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.
This archive collection features news stories with Mindy as both interviewer and interviewee. To hear Mindy’s current contributions on air, explore her profile on YourClassical, where the above abstract was sourced.
April 25, 1986 - MPR staff Loren Omoto, Dale Connelly, and Mindy Ratner talk with MPR’s Kate Moos about how they are celebrating the gubernatorial declaration highlighting how radio workers’ services improve life in the state of Minnesota.
December 31, 1986 - MPR’s Beth Friend visits the Minneapolis home of Charlotte Kula as she prepares latkes in celebration of Hanukkah. Kula shares her thoughts on the recipe and much more.
July 19, 1991 - MPR’s Mindy Ratner interviews local composer Steve Heitzeg on Georgia O'Keeffe.
July 14, 1994 - Includes author's reading from French Lessons: A Memoir set in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota
April 29, 1998 - Mindy Ratner talks with Bob Potter about her yearlong broadcasting job in China that she leaves for on the same day as this interview.
September 28, 1999 - MPR's Mindy Ratner checks in from China where the government is busy preparing for the 50th anniversary of the advent of communism and Mindy learns to fan dance.
June 22, 2001 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Mindy Ratner, host of Evening Classics on MPR, about traveling to China with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony. The group consists of seventy young musicians traveling for a formal 2001 summer concert tour, and features performances in China's most prestigious concert halls in Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai.
January 16, 2002 - Minnesota Public Radio music host, Mindy Ratner talks with conductor Yakov Kreizberg about the renowned conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein. Kreizberg leads the Minnesota Orchestra in the second part of the Bernstein Festival, a two-week event exploring Leonard Bernstein's legacy as a conductor, composer, pianist and educator.
December 5, 2002 - Classical MPR’s Mindy Ratner talks with 11-year-old Nathaniel Irvin of Maple Grove, who has the the title role in Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” performed by the Minnesota Orchestra with the James Sewell Ballet.
June 20, 2003 - MPR’s Mindy Ratner interviews pianist Kevin Cole, one of the foremost interpreters of the music of George Gershwin. Cole explains he became a Gershwin fan at a very early age.