Music written about a place, or closely associated with a place, is never just about that physical place. It is also inevitably about something else: the intangible spirit of a region, its people or both. Those are the feelings this program from the Lakes Area Music Festival explores — with Bedrich Smetana’s tribute to his homeland, 

, and Finnish nationalist Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2.

Julie Amacher's desire to introduce others to great music is what led her to radio. She began her professional broadcast career at a station in Sun Prairie, Wis. She went from rock 'n' roll to the Rocky Mountains, where she found her niche in public radio at KUNC in Greeley, Colo. Julie spent 13 years at KUNC, where she managed the announcers and their eclectic music format. During that time, she earned four national awards for best announcer. She joined Minnesota Public Radio in 1997 as an on-air host and also produces New Classical Tracks, a weekly podcast critiquing a new release each week. It airs locally at 7:15 a.m. Wednesdays and 5:15 p.m. Fridays.


Julie Amacher

In this week’s episode of SymphonyCast with host Julie Amacher,  conductor Christian Reif explores feelings of the intangible spirit of a region, its people or both in this program — with Bedrich Smetana’s tribute to his homeland, ‘The Moldau,’ and Finnish nationalist Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2.


Lakes Area Music Festival

Hour 1

Hour 2