Poster Steve Seel
Steve Seel
MPR

SymphonyCast®

With Steve Seel

Lakes Area Music Festival

Lakes Area Music Festival

This week on SymphonyCast, conductor Christian Reif leads a concert at the Lakes Area Music Festival in northern Minnesota that’s inspired by the mystery and warmth of summer nights, featuring a tone poem by Anna Clyne, reflective songs by Hector Berlioz and the Second Symphony by Johannes Brahms. Listen now with host Steve Seel.

WDR Symphony Orchestra

WDR Symphony Orchestra

Featured on this weeks episode of SymphonyCast is Guillaume Connesson's highly expressive orchestral piece ‘Flammenschrift,’ Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto and Maurice Ravel's ‘La Valse.’ Listen now with host Steve Seel.

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

On ‘SymphonyCast’ with host Steve Seel, Joshua Bell joins the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra to perform Bruch’s ever-popular Violin Concerto No. 1. Bell also leads the SPCO in two more time-tested favorites: Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 and Bizet’s Symphony No. 1. Listen now.

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra welcomes back beloved artistic partner Pekka Kuusisto with a varied and colorful program. Cindy Cox’s new work for the SPCO, Dreaming a World’s Edge, was inspired by photographs of remote and endangered geographic locales captured with an antique 19th-century camera. Ralph Vaughan Williams, after the horrors of the first world war, sought to capture a simpler time with his famous tone poem for violin and chamber orchestra, The Lark Ascending, a work that shares with Cox a sense of fragility about the natural world. Louise Farrenc’s little-known but masterful Symphony No. 3 brings this concert to a dramatic conclusion.

Last night of the Proms No. 71

Last night of the Proms No. 71

This week on SymphonyCast, host Steve Seel brings us the biggest musical party of the year —the last night of the proms!

BBC Proms No. 55

BBC Proms No. 55

This week on SymphonyCast, host Steve Seel welcomes back the BBC Proms, and this concert is pulsing with dance. Selections include the European premiere of Carlos Simon’s ‘Four Black American Dances,’ George Gershwin’s Concerto in F and Maurice Ravel’s ‘La Valse.’

BBC Proms No. 39

BBC Proms No. 39

This week on SymphonyCast, host Steve Seel features another concert from the BBC Proms. In this concert, conductor Iván Fischer, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and soprano Anna-Lena Elbert celebrate the 100th anniversary of György Ligeti’s original ‘Mysteries of the Macabre.’

BBC Proms No. 22

BBC Proms No. 22

This week on SymphonyCast, host Steve Seel takes us once again to the BBC Proms, where award-winning pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason makes her solo debut. Plus principal conductor Ryan Bancroft and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales return with Tchaikovsky’s powerful Symphony No. 5.

BBC Proms No. 16

BBC Proms No. 16

On this episode of SymphonyCast, we have another BBC Proms exclusive with host Steve Seel, as conductor Mark Elder and the Hallé orchestra present a Russian pairing of music by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Dmitri Shostakovich.

BBC Proms No. 8

BBC Proms No. 8

This week on SymphonyCast, conductor Josep Pons and the BBC Symphony Orchestra present a concert from the Proms painted with colors of Spain and France. Listen now with host Steve Seel.

About SymphonyCast®

The Show

SymphonyCast®, with host Steve Seel, is a two-hour weekly radio program featuring a full-length concert by a major orchestra. Material is drawn from Europe’s premier symphony orchestras, along with U.S. orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Nashville Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Our Host

Steve Seel

Steve Seel possesses a broad knowledge of many musical genres, having hosted radio programs ranging from classical to jazz and even avant-garde music at radio stations around the country. Steve began his love affair with public radio at 24 working whatever shifts he could at his hometown station of WUSF-FM in Tampa, Florida, and from there worked his way to snowy Buffalo, New York, and its renowned classical station WNED-FM, where he hosted middays and the weekly experimental-music show Present Tense. In 2005, Steve became one of the founding voices on Minnesota Public Radio's eclectic station, the Current. While there, he hosted afternoons and mornings, and conducted in-depth interviews with pop music luminaries ranging from Brian Eno to David Byrne to Tori Amos. Steve is a basement composer obsessed with all things both minimalist and slow, and might actually be incapable of writing anything that exceeds 75 beats-per-minute.

The Team

Daniel Nass, Producer

Daniel Nass is the producer of SymphonyCast®. He is responsible for creating the sound of the show, including choosing music programming and conducting artist interviews. In his nonproducer life, he is an avid runner and an award-winning composer.

Michael Osborne, Technical Director

Michael "Ozzie" Osborne is the Technical Director for SymphonyCast®. He masters the live and recorded music recordings that are programmed for each SymphonyCast® show. He also enjoys photography, listening to music and bicycling.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the name of the composer, performer or piece I heard on the show?

Complete playlist information is available for each show. Click on a specific episode to access a detailed playlist.

What is the theme music at the beginning of every SymphonyCast® episode?

It’s the opening trumpet fanfare from Steve Heitzeg’s Nobel Symphony.

Can I buy a recording of music I heard on your show?

It’s possible, but not likely. Many of the performances that you hear on SymphonyCast® are not available for purchase because they were played at a live concert. In some cases, the musicians have recorded that same music for a commercial CD. If so, album title and recording label information will be available in the episode playlist.

How do I leave a comment?

Use our contact form to send us your thoughts.