Classical Minnesota Stories

The Challey School of Music at North Dakota State University has released a milestone collection documenting its Concert Choir’s best performances over the past 32 years. Listen to our hourlong special featuring highlights from the project, and explore a 144-track compilation for free online.

The Minnesota Orchestra’s Rosemary and David Good Fellowship is designed to “support the career development of outstanding young musicians of African American, Latin American and Native American descent.” See how the current honorees, bass trombonist Lovrick Gary and cellist Esther Seitz, are helping to increase diversity and fair representation in classical music.

Minnesota musicians Ted Manderfeld and Dave Eichholz make up the keyboard-pounding duo Deuces Wild Dueling Pianos, a musical cocktail of concert, comedy sketch and variety show. Learn more about the ensemble and their continual tours across Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.

Four notes, arranged into a simple melody of 24 tones, played by a solitary bugler, might be one of the nation’s most recognizable and enduring pieces of music: “Taps.” Volunteers ensure that it’s heard at all military burials at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.

Much British choral music of the Victorian and Edwardian period has drifted into obscurity. But a University of Minnesota project, led by music professor Matthew Mehaffey, is rescuing these “lost” works and making their scores freely available as part of the English Heritage Music Series.

When Caroline Shaw won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her dazzling vocal work Partita for 8 Voices, one lingering doubt assailed her — she wasn’t sure that she was even a proper composer. Today, years later, she reflects on her identity and the journey she’s taken as a musician as she visits the Twin Cities for a concert.

It doesn’t take long for visitors to realize that Austin, Minnesota, and Hormel Foods go together well. But there’s another link between the founding Hormel family, its well-endowed foundation and the city: music.

The University of Minnesota's 40th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute concert moved online in 2021 and honored the legacy of John Lewis. Featuring music from spirituals to pop, the event, hosted by VocalEssence's G. Phillip Shoultz III, gave tribute to the civil right leader's legacy. Watch now.

While they’re prepping for their own concerts, Joseph Osowski’s choir students get to spend a day in deep-dive master classes with America’s finest touring choirs and conductors — not just once, but four times this school year. What sounds like an initiative of Carnegie Hall is actually happening at an exurban Minnesota high school: St. Michael-Albertville.

After years of exciting experiences as a band director, Sigurd Johnson just wrapped up his 14th year leading the Gold Star Marching Band at North Dakota State University and has retired from the position. He shares stories from his past and his plans for the future.