Share the microphone! Share the inspiration!

Classical host Steve Staruch welcomes young performers, 14 to 24, to join him as co-host on Friday Favorites as part of YourClassical MPR's Project DJ. Participants will get to be interviewed on-air, introduce a few requests and share their favorite performances.

Fill out the form below, including a short essay. We'll contact you if you're selected.

You could be the next guest on YourClassical MPR's Project DJ!

Note: All participants of YourClassical MPR's Project DJ who are younger than 18 will be required to sign a release form.

Project DJ application form

Amy Leopold, the Project DJ co-host for this week’s episode of Friday Favorites, will graduate in May with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from the College of St. Scholastica. A native of Duluth, Amy is proud of her hometown and her deep family roots on the north shore. Listen now with host Steve Staruch!

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Jenna Kavouras, the Project DJ co-host for this week’s episode of Friday Favorites, is a natural in front of the microphone. She had an experience of writing and performing her first composition, a piece for wind orchestra. It led to an experience of “wow!” Listen now with host Steve Staruch!

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Wesley Friberg has been involved with the YMCA’s Youth in Government program for the last four years. He is an experienced public speaker and it shows! Wesley is the Project DJ co-host for this week’s episode of Friday Favorites. Listen now as he joins Steve Staruch!

Find out more about Project DJ!

Mark Scannell is the Project DJ Plus co-host on this episode of Friday Favorites. Mark is retired, but you wouldn’t know that from his many activities: he’s a published author, life coach and a softball umpire, among many other things. Mark had aspirations when he was a kid of being a baseball commentator. Co-hosting Friday Favorites is not quite baseball announcing, but it comes in a close second! Listen now with host Steve Staruch!

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The Project DJ co-host this week is Ben Shermock. He took his first voice lesson two years ago, and it changed the trajectory of his life. Hear Ben’s story — and your requests, too — on this week’s episode of Friday Favorites. Listen now with host Steve Staruch!

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The Project DJ co-host for this episode of Friday Favorites is Mya Temanson. She is a native of Minot, North Dakota, and an MPR Fellow. She began playing the violin at 4 and at 15 she had the opportunity to perform a Vivaldi Concerto with the Minot Symphony Orchestra. She has a passion for writing and while at Minot State, she (and friends) also wrote and directed an interactive murder mystery show. It was an amazing success! Listen now with host Steve Staruch!

Find out more about Project DJ!

The Project DJ co-host for this episode of Friday Favorites is Anna Tessman. Violin is her passion! Anna is also an MPR Fellow learning the craft and art of radio. Listen now with host Steve Staruch!

Find out more about Project DJ!

Jericho Juenemann lives and breathes music. A singer and instrumentalist, he performs with the Angelica Cantanti Youth Choir, plays trumpet in the New Prague High School Band and is also involved in theater. He brings all that experience to YourClassical MPR as a Project DJ co-host on the latest episode of Friday Favorites. Listen now as he joins Steve Staruch!

Find out more about Project DJ!

On the latest episode of Friday Favorites, Samantha Forgosh has her eyes set on a career in the entertainment industry. If her appearance as the Project DJ co-host is any indication, she’s on her way! Listen now as she joins host Steve Staruch.

Find out more about Project DJ!

Incredible musical talent (singer and multi-instrumentalist) and train enthusiast, Thomas Baker-Trinity joined Steve Staruch as the Project DJ co-host for this week’s Friday Favorites. Listen now!

On the latest episode of Friday Favorites, B Petry joins Steve Staruch as the Project DJ co-host. B is a first-year student studying instrumental music education at Concordia College in Moorhead. Music has been a part of their life since age 4. Listen now!

On the latest episode of Friday Favorites, Dante Mulkey hit it out of the park as a first-time Project DJ co-host: poised, adaptable, and passionate. Listen now with host Steve Staruch!

On the latest episode of Friday Favorites, Cassandra Tandeski from Lakeville South High School, and Oliver Gerger from Hastings High School joined Steve Staruch as Project DJ co-hosts for Friday Favorites. Both are preparing for the Youth in Music High School Marching Band competition at US Bank Stadium Saturday, October 12. It will be a full day of marching a music! Listen now!

The Project DJ co-host for this week’s Friday Favorites is Julian Westerlund. He is a primary behavioral therapist working with young children with autism. A psychology graduate of Bethel University, he also is a violinist, performing with the St. Paul Civic Symphony and the Kenwood Orchestra. He has plans to pursue graduate school in clinical psychology. Listen now with host Steve Staruch.

Project DJ co-host Abby Bormann wowed the crowd at the State Fair presenting the best that Friday Favorites had to offer! Listen now with host Steve Staruch!

On the latest episode of Friday Favorites: Leo Dworsky loves singing and loves people! He found his voice as an eight-year-old singing with the Minnesota Boy Choir. As a performer he has gone from strength to strength. Leo joins Steve Staruch as a Project DJ co-host. Listen now!

On the latest episode of Friday Favorites, host Steve Staruch is joined by University of Minnesota student Penelope Corbett, who loves science and the violin. She speaks passionately about both, and shares listener requests as the Project DJ co-host. Listen now!

On this episode of Friday Favorites, young artists from the Greater Twin Cities Youth Orchestras joined host Steve Staruch to share highlights from the orchestra’s recent tour of France and Spain. Listen now!

On this episode of Friday Favorites, members of the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies eloquently and passionately tell the story of their upcoming European tour with musical highlights included. Prepare to be awed! Listen now with host Steve Staruch.

Akshaj Turebylu, a YourClassical Fellow, brought a sense of curiosity and dry humor to the latest episode of Friday Favorites. Let summer begin! Listen now with host Steve Staruch!

You can’t go wrong with (choose one!): Tchaikovsky, Copland, Vaughan-Williams, (etc!) was the rallying cry of the latest episode of Friday Favorites. And you can’t go wrong with a Project DJ co-host like Abby Bormann either. What’s not to enjoy? Listen now with host Steve Staruch!

Spencer LaMott — known to his fans as Skippy Stone — is a gifted singer and songwriter. He lives to make music, creating songs about self-discovery and, of course, love. Spencer brought all his talents to co-hosting the latest Friday Favorites with Steve Staruch. Listen now!

Steve Staruch plays listener requests on the latest episode of Friday Favorites, including Project DJ. This week’s co-host is professional photographer and MPR colleague, Jenny Cvek. Her artistic insight and keen storytelling were on full display. Listen now!

Learn more about Jenny’s photography and view her work on her website.

What do alpine skiing, the cello and girl scouting have in common? The answer: Project DJ co-host Gwen Gruman! Gwen is 15 years old and a student at Mounds View High School. Listen now as she discusses these activities and co-hosts Friday Favorites with Steve Staruch!

Steve Staruch plays listener requests on the latest episode of Friday Favorites, including Project DJ Plus. Guest co-host Ethan Larson from Bemidji is well-known for sharing his five chihuahuas, which are service animals, with the community. He brought Coco, the wonder dog, to the YourClassical MPR studios on Friday, Feb. 23.

Eclectic, thy name is Friday Favorites! From composer birthdays (Mendelssohn and Schubert), to music that marks Black History Month, to the wild and wonderful, this week’s Friday Favorites had it all! Listen now with host Steve Staruch.

Steve Staruch plays listener requests on the latest episode of Friday Favorites, including Project DJ. This week’s guest co-host is lifelong Twin Cities resident Kieran Johnston. Working as an estimator, he’ll tell you that math is an important part of his job, but so is knowing how to talk to a customer, and he excels at both! Johnston began studying the piano as a young boy and it has become his passion. He’s participated in several competitions and strives to practice an hour every day. Listen now!

On the latest edition of Friday Favorites, Steve Staruch takes listener requests featuring plenty of Mozart and Schubert for their birthday party’s afterglow. Listen now!

Steve Staruch plays listener requests on the latest episode of Friday Favorites, including Project DJ. This week’s guest co-host is violinist and entrepreneur Addison Nichols. The founder and director of the newly opened DeGamba School of Music in St. Francis, Minnesota, Nichols has grown his school to 120 students in the past year. Listen now!