This activity is made possible in part by the 

Minnesota Legacy Amendment's Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund

This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment's Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.


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Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment

Nic McGegan conducts Bach

Steve Staruch can be heard on Classical Minnesota Public Radio from 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays, including hosting Music with Minnesotans, Regional Spotlight and Friday Favorites. Prior to joining the staff of MPR in 2004, Steve presented a variety of radio programs on WCAL in Northfield, Minn., where he created an immensely popular call-in program, and on WXXI in Rochester, N.Y. Outside radio, Steve also enjoys work as a freelance tenor and violist. Steve and his wife, Naomi, enjoy traveling, gardening and hosting dinner parties.


Steve Staruch

The beloved former Artistic Partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Nicholas McGegan will have 60 candles on his birthday cake today. Celebrate by streaming one of his performances of Bach.


Regional Spotlight™

Randy Beach

Regional Spotlight: Nic McGegan is 60!

Kernis Overture in Feet and Meters SPCO

McFerrin Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik SPCO

Leonidas Kavakos/Peter Nagy - Georges Enescu/Sonata in the Romanian Popular Character

A walk down Memory Lane with live concerts from the Ordway over the years. Listen on-line to some MPR favorites.


Minnesota Opera

MPR Photo/Chris Roberts

Ordway musical memories

SPCO January 1985 pt. 1

SPCO January 1985 pt. 2

Archive recording of SPCO's first concert at the brand new Ordway Music Theatre in St. Paul


The SPCO

Photo courtesy: The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

The SPCO Performs at the new Ordway, January 1985

Sergei Prokofiev - Classical Symphony (SPCO live)

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Alison Young

The Vienna Philharmonic plays Strauss, the Minnesota Orchestra plays Beethoven and it's an entire day of musical "firsts." Preview by listening on-line to a concert recording of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra playing Prokofiev's first - his "Classical" symphony.


Sergei Prokofiev - Classical Symphony

Photo courtesy: Vienna Philharmonic

Trumpet in the New Year with classical music

Listen (128k mp3)

John Birge has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.


John Birge

New musicians from the SPCO, Sumni Chang and David Huckaby, perform in the studio.


SPCO Fresh Faces

photo courtesy SPCO

Fresh Faces in the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

Dawn Upshaw sings world premiere with SPCO

While practicing in a hotel room, soprano Dawn Upshaw answered a knock on the door. A lady said "I'm awfully sorry, but I'm working with numbers across the hall, and I just can't think while you're doing that. But I want you to know that I really think you have something there, and I hope you'll stick with it." Dawn Upshaw went from a childhood singing Pete Seeger songs with "The Upshaw Family Singers" to the great opera stages and concert halls around the world. She is as eclectic as she is accomplished, with a huge range of repertoire spanning from the 17th century to frequent new commissions. She is the winner of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant, coordinates a special program for singers at Bard College, and is Artistic Partner with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.


Dawn Upshaw

Dawn Upshaw returns in her role as Artistic Partner of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She sings some signature music by Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov and a world premiere by film composer Alberto Iglesias.


Photo: Brooke Irish/Ojai Festival

Dawn is back at the SPCO with a world premiere

Michael Israelievitch new SPCO Principal Timpani

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

Still in his mid-20's, percussionist Michael Israelievitch has already been hailed by the New York Times as an artist of "infectious charisma" and by the Toronto Star as a "very stylish and subtle musician." A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Mr. Israelievitch received degrees from Julliard and Boston University and has most recently performed as Principal Timpanist of the New World Symphony. Michael and his father, violinist Jacques Israelievitch perform together and have commissioned dozens of works by leading composers. They released their first commercial recording in 2006, "Hammer and Bow."


Michael Israelievitch

Twenty-something Michael Israelievitch has just been named Principal Timpani of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. It was a grueling (but thorough!) audition and he feels ready to take on his new role.


Photo: Michael Shaw

SPCO names new Principal Timpanist

Kirill Gerstein

Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2; mvt. 1 - Gerstein/SPCO

Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2; mvt. 2 - Gerstein/SPCO

Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2; mvt. 3 - Gerstein/SPCO

Russian pianist Kirill Gerstein is the guest in this weekend's Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra concerts playing Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 with Hans Graf conducting. 
Mr. Gerstein will be performing all over North America this season - the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Charles Dutoit, the Atlanta Symphony, as well as re-engagements with the Detroit, Houston, and Oregon Symphonies and a tour with cellist Steven Isserlis that includes performances at the Kennedy Center and in San Francisco. 
He'll also return to South America to play in Caracas with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra.
Born in 1979 in Voronezh, Russia, Mr. Gerstein taught himself to play jazz by listening to his parents' extensive record collection. He came to the U.S. at 14 to continue his studies in jazz piano as the youngest student ever to attend Boston's Berklee College of Music. He studied classical piano at the Manhattan School of Music.


2010 Gilmore Artist Award winner Kirill Gerstein's musical education included classical studies as well as jazz at the Berklee School, and his music is infused with both a Russian sensibility and a jazz spontaneity.


Photo: Sasha Gusov

2010 Gilmore Artist Award winner Kirill Gerstein on Bach, Rach and jazz

Stravinsky, Pulcinella Suite

As the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra plans to say farewell to Artistic Partner Douglas Boyd next week, Classical Minnesota Public Radio is featuring some of his most memorable performances of the last six seasons.


Photo: Richard Avedon

Regional Spotlight: Stravinsky's Pulcinella Suite

Douglas Boyd's SPCO Swan Song

Schumann, Symphony No. 4: Ziemlich langsam

Schumann, Symphony No. 4: Romanze

Schumann, Symphony No. 4: Scherzo

Schumann, Symphony No. 4: Langsam

His musician colleagues call him "Dougie," but Douglas Boyd is all about hard work in rehearsals and concerts. That has allowed him to forge a strong connection with the SPCO and audiences for the six years of his artistic partnership. He bids adieu to Minnesota this month.
