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Friday Favorites - May 2, 2025

Joe Goetz

Guest host Joe Goetz fills in for Steve Staruch on the latest episode of ‘Friday Favorites,’ playing listeners’ requests for their favorite classical music. Listen now! 


Friday Favorites

YourClassical MPR

Friday Favorites: Listener requests with guest host Joe Goetz

Jacob Aloi

The Minnesota Orchestra, under music director Thomas Søndergård, is performing Puccini’s Turandot in concert for the first time in years, featuring soprano Christine Goerke.


Jacob Aloi | MPR News

Opera returns to the Minnesota Orchestra with ‘Turandot’

YourClassical Storytime - 'Toroi Bandi'

Get ready to move and gallop in ‘Toroi Bandi,’  the latest episode of YourClassical Storytime featuring traditional Mongolian folk music and original illustration and animation by Joseph Midthun and Daniel Hoffstrom. Listen now!


YourClassical Storytime - June  1, 2025

YourClassical Storytime: Toroi Bandi

YourClassical Storytime

Joseph Midthun for MPR.

'Toroi Bandi'

Where we turn up the voices of Black artists in the world of classical music, with host Vernon Neal.

Rhapsody in Black - Paul Robeson

Vernon Neal is the host of the podcast ‘Rhapsody in Black,’ where we turn up the voices of Black artists in the world of classical music.


Host/Producer

Vernon Neal

Paul Robeson was a star of stage and screen, but his passion was sharing spirituals. His goal was to elevate them to the same level as other musical forms. Find out more in the ‘Rhapsody in Black’ podcast.


Rhapsody in Black - 20250227

Rhapsody in Black

Provided

Paul Robeson brought spirituals and Black history to the main stage

Melinda Whittington and Joo Won Kang speak to host Bonnie North about the Minnesota Opera's latest production, 'La Bohème'

Minnesota Opera - La Bohème Cast Interview

For host Bonnie North, classical music is more than just a genre — it's a way of life. She stumbled into the world of radio after responding to a newspaper ad for Vermont Public Radio seeking a classical music DJ for its Sunday afternoon show. Despite having no previous radio experience, she was confident in her knowledge of classical music and took a chance. She created an audition tape, and the rest is history. Her favorite composer depends on her mood. Sometimes she seeks the meditative sounds of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, while other times she craves the angular compositions of Igor Stravinsky. Of course, she also loves the classics by composers who include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. But she is always looking for contemporary composers and is eager to discover new musical talents. Outside of work, she loves to attend live music events. She also enjoys traveling and having friends and family scattered throughout the United States and Europe. But her love for animals is just as strong, and she often volunteers at animal shelters. She is an avid duathlon participant, combining her love for running and biking in one exciting event.


Bonnie North

Minnesota Opera presents Pucchini’s ‘La Bohème,’ the story of a group of friends and lovers in Paris who find love amid the hardship of a life in pursuit of art. Listen to the concert now!


La Bohème: Act II Chorus

La Bohème | Minnesota Opera

Minnesota Opera

Dan Norman

Listen: Minnesota Opera presents 'La Bohème'

New Classical Tracks (extended interview): Khatia Buniatishvili

New Classical Tracks - Khatia Buniatishvili

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 sharing behind-the-scenes stories about a new release each week. It airs locally at 7:15 a.m. and 5 p.m. Wednesdays and at 9 a.m. on Saturdays.


Julie Amacher

On the latest episode of ‘New Classical Tracks,’ Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili dedicates her 10th album to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart alongside the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Listen now with host Julie Amacher!


New Classical Tracks: Khatia Buniatishvili

New Classical Tracks® 

Esther Haase

Khatia Buniatishvili pays homage to W.A. Mozart

Friday Favorites - April 25, 2025

Guest host Julie Amacher fills in for Steve Staruch on the latest episode of ‘Friday Favorites,’ playing listeners’ requests for their favorite classical music. Listen now! 


Julie Amacher - DO NOT USE; see update in Rights Notes, below

Friday Favorites: Listener requests with guest host Julie Amacher

Diane and Paul recall Rascal's response to the Met Opera broadcast of 'Carmen'

Luke Taylor

A St. Paul parrot found a connection to classical music — and to legions of fellow listeners.


A cast of characters gather onstage round a mezzo soprano who is singing

courtesy Diane and Paul

Remembering Rascal, classical music’s feathered fan

Kaddish: Reflections on the Holocaust in Music and Words

Mindy Ratner is a host and producer on the Classical Music Service of Minnesota Public Radio, where she is heard on weekends. She began her career in public broadcasting following her graduation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, working first for the local public television station and then for Wisconsin Public Radio. She moved on to stations in Cincinnati and Philadelphia before joining Minnesota Public Radio in 1983. In 1998 and '99, Ratner took a leave of absence to work as a music host and producer for China Radio International in Beijing. Her spare time is devoted to international travel; folk, ballroom and contradancing; singing in the Minnesota Chorale; her two cats, and trying to stay ahead of the weeds in her garden.


Mindy Ratner

Classical music host Mindy Ratner has gathered a collection of conversations with some of those touched directly by the Holocaust. Listen now to 'Kaddish: Reflections on the Holocaust in Music and Words.'


Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Listen: 'Kaddish: Reflections on the Holocaust in Music and Words'

New Classical Tracks (extended interview) - Joanne Polk

New Classical Tracks - January  8, 2025

On the latest episode of ‘New Classical Tracks,’ with host Julie Amacher, pianist Joanne Polk releases the second volume of her recordings featuring the music of French composer and pianist Cécile Chaminade. Listen now!


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