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

Reading the title of a classical piece of music can make you feel like you are already behind. Symphony, prelude, toccata, opus, all those numbers.... Is it important to know what they mean? Performance Today host Valerie Kahler will help decode this confusing taxonomy and give some tips for the next time you open a concert program.

Classically Training, Episode 4 – “Sonatas, concertos, and preludes, oh my!”

Aerin O'Malley

In this episode, Performance Today host Valerie Kahler gives some tips for the next time you open a concert program.


Graphic for Classically Training podcast featuring head with treble clef inside

Two women have a conversation in a recording studio with a piano in the background

Classically Training

Classically Training: “Sonatas, concertos, and preludes, oh my!”

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,’ it’s an end-of-season party like no other: the Last Night of the Proms! The BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Singers are joined by and trumpeter Alison Balsom and British soprano Louise Alder. Listen now with host Steve Seel!


Woman performing on stage at Royal Albert Hall with an orchestra

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

SymphonyCast® 

Last night of the Proms

Extra Eclectic - Sept. 24, 2025

It’s modern classical sounds from down under on the latest episode of ‘Extra Eclectic,’ as Steve Seel brings us a bevy of Australian composers (and one from New Zealand — since we’re right there). Listen now!


Extra Eclectic

Dreaming Down Under

New Classical Tracks (Extended Interview): Wilhelmina Smith and Dawn Avery

New Classical Tracks - September 24, 2025

New Classical Tracks - Wilhelmina Smith and Dawn Avery

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,’ composer Dawn Avery and cellist Wilhelmina Smith present their first collaborative recording, ‘Sweetgrass.’ Listen now with host Julie Amacher!


New Classical Tracks (Extended Interview) - Wilhelmina Smith and Dawn Avery

Cellist Willhelmina Smith stands on rocks near the ocean

Decolonization

New Classical Tracks® 

Composer Dawn Avery and cellist Wilhelmina Smith join forces on new album

Conductors have an important job. They start the music, stop the music, set the tempo, and help shape the sound of a piece. And they do all of this with their arms! However, every conductor does the arm-waving part a little differently. So how do musicians know what to do? This week, our host sits down with conductor Hannah Schendel to help demystify the movement that creates our music.

Classically Training, Episode 3 – What does the arm waving mean?

In this episode, our host sits down with conductor Hannah Schendel to demystify the art of conducting.


Two women have a conversation in a recording studio

Classically Training: What does the arm waving mean?

Classical Feature - Music for the Days of Awe: An Observance of the Jewish High Holidays 2023

Music for the Days of Awe: An Observance of the Jewish High Holidays

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

At this time of year, Jews around the world gather together to celebrate new beginnings. Listen as host Mindy Ratner guides us in a musical observance of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in 'Music for the Days of Awe: An Observance of the Jewish High Holidays.’


Holiday

Listen: 'Music for the Days of Awe: An Observance of the Jewish High Holidays'

On the latest episode of ‘SymphonyCast,’ The Chineke! Orchestra, conducted by Jonathon Heyward, performs Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10: a portrait of life — and death — in Stalin’s Russia. Listen now with host Steve Seel!


Side view of a man conducting an orchestra on stage

Chineke! Orchestra

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

Pianist Michelle Cann inspires next generation as a noted music teacher

Extra Eclectic - Sept. 17, 2025

On the latest episode of Extra Eclectic, we begin our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month with works from Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina and Peru, including Gabriela Ortiz’ ‘Canto Abierto’ and Jimmy Lopez Bellido’s ‘Peru Negro.’ Listen now with host Steve Seel!


Hispanic Heritage Month begins

New Classical Tracks (extended interview): Sharon Isbin

New Classical Tracks - Sharon Isbin

On the latest episode of ‘New Classical Tracks,’ guitarist Sharon Isbin fulfills her dream of performing a Latin American-inspired guitar concert on her latest album, ‘Romántico,’ featuring music by Karen LeFrak. Listen now with host Julie Amacher!


Homepage Hero Items