Hip-hop artist and composer André 3000 released his latest album, ‘New Blue Sun,’ in 2023. The album centers around compositions with wind instruments and is result of his need to explore and the many influences around him, both jazz and classical. Find out more in the 'Rhapsody in Black' podcast.

On the latest episode of ‘New Classical Tracks,’ pianist Stephen Hough talks about his latest recording, featuring music from ‘Mary Poppins’ film, along with other songs and melodies from places he’s traveled to over the years. Listen now with guest host Melissa Ousley.

While classical music — old and new — can sometimes be about frivolous things, this episode of Extra Eclectic is concerned strictly with ideas on a “higher plane,” so to speak. Host Steve Seel brings us Olivia Belli’s Limina Luminis, inspired by the awe that astronauts experience viewing the Earth from space, as well as the reverent sounds of Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa, Gavin Bryars’ Eternity is a Mysterious Absence of Times and Ages from his work The Fifth Century, and more. Listen now!

Playlist

Arcana: Search
Composer: Alex Shapiro
Soloists: Adam Marks, piano
Innova 41

Limina Luminis
Composer: Olivia Belli
Soloists: Anna Lapwood, organ
Sony 80927

Tabula Rasa
Composer: Arvo Part
Conductor: Richard Studt
Orchestra/Ensemble: Bournemouth Sinfonietta
Soloists: Tasmin Little, violin
Virgin 45314

The Fifth Century: Eternity Is a Mysterious Absence of Times and Ages
Composer: Gavin Bryars
Conductor: Donald Nally
Orchestra/Ensemble: The Crossing
ECM 2405

Code
Composer: Paola Prestini
Orchestra/Ensemble: A Far Cry Orchestra
Soloists: Awadagin Pratt, piano
New Amsterdam 177

And Some Will Fall
Composer: Max Richter
Soloists: Max Baillie, violin
London/Decca 6572991

Lonely Angel
Composer: Peteris Vasks
Conductor: Jonathan Stockhammer
Orchestra/Ensemble: Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra
Soloists: Mari Samuelsen, violin
DG 4835869

Drone Mass: Divine Objects
Composer: Johann Johannsson
Conductor: Paul Hillier
Orchestra/Ensemble: Theatre of Voices
DG 4837419

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

Note: On-demand audio for SymphonyCast is available for 30 days after broadcast in most cases.

On the latest episode of SymphonyCast, Dalia Stasevska leads massed BBC forces in the first night of the world’s largest classical music festival: the 2026 BBC Proms! In the first half, Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, Gershwin’s rhapsodic ballet, An American in Paris and Ravel’s bluesy Piano Concerto, featuring piano superstar Yunchan Lim. The second half sees a world premiere from French-British composer Josephine Stephenson, closing with Finzi’s ode to the patron saint of music, St. Cecilia. Listen now with host Steve Seel!

Program

Yunchan Lim, piano
Thomas Atkins, tenor
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska, conductor

COPLAND: Fanfare for the Common Man
GERSHWIN: An American in Paris
RAVEL: Piano Concerto
STEPHENSON: That the sunrise not leave us unmoved
FINZI: For St. Cecilia
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 1 (BBC Symphony Orchestra; Gennadi Rohzhdestvensky, conductor; BBC 4233)

Composer Damien Geter began his musical path as an educator before becoming an acclaimed vocalist. But now, his path as a composer is ‘breaking down the barriers of what classical music should be.’ Find out more in the ‘Rhapsody in Black’ podcast.

On the latest episode of ‘New Classical Tracks,’ pianist Stephen Hough talks about his latest recording, featuring music from ‘Mary Poppins,’ along with other songs and melodies from places he’s traveled to over the years. Listen now with guest host Melissa Ousley.

On the latest episode of Extra Eclectic, we close out our month-long celebration of 20th- and 21st-century American classical music with a focus on some of the composers who introduced fresh thinking into the genre while also opening up the concert hall to new audiences. Host Steve Seel showcases the music of giants such as Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, and Steve Reich, while also featuring works by Michael Daugherty and Stephen Scott. Listen now!

Playlist

Duet
Composer: Steve Reich
Conductor: Daniel Hope
Orchestra/Ensemble: Basel Chamber Orchestra
Soloists: Daniel Hope, violin
DG 4795305

Ellis Island
Composer: Meredith Monk
Soloists: James McVinnie, organ
Pentatone 7404

Tirol Concerto
Composer: Philip Glass
Orchestra/Ensemble: Baroklyn
Soloists: Simone Dinnerstein, piano
Naive 9238

Apartment House 1776: Harmony No. 19. New York
Composer: John Cage
Orchestra/Ensemble: Arditti String Quartet
Mode 144

New York Drones
Composer: Stephen Scott
Orchestra/Ensemble: The Bowed Piano Ensemble
Navona 5937

This Land Sings: Marfa Lights
Composer: Michael Daugherty
Conductor: David Alan Miller
Orchestra/Ensemble: Dogs of Desire
Soloists: Eric Berlin, flugelhorn
Naxos 559889

Inspired By Joni Mitchell: Big Yellow Taxi
Composer: Curtis Stewart
Soloists: Lin-Chi Chuang, violin
Bright Shiny Things 243

This Land Sings: selections
Composer: Michael Daugherty
Conductor: David Alan Miller
Orchestra/Ensemble: Dogs of Desire
Soloists: Annika Socolofsky, soprano
Naxos 559889

Joan Baez Suite
Composer: John Duarte
Soloists: Sharon Isbin, guitar
Sony 45456

Kedron
Composer: Traditional/Sam Amidon
Conductor: Pekka Kuusisto
Orchestra/Ensemble: Norwegian Chamber Orchestra
Soloists: Sam Amidon, vocals
Platoon 2026

Saro
Composer: Traditional/Sam Amidon
Conductor: Pekka Kuusisto
Orchestra/Ensemble: Norwegian Chamber Orchestra
Soloists: Sam Amidon, vocals
Platoon 2026

Silver Dagger
Composer: Stacy Garrop
Orchestra/Ensemble: Heare Ensemble
Innova 40

Note: On-demand audio for SymphonyCast is available for 30 days after broadcast in most cases.

On the latest episode of SymphonyCast, renowned cellist Alisa Weilerstein joins the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra for Britten’s haunting Cello Symphony, and in the second half of the program, the luminous Symphony No. 2 of Johannes Brahms. Listen now with host Steve Seel!

Program

Alisa Weilerstein, cello
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
Alan Gilbert, conductor

BRITTEN: Cello Symphony
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2
MOZART: Symphony No. 41 (Jupiter); (Gunther Wand, conductor; NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra — RCA 60714)

On the latest episode of the ‘Rhapsody in Black’ podcast, we learn about Omar Thomas, a composer whose music is rooted in topics such as Black liberation and affirmation, including those who are also members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Listen now.

On the latest episode of ‘New Classical Tracks,’ after six years in the making, pianist Min Kwon presents ‘America/Beautiful,’ a project featuring 82 new piano variations on ‘America the Beautiful’ by 76 commissioned composers. Listen now with host Julie Amacher.

We continue our month-long celebration of American music on this episode of Extra Eclectic by looking this time at how contemporary composers mine American folk idioms in their works, including bluegrass, hymns and lullabies. Steve Seel features Robert Sirota’s American Pilgrimage (featuring a quote from Dvořák’s American Quartet — now that’s meta), as well as Jennifer Higdon’s Concerto 4-3, Daron Hagen’s Songbook, and even an arrangement of the Punch Brothers’ tune “Movement and Location” performed by the group Sybarite 5. Listen now!

Playlist

Kellam’s Reel/Rusty Gully
Composer: Nathan Koci/James Moore/Eleonore Oppenheim/Caroline Shaw
Orchestra/Ensemble: The Hands Free
New Amsterdam 100

Concerto 4-3: Roaring Smokies
Composer: Jennifer Higdon
Conductor: Xian Zhang
Orchestra/Ensemble: Philadelphia Orchestra
DG 35748

Stars in My Crown
Composer: John R. Sweney
Soloists: Caroline Shaw, vocals
Platoon 30842

Songbook
Composer: Daron Hagen
Conductor: JoAnn Falletta
Orchestra/Ensemble: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
Soloists: Michael Ludwig, violin
Beau Fleuve 9495

The Cuckoo
Composer: Traditional
Soloists: Renee Fleming, vocals
Thirty Tigers 2026

Movement and Location
Composer: Punch Brothers
Orchestra/Ensemble: Sybarite5
Bright Shiny Things 191

Two Variations: ...alabaster cities...
Composer: Robert Sirota
Soloists: Min Kwon, piano
Delos 3629

Two Variations: ...God mend thine every flaw...
Composer: Robert Sirota
Soloists: Min Kwon, piano
Delos 3629

Shenandoah
Composer: Traditional
Soloists: Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Sony 82237

American Pilgrimage
Composer: Robert Sirota
Orchestra/Ensemble: American String Quartet
American String Quartet 2018

Peccadilloes
Composer: Paul Schoenfield
Soloists: James Tocco, piano
Naxos 559380

Note: On-demand audio for SymphonyCast is available for 30 days after broadcast in most cases.

The latest episode of SymphonyCast features the combined talents of three musicians at the very top of their game: composer John Adams, pianist Víkingur Ólafsson and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. First, Ólafsson gives the U.K. premiere of Adams’ piano concerto, After the Fall. And in celebration of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s 80th birthday, Salonen has chosen one of his favorite pieces to close out the evening’s program — Ravel’s ballet, Daphnis and Chloé. Listen now with host Steve Seel!

Program

Vikingur Ólafsson, piano
Philharmonia Chorus
Philharmonia Orchestra
Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

ADAMS: Piano Concerto (After the Fall)
RAVEL: Daphnis and Chloé, ballet
SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 4 (Philharmonia Orchestra; Christian Thielemann, conductor — DG 469700)

Seth Parker Woods is a cellist who wholeheartedly embraces new compositions, artistic innovation and pushes the boundaries of classical music. Find out more in the ‘Rhapsody in Black’ podcast.

On the latest episode of ‘New Classical Tracks,’ glam-rock artist and composer Kip Winger reveals his love for the classical music genre on his latest album, featuring conductor Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony. Listen now with host Julie Amacher.

Steve Seel presents another week of purely American sounds on the latest episode of Extra Eclectic, and this time, it’s works written by musicians associated primarily with jazz. We hear works by Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, Pat Metheny and more.

Playlist

Vocalise
Composer: Andre Previn
Soloists: Sylvia McNair, soprano
Sony 62004

‘Round Midnight
Composer: Thelonious Monk
Soloists: Andrew Litton, piano
Bis 2034

Meeelaan: Bebop
Composer: Wynton Marsalis
Orchestra/Ensemble: Callisto Quartet
Soloists: Frank Morelli, bassoon
Musica Solis 202602

Trumpet Concerto
Composer: Joel Puckett
Conductor: Joseph Young
Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra
Soloists: Sean Jones, trumpet
Avie 2751

Inspired By Wayne Shorter: Infant Eyes
Composer: Curtis Stewart
Soloists: Natalie Oh, violin
Bright Shiny Things 243

Terra Incognita
Composer: Wayne Shorter
Orchestra/Ensemble: Imani Winds
Koch 7782

Little Song
Composer: Fred Hersch
Soloists: Fred Hersch, piano
ECM 2799

“Trinity” Fantasy for Solo Violin
Composer: Ornette Coleman
Soloists: Jennifer Koh, violin
Cedille 73

Saxophone Concerto
Composer: John Adams
Conductor: David Robertson
Orchestra/Ensemble: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
Soloists: Timothy McAllister, saxophone
Nonesuch 541356

Come Sunday
Composer: Duke Ellington
Orchestra/Ensemble: PUBLIQuartet
Soloists: Lara Downes, piano
Rising Sun 74227

Passion for Bach and Coltrane: Psalm
Composer: Jeff Scott
Orchestra/Ensemble: Imani Winds
Soloists: Alex Brown, piano
Imani Winds 2023

Letter from Home
Composer: Pat Metheny
Soloists: Mark Small, guitar
Channel Productions 3301

Note: On-demand audio for SymphonyCast is available for 30 days after broadcast in most cases.

On the latest episode of SymphonyCast, Simon Rattle leads the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in a colorful program of imagination and elegance. Kirill Gerstein takes the spotlight in Francisco Coll’s vibrant Piano Concerto, surrounded by the Spanish flair of Roberto Gerhard’s Dances from Don Quixote, and the jazz influences of Poulenc’s Les Biches. The program closes with Debussy’s shimmering seascape, La Mer. Listen now with host Steve Seel!

Program

Kirill Gerstein, piano
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

GERHARD: Dances from Don Quixote
COLL: Piano Concerto
POULENC: Les Biches
DEBUSSY: La Mer
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4 (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; Mariss Jansons, conductor – BR Klassik 900135)

Sing Democracy 250 is a collective of musicians, singers, artists and advocates, whose mission is to “bring people together, to celebrate our shared humanity, and to recommit to the promise of a ‘more perfect union.’“ The ensemble recently marked the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026 with a powerful message of hope for democracy through music that honestly represents American history, reflects America’s diversity, and calls all Americans to fulfill their obligations to America — to build together that more perfect union! Listen now to this one-hour special, hosted by John Birge, featuring performances by Sing Democracy 250.

Playlist

A playlist for this feature will be added soon.

Conductor Kedrick Armstrong uses both archives and youth education to serve the longevity of classical music by working to represent everyone in the concert hall. Find out more on the 'Rhapsody in Black' podcast.

On the latest episode of ‘New Classical Tracks,’ pianist Simone Dinnerstein and the Baroklyn ensemble prepare for Philip Glass’ 90th birthday in 2027 with their latest album, featuring his ‘Tirol Concerto,’ selections from ‘The Hours’ film, and more. Listen now with host Julie Amacher.

The American rail system is a metaphor for how culture has changed over the centuries. Movement is freeing, because one can escape certain oppressions, but it also leaves holes in one’s personal memory that can be hard to overcome. For violinist and composer Curtis Stewart, creation is a way of overcoming.

To celebrate America's 250th anniversary, Stewart looked to his own family's American story and used it as inspiration for his new set of 24 American Caprices.

Join Stewart as he hosts I Am the Migration, an hourlong program featuring his newly recorded caprices where he interviews his father about how the movement of their family shaped a sense of identity and reinvention.

Stewart’s 24 American Caprices was co-commissioned by American Public Media, the Juilliard School Kayden commissioning program, the Kaufman Music Center, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and Deborah Buck.

Playlist

This playlist features selections from Stewart’s 24 American Caprices. The composers and songs listed below are the inspiration for each respective caprice. To read the complete program notes for this composition, visit Curtis’ official website.

• xiv. James Weldon Johnson: Lift Every Voice and Sing - D major

• xv. Sister Rosetta Tharpe: This Train - B-flat major

• xvii. Billy Strayhorn: Take the A Train - C major

• xx. Nina Simone: Young Gifted and Black - Eb major

• viii. Taylor Swift: Shake it Off - G major

• iii. John Coltrane: Giant Steps - B major

• iv. Bob Dylan: Blowing in the Wind - A major

• x. Joni Mitchell: Big Yellow Taxi - E major

• ix. Oscar Peterson: Hymn to Freedom - C major

• xvii. Billy Strayhorn: Take the A Train - C major

• xi. Kendrick Lamar: Complexion - B-flat major

• xxii. Duke Ellington/ Ella Fitzgerald: Mood Indigo - A-flat major

To listen to the complete album, visit Stewart’s official website.

We're extending the July Fourth weekend just a little bit more on this week's episode of Extra Eclectic, as Steve Seel presents two hours of works by contemporary American composers. Derrick Skye's American Mirror holds up a reflection on "the coming together of cultures (...) which is essential to the wellbeing of American society," while Jennifer Higdon's American Canvas presents musical impressions of the work of American painters. We also enjoy music by Jessie Montgomery, Shelley Washington, Curtis Stewart and much more. Listen now!

Playlist

Aramaic Fuel Tube
Composer: Paul Schoenfield
Soloists: Min Kwon, piano
Delos 3629

Can You See?
Composer: Allison Loggins-Hull
Conductor: Franz Welser-Most
Orchestra/Ensemble: Cleveland Orchestra
TCO Media 17

The Block
Composer: Carlos Simon
Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda
Orchestra/Ensemble: National Symphony Orchestra

Stay On It
Composer: Julius Eastman
Orchestra/Ensemble: Wild Up
New Amsterdam 164

Middleground
Composer: Shelley Washington
Orchestra/Ensemble: PUBLIQuartet

Inspired By James Weldon Johnson: Lift Every Voice and Sing
Composer: Curtis Stewart
Soloists: Curtis Stewart, violin
Bright Shiny Things 243

Let Freedom Ring
Composer: Shara Nova
Conductor: Dianne Berkur Menaker
Orchestra/Ensemble: Brooklyn Youth Chorus
New Amsterdam 105

Ye, Who Seek the Truth
Composer: Julia Perry
Conductor: James Blachly
Orchestra/Ensemble: Experiential Orchestra

Statue of Liberty
Composer: Laurie Anderson
Soloists: Lara St. John, violin
Ancalagon 145

Starburst
Composer: Jessie Montgomery
Orchestra/Ensemble: String Orchestra

American Mirror, Part 1
Composer: Derrick Skye
Orchestra/Ensemble: Sphinx Virtuosi
DG 4867758

Amazing Grace
Composer: H. Leslie Adams
Soloists: Will Liverman, baritone
Cedille 200

Air for Violin
Composer: Aaron Jay Kernis
Conductor: Eiji Oue
Orchestra/Ensemble: Minnesota Orchestra
Soloists: Truls Mork, cello
Virgin 45464

American Canvas
Composer: Jennifer Higdon
Orchestra/Ensemble: Dolce Suono Trio
Innova 991

Note: On-demand audio for SymphonyCast is available for 30 days after broadcast in most cases.

Darkness gives way to brilliance on the latest episode of SymphonyCast, featuring Thomas Søndergård and the Minnesota Orchestra. James Ehnes brings his trademark elegance and intensity to Sibelius’ beloved Violin Concerto, framed by the shimmering mystery of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Nyx, and Nielsen’s youthful Symphony No. 1 — a bold and energetic work that announced the arrival of one of Denmark’s most distinctive musical voices. Listen now with host Steve Seel!

Program

James Ehnes, violin
Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård, conductor

SALONEN: Nyx
SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto
NIELSEN: Symphony No. 1
GRIEG: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1

Introducing YourClassical’s American Composers Countdown: the top American composers, as ranked by you. Thank you for voting! On Friday, July 3, host Tom Crann took the results and counted them down on the air to kick off the Fourth of July weekend. Listen to on-demand audio from that Friday below!

The results

Here are the top 10 American composers, as voted by you:

10. Philip Glass

9. John Philip Sousa

8. Florence Price

7. Duke Ellington

6. Scott Joplin

5. Samuel Barber

4. John Williams

3. Leonard Bernstein

2. George Gershwin

1. Aaron Copland

Who are our host’s favorite American Composers?

American violinist and music educator Aaron Dworkin saw a need to diversify classical music and made it his life’s work. Find out more in the latest episode of the 'Rhapsody in Black' podcast.

On the latest episode of ‘New Classical Tracks,’ pianist Lara Downes describes how her project aimed at uniting American communities informed the music on her latest recording. Listen now with host Julie Amacher in anticipation of the country’s 20th anniversary.

The first hour of this episode of Extra Eclectic highlights international composers and cross-cultural collaborations, including Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz’ Six Pieces for Violeta — honoring Chilean singer and musician Violeta Parra — as well as works by Shane Shanahan, Arooj Aftab and Johann Johannsson. In the second hour, host Steve Seel begins our tribute to contemporary American classical music as we look forward to the Fourth of July holiday next weekend, including works by Caroline Shaw, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Nico Muhly and more. Listen now!

Playlist

Englaborn
Composer: Johann Johannsson
Soloists: Alice Sara Ott, piano
DG 4867514

Audacity
Composer: Shane Shanahan
Soloists: Ariana Kim, violin
Saffron Soul 519061

Our Friend Adam
Composer: Ryan Brown
Orchestra/Ensemble: SOLI Chamber Ensemble
Soloists: D.J. Sparr, electric guitar
SOLI Sound Works 3038

Six Pieces for Violeta
Composer: Gabriela Ortiz
Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel
Orchestra/Ensemble: Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
Soloists: Joanne Pearce Martin, piano
Platoon 2026

Udhero Na
Composer: Arooj Aftab
Soloists: Ashley Jackson, harp
London/Decca 4879986

The Book of Never: Names of things I once believed...
Composer: Aaron Helgeson
Conductor: Donald Nally
Orchestra/Ensemble: The Crossing
Navona 6871

Goiza Larrunen
Composer: Bryce Dessner
Soloists: Marielle Labeque, piano
DG 4848960

Breathturn: Part 1
Composer: John Zorn
Soloists: Mika Stoltzman, marimba
Avie 2807

Forward Into Light
Composer: Sarah Kirkland Snider
Conductor: Andrew Cyr
Orchestra/Ensemble: Metropolis Ensemble
New Amsterdam

The Light After
Composer: Caroline Shaw/Andrew Yee
Soloists: Caroline Shaw, vocals
Platoon 30842

Watermark
Composer: Caroline Shaw
Conductor: Malin Broman
Orchestra/Ensemble: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Soloists: Jonathan Biss, piano
Orchid 100433

Recordare, Domine
Composer: Nico Muhly
Orchestra/Ensemble: Tallis Scholars
Linn 790

The United States will celebrate its 250th anniversary as a nation on July 4, 2026. Fifty years ago, the U.S. marked its 200th during a national celebration called The Bicentennial. There were speeches, community celebrations, fireworks displays, even a commemorative quarter from the U.S. Mint — and naturally, there were concerts.

In Minneapolis, the Minnesota Orchestra did something remarkable: It invited none other than Aaron Copland, the composer-conductor known as the Dean of American Music, to conduct three concerts spanning July 3, 4 and 5, 1976, at Orchestra Hall.

The 20th Century had already been dubbed “The American Century” when Copland visited Orchestra Hall in 1976, and, having been born on November 14, 1900, Copland’s life paralleled that timeline. Four months shy of his 76th birthday when he visited Minneapolis, “I certainly don't feel 76," Copland told The Minneapolis Star. "Of course, conducting is a big help in that regard. You come off the stage all wet, like an athlete. You keep your mind busy. So I recommend conducting to anyone over 70."

For its part, the Minnesota Orchestra dubbed the Bicentennial concert series, “Copland on America,” and the program across the three nights variously included Leonard Bernstein's Overture to Candide, Charles Ives' Decoration Day, William Schuman's New England Triptych, and Copland's own works, Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (featuring the Boston Symphony's organist Berj Zamkochian) and Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes. Copland approved the program but was less taken by the concert name. "Why ‘Copland on America’?” he mused aloud to The Minneapolis Star. “I can understand 'Copland' and I can understand 'America,' but why 'on'?"

The Minnesota Orchestra rolled out the red carpet — or more accurately, it invited the audience to sit on the carpet. Advertisements for the concerts promoted "informal rug seating on the main floor — bring your own pillows,” priced at $4.50 for adults ($26.50 in 2026 dollars), and $2.50 ($14.75) for kids.

Moreover, audio engineers from Minnesota Public Radio were at Orchestra Hall for the July 4 concert, which was broadcast live on MPR and shared nationwide on public radio stations. A camera crew from Twin Cities Public Television also captured the concert, and it was televised on channel 2 in the Twin Cities on July 7.

In preparation for the broadcast, MPR’s Dennis Rooney had a chance to interview Aaron Copland. The interview aired during the intermission of the July 4, 1976 broadcast. Thanks to MPR Archives, you can listen to that interview using the audio player above, and read a transcript below.

Copland’s insights on American music and what he saw as the over-availability of music are interesting to hear in 2026. It’s also endearing to hear him talk about fellow composers Charles Ives and George Gershwin. Of particular note is Copland’s descriptor for his genre; specifically, he refers to it as “serious music,” only once conceding, “classical, so called.” But overall Copland is affable and self-effacing, and the interview has aged well.

Interview Transcript

Dennis Rooney: Aaron Copland will be celebrating his 76th birthday on the 14th of November of this year, and at 75, is known as the dean of living American composers. He must hate this title very much, but even so, he seems to wear it very lightly, and is our special guest during intermission on this Minnesota Orchestra Bicentennial holiday concert, as well as being the concert's conductor. Mr. Copland, on this July 4, our nation's bicentennial, have you any feeling about the health of the creative arts in this country, particularly with regard to how they relate to the life of the nation? That's kind of a good question to get off with here.

Aaron Copland: Well, I think considering the fact that I've been around for the last half-century as a mature practicing artist, I have a very definite sense of the development of the arts in our country during these past 50 years. And I must say, it's a very impressive picture from where I sit. If I think back to the [19]20s, we didn't have the number of orchestras we have, just to confine our remarks to the musical field, and the number of schools that now occupy themselves with the teaching of music, I'm thinking now of our universities and colleges, has increased enormously in these last 50 years, so that I think it makes a very optimistic picture. I think we're on our way now, and don't have to look to Europe anymore for our artistic musical life. We have a highly developed one right here.

Dennis Rooney: Well, to a certain extent you anticipated a later question, because I wanted to ask you, since your life and this century do coincide, what are some of the most significant ways in which the world of music would appear different to a child of, let's say, age 10 or so, living today than they did — or it did — to Aaron Copland at the age of 10 or so?

Aaron Copland: Well, it's the enormous availability of "serious," as we call it — classical, so called — music. Just imagine, when I was a kid at, let's say, 15, it would have been very difficult to find recordings of even the major works, and when you listen to them, they sound rather tinny and uninviting. The availability of serious music, or classical music, however you want to call it, is so much greater. I mean, anybody who owns a radio, by mistake might hear a symphony nowadays; that was absolutely unheard of when I was a child. So that the spread of the more serious kinds of music, not only in America but all over the world, is really unthinkable without the development of these non-concert situations where you're at home by yourself and are able to either, through the radio or through recordings that you own, take personal contact, so to speak, with these great works.

Dennis Rooney: Much in the way that this broadcast has been tuned into, either on purpose or by accident, by people all across the country.

Aaron Copland: Exactly.

Dennis Rooney: In what way, though, has the benison [i.e. benefit] of these electronic developments been a mixed one? Is there any way in which they have served, in your opinion, to debase music?

Aaron Copland: Well, I suppose there is a danger in over-availability. I mean, you can get blasé if you forget to turn off your radio or whatever in your car, and it just goes on and on and on. You're debasing the art. I tell people, "If you don't want to listen to music, shut the darn thing off!" Don't just keep it in the background just to make pleasant sounds without anybody listening to it. We composers feel very strongly about that. If you want to listen to our music, we want you to give us your full attention. We don't like the idea of our music being used merely to dress up the silence with pleasant sounds that you're not really listening to. I can see that that could be a pleasant sensation for some less musical people, but those of us who really love music don't want to have it on just for pleasant sounds. We want to listen to it when we have it on, and we want to take contact with it in an important way.

Dennis Rooney: It's often very hard for some of us who want to listen to music under controlled circumstances, simply to get away from it in certain public ...

Aaron Copland: That's a great danger nowadays. It's really too — there's too much of it around! And I would like to encourage everybody to turn the darn thing off if you're not in a musical mood, and if you don't really want to listen to what's going on.

Dennis Rooney: You mentioned earlier the fact that you felt that America no longer depended on Europe for its artistic direction or its creative nourishment, and your generation of American composers certainly is recognized now as the first to end a dependence on European norms and to succeed in finding a uniquely American style of musical expression, but in the light of an increasingly internationalist tendency in the world of creative music in recent years, do you still think that it's important for American composers to sound American?

Aaron Copland: Well, I don't think it's important for them to think about it consciously, like I used to 50 years ago. But I think it's rather nice to have the artistic expression anywhere in the world somehow reflect the country of its origin. It gives a little more local-color feeling. A Russian novelist sort of has a Russian feeling to the novel; though the emotions expressed may be universal, it gets a Russian tinge. I don't see why our music, our serious music, can't have a little bit the same effect on our audiences. It's sort of pleasant to feel you're listening to a work which somehow reflects the life that we live here, and our serious music, I think needs that, since it hasn't really been firmly established. After all, it was Ives, Charles Ives, who was generally credited with having written the first recognizably American-flavored music. I suppose you could find some of McDowell's pieces that may sound more American than others, but Ives really did it in a very original and special way.

Dennis Rooney: When you were a young man, how aware were you and how aware were others in your same discipline, aware of the music and the influence of Charles Ives?

Aaron Copland: Well, I knew his name as a man who had occasional performances at the modern music series that Edgar Varese ran in the '20s in New York City. But I didn't have any idea of the range, the artistic range, creative range of the man, until one morning I got a package in the mail, opened it, and it was 114 songs by Charles Ives, which he had published at his own expense, privately, and was nice enough to send me a copy. I had never met him and didn't know the man, and I was enormously impressed that anybody could write 114 songs. That's a lot of songs! And of the greatest variety, from the baby-simple ones to the wildly modern and avant-garde ones, so that the range was enormously impressive. I was so impressed that I wrote an article about those 114 songs and published it in the Modern Music magazine. Got a very nice letter in reply from Ives, thanking me, but we never did meet. I'm sorry to say.

Dennis Rooney: When you read so much of his writing has been made available to a large audience in recent years, and when you read it today, it's almost as if there was some streak in Ives that made him think that — or made him equate sensitivity or poetry with weakness or with sentimentality.

Aaron Copland: Yes, I know.

Dennis Rooney: Do you feel that that may have injured him in terms of his full artistic development?

Aaron Copland: I don't think so. It gives him a rather special quality of his own. And there's a quite a lengthy discussion of that in a new book about Ives by, I believe it's Frank Rossiter.

Apparently, in a small New England town like the one he was brought up in, it was sort of shameful for a little boy to take piano lessons. Only girls took piano lessons. So that he must have been frightened of being sissy-ish, because he was interested in music. And some of the later stuff that carried over into his manhood, I think had its origin there. According to Rossiter's book, he definitely had his origin in the small-town atmosphere where music was thought to be a thing that ladies occupied themselves with.

Dennis Rooney: He's always making reference to the nice ladies.

Aaron Copland: Yes, he is.

Dennis Rooney: And to Rollo, the simple...

Aaron Copland: That's right. See, he really had a case on that. It's slightly Freudian!

Dennis Rooney: You would talk about the way that you consciously thought half a century ago about how you were going to make your music sound American. And that was apparently a preoccupation of many young composers at that time, and to a very large extent, you succeeded, particularly in works composed in the '30s and '40s, which are still to this day, thought of as the most American sounding of, if you will, mature American orchestral or instrumental pieces. And yet that tradition, just at the point where it seemed to have really taken root, vanished, and we have not had a continuation of it. What do you think, looking back, is the reason why no younger composers seemed interested in continuing in this vein?

Aaron Copland: Well, perhaps because of the fact that we had done that and were interested in that, they thought it didn't have to be done again and they could do something else. It is, in a certain sense limiting, of course, if you're going to write in the 12-tones method, naturally, it's harder to suggest an American atmosphere than if you quote American folk tunes. So that I can understand a lack of interest, if they think an older generation has kind of taken care of that particular aspect of our music, and they go on to other things. But when I was in my 20s, I was very interested in the latest thing, which was Debussy and Ravel and Stravinsky.

Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky

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Debussy and Ravel were very French in my mind, and Stravinsky was very Russian. And that put it into my head that I'd like to be quite American in my serious music. After all, our jazz composers and Ragtime composers had accomplished exactly that; the whole world recognized their music as having been invented in America. I wanted to apply that to the serious field, and the fact that I spent three years in Paris as a student in the early '20s reinforced that notion: If the French can do it in the French way, why can't we Americans do it in our way?

Dennis Rooney: Now we heard just before intermission, your organ symphony, which was composed for Nadia Boulanger, your teacher, and when it was first performed by the New York Symphony Orchestra, certainly was viewed as the work of a very avant-garde composer. Did you ever think of yourself as an avant-garde composer?

Aaron Copland: Oh yes, I wanted to be an avant-garde. I didn't want to be in the rear guard! Well, we were using harmonies that you didn't find in the textbooks, and we got some pretty bad writeups in the New York papers in the '20s and '30s as "wild guys." But that was part of the fun. I mean, a young fellow starting out doesn't want to be approved of all the time. He wants to really startle people.

Dennis Rooney: Was there any point at which you wanted approval, where your attitude changed? Or were you at least, if you didn't want approval, no longer thought of yourself as avant-garde?

Aaron Copland: Well, it depends on who's doing the approving. You know, if you get an approval from the mob, that's a little dangerous. It might not be so good 20 years later. If you're approved of by people you respect, that's very satisfying.

Dennis Rooney: You were the first American composer to be the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and in the last 25 years or so, that relationship between the foundations and the creative artists has become more and more commonplace. Do you think that that's been good by and large in terms of the kind and the quality of music that's resulted from that sort of association?

Aaron Copland: By and large, I certainly think, I certainly do think it's good. Yes, I think the fact that so many composers have been helped in the early stages of their career by fellowships or prizes of one kind or another has been a great stimulus and a great aid. I profited by that. And I don't know what I would have done if the Guggenheim people hadn't founded their foundation in 1925. I was really hard up for it. I could take a job in Wall Street, I suppose, but that wasn't what I was thinking about doing. So to be freed at that point in your career, before you are known, and when just a few people believe in you, and a board says, "OK, we'll give them a fellowship," that's very important and a great help in the arts.

Dennis Rooney: One of your colleagues and contemporaries whom you knew well, George Gershwin, had, however, succeeded in carving out, certainly, a great monetary success in the marketplace, and was on the way to, at least seemingly, the attainment of true eminence as an American composer when he died. And yet, no one else in this century seems to have had that kind of magic, that kind of key to success in that fashion. Was that uniquely the result of Gershwin's genius, or was that just a temporary aberration in the world of the composer and the public?

Aaron Copland: No, I think you can put it down to Gershwin's great gift. It was rather special, the fact that there wasn't a second Gershwin around; hasn't been really in that sense, it shows how special it was. He filled a niche, a place in the musical world, that nobody else seems to have been able to rival. And I knew him slightly. We spent an afternoon or two together, but we didn't really speak the same language. And he was thinking about show business and popular songs. I was thinking about the symphonic field.

Dennis Rooney: Were the serious composers who were about his same age a little disdainful or a little envious of his success, would you say, looking back?

Aaron Copland: I don't think so, because we weren't really trying to appeal to the same public. He really, in our minds, was a popular composer who occasionally wrote something for the concert hall, but by and large, he was busy doing shows — I mean, musical shows — and occasionally films, so that he wasn't primarily writing for the concert hall, and therefore he didn't see ... he certainly didn't bother me, and I don't think the other composers in my field were thinking about him too much.

Dennis Rooney: On the Fourth of July, 1976, we naturally tend to think of big questions, questions that range over decades and centuries, rather than just the course of months or years. We talked earlier about the influences that formed Charles Ives' musical character, the way in which in the small New England milieu of his boyhood, music had not really taken roots in terms of its meaningfulness to everyone, but rather seemed to be some sort of applique that young ladies had added to their trousseau. After the last 30 years, with all of the changes in technology and all of the things that have happened to music in your lifetime, do you think that music has taken, in truth, deeper roots in this country in terms of its impact on the population as a whole? Is it still a nice accomplishment, or is it still something that can be enjoyed and taken part in, without shame, without any kind of second thought or guilt or twinge that somehow this is a waste of time or is in any way un-American?

Aaron Copland: No, I think that's a thing of the past. I really do. In the first place, the availability of the serious field of music has been so enlarged through the use of phonograph and stations around the country that broadcast serious music, the accessibility of the serious field of music is so much greater to the ordinary citizen who, in his car might, by a mistake, turn on his radio and hear a Beethoven symphony. That fact alone, you see, makes for a completely unprecedented situation, as far as I can see, if you compare it to the 19th century in music. So that we're living really in a very special time, speaking from a musical standpoint. And obviously you can overdo it. I mean, there can be an over availability; too many performances of Beethoven's Fifth can use the old thing up too fast. So I would advise music lovers to go easy on it, to watch what they listen to. Don't overdo the listening to certain special pieces, and spread their tastes as much as they possibly can, especially into the contemporary field where we need their interest.

Dennis Rooney: Well, you've done much to make music understandable and meaningful to the layman in a series of books, your lectures at the New School in New York in the '30s, and your own music itself. How ... What are Aaron Copland's tips to the music lover in order to develop that discrimination that you find so all important?

Aaron Copland: Well, I don't have any secret tips to give. My advice, of course, is to listen to the stuff. Listen to it as much as you can. Read about it. It doesn't hurt to read a book about music. And I try to be helpful in writing what to listen for in music. The other title of my book. I would like to encourage people to think of their contact with music as a developing thing, not as a thing that you casually turn on and listen to or don't listen to. We're interested in listeners who are more deeply involved than that, and who want to enlarge their understanding of the art through actual contact with it, and reading an occasional book and going out to a concert. The casual music listener who can take it or leave it doesn't interest us much. But there are enormous numbers of people in our country who basically, I think, are more musical than they think themselves. And I would like to involve those people more and encourage them to make contact in a field where they can get great enjoyment if they lend their ears more seriously and not so casually.

Dennis Rooney: Well, I hope we've made contact with a few people tonight for whom your comments and the opportunity to talk with you has been of great value to them. It's been of great value to me and to millions of other people as well. And I am looking forward to the remainder of this concert, which you'll be conducting in just a moment. Thank you very much. Aaron Copland.

Aaron Copland: Thank you, sir.

Contributing to this feature were Senior Digital Producer Reed Fischer, who provided newspaper research, and Scott Adamson of the MPR Archives, who provided the Copland interview audio.

All classical music started with a blank page. Before any piece is played or heard, someone has to create it. What does it take to organize all those notes into a final composition? In this episode, composers Shruthi Rajasekar, Janika Vandervelde, and Dan Nass take a seat at the Composers Roundtable to share how they turn their ideas into music.

Note: On-demand audio for SymphonyCast is available for 30 days after broadcast in most cases.

On the latest episode of SymphonyCast, German violinist Isabelle Faust brings intensity and lyricism to Dvořák’s Violin Concerto, while Susanna Mälkki leads the Danish National Symphony Orchestra through a pair of Sibelius symphonies: No. 6 and No. 7. Listen now with host Steve Seel!

Program

Isabelle Faust, violin
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Susanna Mälkki, conductor

DVORAK: Violin Concerto
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 6
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 7
NIELSEN: Symphony No. 5; Danish National Symphony Orchestra; Fabio Luisi, conductor; DG 4863484

Despite being a fundamental part of life on earth, change is difficult for everybody. The human condition naturally pushes and pulls against the tides of life. And when these tides rise, you’re suddenly surrounded by the unpredictable waters of change. For members of the Queer and trans community, music can be a lighthouse upon those unpredictable waters. Join host Zuzu Black for Transitioning: The Music of Change, an hourlong special featuring Queer and trans musicians that explores the many complex and interwoven facets of change. Listen now!

Playlist

• Angela Morley: The Liaison

• Mari Esabel Valverde: Darest O Soul

• Bach (Sara Davis Buchner): Sleepers Awake

• Ziggy Merrill: Afraid

• Rosśa Crean: Politeness

• Joseph Rubinstein: Possibility

• Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen

• Phillip Glass: Metamorphosis II