{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"text":"","type":"text"}]}]}

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

Browse all the concerts in the world’s greatest classical music festival.


BBC Proms 2025

Extra Eclectic - April 23, 2025

This Saturday, Michael Tilson Thomas will make his final public appearance conducting the San Francisco Symphony, which he led for 25 years. He is a longtime advocate for modern classical music, and on this episode of Extra Eclectic, we honor his life and career. Listen now with host Steve Seel!


Black-and-white headshot of Michael Tilson Thomas

Extra Eclectic

Brigette Lacombe

A final bow for a maverick

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

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,’ 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!


Scaramouche, Op. 56

New Classical Tracks® 

Jeffrey Langford

Joanne Polk returns to the exquisite music of Cécile Chaminade

Cynthia Dickison

The late pontiff was known for his love of music, and he even had a favorite record store in Rome. 


Clara Haskil spielt Mozart

Beethoven by Wilhelm Furtwängler - Symphonies n°1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 + Present° (Century’s recording)

Wagner - Parsifal Opera + Presentation (recording of the Century : Hans Knappertsbusch 1962)

Astor Piazzolla y su Quinteto Tango Nuevo - Vredenburg Music Hall (1984) - HD - Theo Uittenbogaard©

Antonio Cotrim/Getty Images

Pope Francis loved music, including classical

Steve Seel is the host of YourClassical’s weekly SymphonyCast and the trailblazing music show Extra Eclectic. He 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.


Steve Seel

On the latest episode of ‘SymphonyCast,’ Music Director Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas leads the San Francisco Symphony in Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 6. Listen now with host Steve Seel!


SymphonyCast® 

Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

San Francisco Symphony

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra - Handel's 'Messiah'

Join Steve Seel for an Easter celebration with the complete performance of Handel's ‘Messiah,’ performed by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, conductor Patrick Dupré Quigley, an all-star roster of vocal soloists, and the Singers. Listen to the concert now!


The SPCO

Provided

Celebrate Easter with the SPCO's performance of Handel's 'Messiah'

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

Rhapsody in Black - Michelle Cann

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

Michelle Cann is a trailblazing African American concert pianist and teacher who is inspiring the next generation of musicians at the Manhattan School of Music and the Curtis Institute.  Find out more in the ‘Rhapsody in Black’ podcast.


Rhapsody in Black - 20240620

Price: Piano Sonata in E Minor

Rhapsody in Black

Steven Mareazi Willis

Pianist Michelle Cann inspires next generation as a noted music teacher

Extra Eclectic - April 16, 2025

With Earth Day on the way this coming Tuesday, Steve Seel presents two hours of contemporary classical pieces on themes of the environment on this episode of ‘Extra Eclectic.’ Listen now!


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