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

Composer Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson combined classical, jazz and popular music to build a varied career that advocated for the Black community, especially its performing artists. Find out more in the 'Rhapsody in Black' podcast.


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

Rhapsody in Black - 20240725

Catalyst Quartet Performs String Quartet No. 1 "Calvary" by  Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson

Rhapsody in Black - Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson

Rhapsody in Black

Provided

Composer Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson led an unusual and important career

This week on Extra Eclectic, host Steve Seel brings us percussive sounds with an emphasis on vibraphones, bells, marimbas, and yes, the piano. We hear works from Takashi Yoshimatsu, John Luther Adams, and more. 


Extra Eclectic - July 24, 2024

Extra Eclectic

Evan Hurd Photography

Percussion for the night hours

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

On this week’s episode of ‘New Classical Tracks,’ English horn player Cally Banham and her ensemble, Cortango, made up of musicians from the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, present their latest album featuring a classical twist on the Argentine tango. Listen now!


New Classical Tracks (extended interview): Cally Banham

New Classical Tracks - 20240724

Tango to the Cor

New Classical Tracks® 

Cally Banham and Cortango fuse genres in 'Tango to the Cor'

This weekend, summer at Orchestra Hall creative partner Jon Kimura Parker takes the stage to perform Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G. Plus, Stephanie Childress conducts lively suites by Weill, Poulenc and Prokofiev. Listen to the live broadcast with host Melissa Ousley at 8 p.m. Friday, July 26, on YourClassical MPR.


Minnesota Orchestra - July 19, 2024

Minnesota Orchestra - Tony Ross Interview

Thomas Søndergård: Taken by the Sound

Erin Keefe and Steve Staruch Interview

Celebrating a Century on the Airwaves

Minnesota Orchestra

Jon Kimura Parker and Stephanie Childress explore the influence of jazz with the Minnesota Orchestra

The annual Lakes Area Music Festival returns to Brainerd from July 26 to Aug. 18, featuring more than 250 artists from the nation's leading orchestras and opera companies. Check out the festival’s calendar, and watch livestreamed performances on YourClassical MPR’s Facebook page.


Lakes Area Music Festival returns with heroic new season

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Cynthia Dickison

Mozambique-born musician Nyttu Chongo brings his musical style of Jazz Bantu to the Ordway Center in St. Paul this week. Learn more about his unusual creative technique, and find out why he says we should listen to our ancestors. 


Class Notes: Heliopsis - 'Katydid'

Nyttu Chongo brings sounds of Africa to the Ordway

Lynne has been at this radio thing since 1984 when she fell into an historic job at KFAC AM and FM, the commercial classical station in Los Angeles.  She was the first woman staff announcer in the station's history, and it was such big news back then, it made the LA newspapers and national radio publications.  She is thrilled women in radio is no longer newsworthy.


Lynne Warfel

On the latest episode of ‘Saturday Cinema,’ host Lynne Warfel shares her surprise picks from across the board to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the show. Listen now! 




Saturday Cinema - July 20, 2024

Saturday Cinema

Saturday Cinema's 10th Anniversary Summer Potluck

Explore the nostalgia and brilliance of the 10 best classical TV theme songs. Dive into timeless melodies that defined television history. Find your favorite now!


The Lone Ranger 1949 - 1957 Opening and Closing Theme

Alfred Hitchcock Intro Theme (Funeral March Of A Marionette)

Green Hornet Theme (From the Greenway-20th Century-Fox TV Series "The Green Hornet")

Firing Line Theme

Monty Python's Flying Circus (Intro) S2 (1970)

Introduction to Dick Cavett

Reilly, Ace Of Spies Theme

The Apprentice (Main Title Theme)

Mom CBS TV series music theme (Full)

Chef's Table Main Theme - Winter: Four Seasons

Looney Tunes | Be Vewy Quiet, I'm Hunting Wabbits! | Classic Cartoon | WB Kids

Gilligan's Island Hamlet

The Muppet Show - 405: Victor Borge - “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” (1979)

How to Make a Vulcan Cry

The Simpsons-The Simpsons Go To The Opera House HQ 4:3

Jerry Cheats On His Barber | The Barber | Seinfeld

Good to Know

10 best classical TV theme songs of all time

Named one of the most influential Black people in the United Kingdom, composer Shirley Thompson writes music that inspires and fights against Eurocentrism in classical music. Find out more in the 'Rhapsody in Black' podcast.


Rhapsody in Black - Shirley Thompson

Esther Abrami, Her Ensemble - Shirley J. Thompson: Semplice Sempre

Composer Shirley Thompson's music reflects the issues of today

On this episode of ‘Extra Eclectic,’ host Steve Seel features music by Black American composers with an added undercurrent on the theme of unity. We hear works from Carlos Simon’s ‘Warmth of Other Suns’ to Valerie Coleman’s ‘Umoja: Anthem of Unity’ and more.


