonathon Heyward, conductor: Thornton Jenkins, Barber, Dvořák

Recorded Aug. 22, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Wednesday, Sept. 2 – 10 a.m. Central

BRITTEN: Simple Symphony

Prom 47: Matinee - Mozart's Haffner Symphony | Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields | Benjamin Marquise Gilmore, direction | Amy Harman, bassoon and Felix Klieser, French horn: Britten, Mozart, Musgrave, Elgar

Recorded Aug. 23, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Tuesday, Sept. 1 – 10 p.m. Central

BARBER: Symphony No. 1

Prom 37: Gershwin's Piano Concerto | BBC Symphony Orchestra | James Gaffigan, conductor | Yeol Eum Son, piano: Marsalis, Gershwin, Barber

Recorded Aug. 13, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Tuesday, Sept. 1 – 10 a.m. Central

JENKINS: Dance Suite

Prom 46: Chineke! Orchestra with Angel Blue | Jonathon Heyward, conductor: Thornton Jenkins, Barber, Dvořák

Recorded Aug. 22, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Monday, Aug. 31 – 10 p.m. Central

HOWARD: Concerto for Brass "SIGNAL"

Prom 22: Kavakos Plays Tchaikovsky | BBC Symphony Orchestra | Paavo Järvi, conductor | Leonidas Kavakos, violin: Howard, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin

Recorded Aug. 2, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Monday, Aug. 31 – 10 a.m. Central

COPLAND: Billy the Kid: Suite

Prom 41: Copland and Stravinsky | BBC National Orchestra of Wales | Ryan Bancroft, conductor | Anthony McGill: clarinet: Copland, Kahane, Stravinsky

Recorded Aug. 17, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Friday, Aug. 28 – 10 p.m. Central

BOULANGER: Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra

Prom 25: Rachmaninov's Second | Hallé | Kachun Wong, conductor | Alexandra Dariescu, piano: Ravel, Boulanger, Rachmaninov

Recorded Aug. 5, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Friday, Aug. 28 – 10 a.m. Central

MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto

Prom 24: Dvořák and Mendelssohn | BBC National Orchestra of Wales | Elena Schwarz, conductor | Alina Ibragimova, violin

Recorded Aug. 4, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Thursday, Aug. 27 – 10 p.m. Central

DVORAK: Symphony No. 7

Prom 24: Dvořák and Mendelssohn | BBC National Orchestra of Wales | Elena Schwarz, conductor | Alina Ibragimova, violin

Recorded Aug. 4, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Thursday, Aug. 27 – 10 a.m. Central

SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 4

Prom 19: Bruch's Violin Concerto | German Chamber Philharmonic Bremen | Omer Meir Wellber, conductor | Daniel Lozakovich, violin: Haydn, Bruch, Schumann

Recorded July 31, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Wednesday, Aug. 26 (Extra Eclectic) – 10 p.m. Central

TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto

Prom 22: Kavakos Plays Tchaikovsky | BBC Symphony Orchestra | Paavo Järvi, conductor | Leonidas Kavakos, violin: Howard, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin

Recorded Aug. 2, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Wednesday, Aug. 26 – 10 a.m. Central

TABAKOVA: Orpheus' Comet

Prom 18: Korngold's Violin Concerto | BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra | Delyana Lazarova, conductor | Alena Baeva, violin: Tabakova, Korngold, Prokofiev

Recorded July 30, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Tuesday, Aug. 25 – 10 p.m. Central

POULENC: Sinfonietta

Prom 14: Poulenc and Adams | City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and Orchestra | Sydney Philharmonia Symphony Chorus | Lucas and Arthur Jussen, pianos

Recorded July 26, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Tuesday, Aug. 25 – 10 a.m. Central

BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1

Prom 19: Bruch's Violin Concerto | German Chamber Philharmonic Bremen | Omer Meir Wellber, conductor | Daniel Lozakovich, violin: Haydn, Bruch, Schumann

Recorded July 31, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Monday, Aug. 24 – 10 p.m. Central

TJOGERSON: Between Trees

Prom 15: From the Alps to the Auvergne | London Philharmonic Orchestra | Edward Gardner, conductor: Tjøgersen, Canteloube, Strauss

Recorded July 27, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Monday, Aug. 24 – 10 a.m. Central

POULENC: Concerto for Two Pianos

Prom 14: Poulenc and Adams | City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and Orchestra | Sydney Philharmonia Symphony Chorus | Lucas and Arthur Jussen, pianos

Recorded July 26, 2026, Royal Albert Hall, London

Minnesota Winds, the state's brand-new professional concert band, takes the stage for an unforgettable season finale concert. Led by powerhouse guest conductor Cynthia Johnston Turner — known for her electric style, international leadership and deep commitment to the concert band art form — this concert features an army of brass, chorus of woodwinds and battery of percussion. Revel in the joy, virtuosity and sheer exhilaration of band at its finest! Listen to the concert now through the player above.

Program

Minnesota Winds
Cynthia Johnston Turner, conductor

JOSEPH WILLCOX JENKINS American Overture
KATHERINE BERGMAN Unfurl (world premiere)
ALFRED REED Armenian Dances, Part 1
MICHAEL BARRY Boomba
ADAM SCHOENBERG Cool Cat
VIET CUONG Deciduous
KEVIN DAY Concerto for Wind Ensemble

For more information regarding this concert, please visit the official website.

Katherine Bergman Interview

Katherine Bergman is a Minnesota-based composer who draws on nature, environmentalism, and the intersection between art and science to create music described as hypnotic and visceral. She is also co-founder and artistic director of the Minnesota Winds, a professional concert band with a vision to embrace the dynamic energy and inclusive culture of school band and bring it to the professional level.

Host Vernon Neal joins Bergman at her home to talk about her latest composition for the Minnesota Winds, Unfurl.

ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 24, 2026 — YourClassical MPR today has announced that veteran public radio host Steve Seel will serve as the next host of YourClassical MPR’s Morning Show beginning on October 5. Seel will take the helm from John Birge, who retired from the host chair in August of this year.

Seel brings more than three decades of experience as a public media host and producer. A familiar voice to YourClassical audiences, Seel currently hosts Sunday through Tuesday evening classical music and the national concert program SymphonyCast, produces and hosts regional concert broadcasts with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has been a regular fill-in host for YourClassical MPR.

“We’re thrilled Steve Seel will move into the morning drive chair at YourClassical MPR!” said Julie Amacher, programming director at YourClassical MPR. “Steve weaves his in-depth knowledge of the music and our arts community together with his delightful sense of wit and awareness of what’s going on in our world today. That approach makes classical music relevant for our listeners every day.”

Seel began his career in public media working shifts at his hometown station of WUSF-FM in Tampa, Florida, and from there worked his way to Buffalo, New York, where he hosted at the renowned classical station WNED-FM. Seel moved to Minnesota in 1999 to become a weekend and overnight host for American Public Media’s YourClassical.

When The Current launched in 2005, Seel was one of the station’s founding voices and served as midday host before becoming a co-host of The Morning Show alongside Jill Riley in 2009. In 2015, he returned to YourClassical, where he’s served as an evening host and as host of Extra Eclectic.

“I'm honored to be taking over the chair for my good friend and colleague John Birge in the mornings on Your Classical MPR,” said Seel. “While John is in no way replaceable, I promise to bring listeners all of this wonderful music with the same amount of love, and a little humor, too. I can't wait to get started.”

As part of Seel’s transition to the YourClassical MPR host chair, Extra Eclectic will have its last show on September 28. He will continue to host SymphonyCast each weekend. Seel will be heard on YourClassical MPR starting Oct. 5 from 6 – 10 a.m. Mondays – Fridays.

After a decade-plus, longtime host Steve Seel’s Extra Eclectic show on YourClassical is coming to an end. Listen on Monday, Sept. 28, at 10 p.m. Central to hear the final episode. This change comes as Steve makes the transition to YourClassical’s new morning host — 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. on weekdays — starting on Monday, Oct. 5.

But before then, here’s a little, ahem, extra background on Extra Eclectic and the overall approach for modern classical on YourClassical.

How did Extra Eclectic come to be?

When I returned to YourClassical MPR in 2015 after 10 years as a host on The Current, Program Director Julie Amacher and I talked about how we might capitalize on my lifelong interest in contemporary classical music, and our first idea was for a new show. I was thrilled that Julie was not just receptive to the idea, but enthusiastic! (I had created and hosted a show called Present Tense at WNED-FM in Buffalo, NY during the 1990s, and perhaps that fortified her confidence; I'm not sure). I put together a mockup of what I envisioned, and she allowed me to run with it almost immediately. That practically never happens.

Where did the name come from?

At first, the show didn't even have a name! It was just two hours on a Wednesday night when we played modern classical. Not long after we started it, I just started saying, "thanks for joining me for an extra-eclectic two hours of classical music" every time I did the show. One day she asked me, "so, is that the name, then? It's kind of a mouthful." But it stuck.

The "eclectic" nature of the show was really just that it would be a place where you might hear ways in which classical music was changing in the 21st century, and how the whole idea of what "classical music" was supposed to be was getting less rigid and orthodox. For example, composers feel much freer to use electronics today, or electric guitar, or feature a singing voice that was less traditionally "classical."

Did the show have an "angle"?

It's true that Extra Eclectic was never about all modern classical music. Our goal from the beginning was to create a showcase for how classical has changed, especially in the 21st century, into something that is more exciting and listener-friendly than it was during much of the 20th century (when it earned a reputation for being listener un-friendly).

Jennifer Allen, our longtime Associate Music Director at YourClassical, created practically every playlist for the entire 10-year run of the show. She is, quite simply, the encyclopedic brain behind the breadth and depth of the selections, and also, the originator of almost every weekly topic the program ever had.

Where will listeners be able to continue hearing this kind of classical music even if the show is coming to an end?

Since we began the show, YourClassical has just started sharing the music of contemporary composers during our regular broadcast hours; it's just much more of what we do on a daily basis, because the classical music genre itself is more open-minded and adventurous, and less hung-up on rules. That's better for everybody.

So there's no "show" that's weighted toward contemporary classical anymore?

Actually, there still is. On Sunday evenings, we really enjoy setting a "mood" with works that are contemplative and atmospheric — and as it happens, a lot of contemporary classical fits that bill. So when you tune in, you'll hear quite a lot of modern stuff that also happens to be extremely gorgeous. But if you still want to listen to Extra Eclectic specifically, the show's entire 10-year archive lives online at our website.

How do listeners respond to modern classical music in general?

In short, they love it tons more than they used to! That's why we worry a lot less today than we did 30 years ago — or even 10 years ago — about whether or not we're alienating folks who've "just tuned in to hear Mozart and nothing else." Yes, that was a thing people in classical radio used to say. We know that's no longer true. I seriously used to get phone calls from people who would yell, "What IS this?" Now, when people ask that, it's because they're captivated by it, not angered by it.

What is a piece of classical music that makes you feel good whenever you hear it? Share it with YourClassical MPR.

For the Fall Member Drive — which runs Monday, Oct. 5, through Friday, Oct. 9 — YourClassical is creating a feel-good playlist with your help.

To submit your song, fill out the form below by the end of the day on Monday, Sept. 28. Then, listen during the Fall Member Drive to hear the playlist we built together.

Clarinetist Anthony McGill is the principal clarinetist with the New York Philharmonic, the first Black musician to hold a principal chair in the orchestra’s 178 year history. During his time there, he has wowed audiences and impressed critics with his technique and silky tone, but he has also used the platform to promote social justice issues, specifically racial equity in classical music. Find out more in the latest episode of the ‘Rhapsody in Black’ podcast.

Pianist Alice Sara Ott recently returned to Iceland to record the music of Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. The resulting record features some of Jóhannsson’s orchestral works reimagined for solo piano, including some of his film scores. Listen now with host Julie Amacher.

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Artistic Partner Gábor Takács-Nagy returns for another consecutive season finale leading the orchestra in a program that touches on many of its 2025-26 season themes, including the idea of music and art as hope and light. Written in the final and darkest days of World War II, Richard Strauss’ monumental and emotional Metamorphosen mourns the corruption and destruction of German culture. This musical response to fascism, written for 23 strings, depicts a transformation from pain and darkness to hope and light, with homages to his German predecessors including Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. To close out the program, Robert Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony references the flow of the Rhine River and the ceaseless flow of time — a natural bookend to the season, which is framed by a quote from Schumann himself: “To send light into the depths of the human heart — this is the artist’s calling.” Listen to the concert now!

Program

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Gábor Takács-Nagy, conductor

ZOLTÁN KODÁLY Summer Evening
RICHARD STRAUSS Metamorphosen
ROBERT SCHUMANN Symphony No. 3 (Rhenish)

For more information regarding this concert, please visit the official website.

Extra Eclectic continues our replay of recordings from the 2026 BBC Proms Festival this week with Welsh composer Gwilym Simcock’s Triple Concerto for Saxophone, Horn and Cello — a thrilling and frequently gorgeous work performed by the three soloists who premiered it 10 years ago: Jess Gillam, Ben Goldscheider and Sheku Kanneh-Mason. It’s an opportunity for a full first-hour of works by composers from the U.K., which also includes music by Huw Watkins, Will Gregory and others. In the second hour, host Steve Seel plays music by Brian Eno, Jane Antonia Cornish, Max Richter and more.

Playlist

Spring
Composer: Huw Watkins
Soloists: Krysia Osostowicz, violin
Somm 181

Triple Concerto
Composer: Gwilym Simcock
Conductor: Sakari Oramo
Orchestra/Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
Soloists: Jess Gillam, soprano saxophone
BBC Proms 2026 Recording

Orbit
Composer: Will Gregory
Orchestra/Ensemble: Jess Gillam Ensemble
Soloists: Jess Gillam, soprano saxophone
DG 4851062

Antiarkie
Composer: Ryan Latimer
Conductor: Pierre-Andre Valade
Orchestra/Ensemble: BBC Symphony Orchestra
NMC 267

fields of forever
Composer: Chad Lawson
Soloists: Chad Lawson, piano
London/Decca 4563275

Honeyed Words
Composer: Anna Meredith
Orchestra/Ensemble: Ligeti Quartet
Mercury KX 4845720

Fullness of Wind; French Catalogues
Composer: Brian Eno
Conductor: Gavin Bryars
Orchestra/Ensemble: Cockpit Ensemble
Virgin 66493

Sleep: Path 19
Composer: Max Richter
Orchestra/Ensemble: American Contemporary Music Ensemble
Soloists: Max Richter, electronics
DG 4795258

Sky
Composer: Jane Antonia Cornish
Soloists: Vicky Chow, piano
Canteloupe 21174

The Day Dawn
Composer: Sally Beamish
Conductor: Ola Rudner
Orchestra/Ensemble: Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Bis 1161

Duncan Sheik, the Tony- and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter who crafted the music for “Spring Awakening,” has died. He was 56.

Sheik died Thursday night, according to a post on his Instagram page. “The world has a lost a singular talent, and deeply influential voice in music and theater,” the post reads. “His musical legacy will continue to inspire generations to come.”

Sheik had been best known for his lasting radio hit “Barely Breathing” when he turned his sights on Broadway with “Spring Awakening,” resulting in the envelope-pushing show that musicalized teenage angst.

“With the exception of our director, we are all kind of Broadway outsiders. We wanted to shake things up a bit. And we just set out to make this really cool piece of theater,” Sheik told The Associated Press in 2007, as the show swept Tony nominations.

Sheik also tackled musicals based on “American Psycho” and “Alice in Wonderland,” and “Barely Breathing” spent 55 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 16. But he was probably best known for “Spring Awakening,” which ran for over 860 performances on Broadway starting in 2006.

“His deep feeling and his delight gave us so much beauty,” playwright and actor Eisa Davis wrote. “Duncan, thank you for your friendship and for the sublime music.”

‘Spring Awakening’ roused a new side of Sheik — and Broadway

The musical — adapted from a 19th-century play by German playwright Frank Wedekind, with music by Sheik and lyrics by playwright Steven Sater — is frank in its portrayals of incest, abortion and suicide. It's intended partly as a warning that teens need good information about sex to avoid tragic mistakes.

“I don’t mean to be disrespectful to more traditional theater composers,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2015. “I love Stephen Sondheim. But it’s my mission to make sure that the theater is paying attention to what the rest of the world is listening to.”

Sheik and Sater were practicing Buddhists who met while chanting. They were collaborating on Sheik's third album, “Phantom Moon,” when Sater mentioned he was working on a new production. Neither had written a musical before.

“I said to Steven, ‘I’m happy to do this musical, but I only want to do it if the music in the play is the kind that I and my peers can get behind stylistically and relate to and enjoy,’” Sheik told the AP in 2006.

They made a pact: They'd retain the provincial, 19th-century Germany setting but with, as Sater put it, “the characters breaking into pop-contemporary when they sing.”

“Spring Awakening” won eight Tony Awards, including best musical, as well as the Grammy for best musical show album.

“Sheik’s music, spare in its simple orchestrations, lush in the lapping reach of its seductive choruses, embodies the shadowy air of longing that infuses the show, the excitement shading into fear, the joy that comes with a chaser of despair,” The New York Times said in its review.

The show is beloved in the musical theater community for breaking ground in staging and content, alongside the likes of “Rent” and “Hamilton.” It returned to Broadway in 2015 in a well-received production by Deaf West Theatre. An off-Broadway version is slated to open this fall, as is his musical “Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen,” based on Moyoco Anno’s manga of the same name.

The cast of the original show was loaded with breakthrough actors like Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, Lilli Cooper, Jennifer Damiano, Gideon Glick, John Gallagher Jr., Lauren Pritchard and Krysta Rodriguez, who have each gone on to fame in TV, film and stage. Groff would go on to earn a Tony with “Merrily We Roll Along,” and Michele became a superstar with “Glee.”

Sheik blended musical theater with pop music

Sheik next channeled the music he heard getting past the velvet ropes of trendy, late-1980s Manhattan clubs for a Broadway adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel “American Psycho.”

The 1991 novel — later made into a 2000 movie starring Christian Bale — chronicles a homicidal New York yuppie named Patrick Bateman who is obsessed with high-end clothes and beauty products even as he slashes his way through Manhattan. Sheik, who also supplied lyrics, recalled only getting halfway through the book before throwing it across the room as a Brown University student.

For one standout song, “You Are What You Wear,” he reached out to old girlfriends to ask a question: What were you really into wearing in the late ’80s? He put the answers in the tune about high fashion: “Chanel, Gaultier, or Giorgio Armani/Moschino, Alaïa, or Norma Kamali/Should I rock/The Betsey Johnson/Or stick with classic/Comme des Garçons?”

“Duncan is really a genius and an intellectual and brings something both uniquely his but importantly of this period to the stage,” producer Jesse Singer told the AP at the time.

Because Bateman, played onstage by Benjamin Walker, fancies himself a bit of a music critic — spewing mostly inane ruminations about Phil Collins and Huey Lewis and the News — Sheik also peppered his score with sly reworkings of “In the Air Tonight” and “Hip to Be Square.”

“There’s definitely an art to be able to write a song that on one level is a pop song and one that also has to tell a story and keep an audience engaged in terms of a larger narrative arc,” Sheik told the AP in 2013. “When you’re writing a song for the theater, it has to accomplish all this other stuff. It has to work in tandem with all these other agendas and creative impulses.”

The show, directed by Rupert Goold and with a story by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, made its premiere in 2013 in London. On Broadway in 2016, it bombed, lasting less than 90 performances.

“We were all sort of worried that it might be too violent for people and it might seem too misogynist,” Sheik told the AP on the eve of the opening. “But, in fact, the truth is this piece is a critique of a certain way of thinking about things. So in truth it’s better to go all-in.”

‘Barely Breathing’ was nominated for a Grammy

Growing up between South Carolina and New Jersey, Sheik learned guitar as a child and got his first synthesizer when he was 12. He was heavily influenced by Talk Talk, David Sylvian and Nick Drake. His self-titled debut album was released in 1996 and Rolling Stone gave it a four-star review, calling it “a defiant debut — beautiful and benevolent of spirit.”

“Barely Breathing,” from that album, was nominated for best pop vocal performance in 1998 and would be kept alive on TV shows like “Glee” and “Girls.”

Other projects include “Whisper House,” an album and musical — a ghost story that ran in 2010 at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego — and “Legerdemain,” an album that explored the tension between art and commerce. His most recent album was 2022's “Claptrap.”

But for someone who had once been a total stranger to Broadway, he told AP in 2016 that he had a sense of mission.

“I feel like it’s become my project to kind of drag different people who might not normally go to musical theater pieces to come see a piece of musical theater,” he said.

He is survived by his parents; his wife, Nora Ariffin; and a daughter, Ines.

This story originally appeared at MPR News.

Jeff Scott’s 2024 Grammy-nominated oratorio is full of inspiration from two giants of music — Johann Sebastian Bach and John Coltrane. Passion for Bach and Coltrane with the Imani Winds is an innovative and surprising confluence of classical and jazz. Scott is the founding horn player of the Imani Winds, and along with the Harlem Jazz Quartet, jazz soloists and spoken word by A.B. Spellman, Passion for Bach and Coltrane offers an intimate perspective on the group’s most personal recording in its 25-year history. Listen now with host Toyin Spellman-Diaz in celebration of Coltrane’s 100th anniversary!

Playlist

Hour 1

• Johann Sebastian Bach: Aria, from Goldberg Variations — Glenn Gould, piano

• Johann Sebastian Bach: Variation No. 1, from Goldberg Variations — Glenn Gould, piano

• A.B. Spellman: Dear John, Part 1, from Passion for Bach and Coltrane — A.B. Spellman, spoken

• Jeff Scott: Aria, from Passion for Bach and Coltrane — Imani Winds, Harlem Quartet, Alex Brown, Edward Perez and Neal Smith

• A.B. Spellman: Dear John, Part 2, from Passion for Bach and Coltrane — A.B. Spellman, spoken

• Jeff Scott: Psalm, from Passion for Bach and Coltrane — Imani Winds, Harlem Quartet, Alex Brown, Edward Perez and Neal Smith

• Jeff Scott: Resolution, from Passion for Bach and Coltrane — Imani Winds, Harlem Quartet, Alex Brown, Edward Perez and Neal Smith

• Jeff Scott: Out of Nazareth, Part 1, from Passion for Bach and Coltrane — Imani Winds, Harlem Quartet, Alex Brown, Edward Perez and Neal Smith

• Johann Sebastian Bach: Variation No. 2, from Goldberg Variations — Glenn Gould, piano

• Jeff Scott: Out of Nazareth, Part 2, from Passion for Bach and Coltrane — Imani Winds, Harlem Quartet, Alex Brown, Edward Perez and Neal Smith

Intermission

• Johann Sebastian Bach: Variation No. 29, from Goldberg Variations — Glenn Gould, piano

Hour 2

• John Coltrane: Acknowledgement, from A Love Supreme — John Coltrane, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner

• Johann Sebastian Bach: Variation No. 4, from Goldberg Variations — Glenn Gould, piano

• A.B. Spellman: Among the Things I Must Have Known, from Passion for Bach and Coltrane — A.B. Spellman

• Jeff Scott: Interlude, from Passion for Bach and Coltrane — Imani Winds, Harlem Quartet, Alex Brown, Edward Perez, and Neal Smith

• Jeff Scott: A Hug for Gonzalo, from Passion for Bach and Coltrane — Imani Winds, Harlem Quartet, Alex Brown, Edward Perez and Neal Smith

• Johann Sebastian Bach: Variation No. 13, from Goldberg Variations — Glenn Gould, piano

• Jeff Scott: Variation No. 13 from Passion for Bach and Coltrane — Imani Winds, Harlem Quartet, Alex Brown, Edward Perez and Neal Smith

• Jeff Scott: Acknowledgement, from Passion for Bach and Coltrane — Imani Winds, Harlem Quartet, Alex Brown, Edward Perez and Neal Smith

Randall Goosby has been playing violin since he was 7, including studying with legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman, and the trajectory of his career shows no signs of slowing down. Find out more in the latest episode of the ‘Rhapsody in Black’ podcast.

Concert Master Steven Copes and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra join pianist and composer Stephen Prutsman for a new project that takes works by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev and reimagines them for chamber orchestra. Listen now with host Julie Amacher.

The Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies (GTCYS) is a youth orchestra powerhouse, the largest youth orchestra program in the nation, with 11 orchestras graded from beginners to experienced players. The top GTCYS orchestra, Symphony, wowed audiences in New Zealand and Australia this past summer. Their tour program, which includes an award-winning new piece by high school student Luke Soneral, was rebroadcasted on Tuesday, Sept. 15. YourClassical MPR is proud to present the GTCYS Symphony send-off concert — recorded at Orchestra Hall — from this past June. Listen to the concert, hosted by Steve Staruch, through the player above.

Program

GTCYS Symphony
Mark Russell Smith, GTCYS Artistic Director and Conductor

RICHARD WAGNER Prelude from Die Meistersinger
MICHAEL ABELS Delights & Dances
JOHN WILLIAMS With Malice Towards None from Lincoln
LUKE SONERAL An Overture: The Mouse and Its Shadow
SERGEI PROKOFIEV Romeo and Juliet

For more information regarding this concert, please check out the official program.

The Secret Life of GTCYS

During preparations for the send-off concert, host Vernon Neal spoke to three members of GTCYS' Symphony ensemble at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis about their instruments and experiences, as well as how GTCYS is helping shape their future. Watch the complete interview below!