Open Ears is a series of audio features that explores how contemporary musicians' listening habits shape their music-making. Each installment features a Twin Cities musician talking about a favorite piece of music from a genre outside his or her own. The series taps musicians' wide-ranging tastes and deep musical knowledge as it explores the surprising and revealing influences that affect today's sounds.
June 28, 2005 - Minneapolis rocker Adam Levy of the Honeydogs says his favorite piece of classical music is the Prelude from J.S. Bach's Cello Suite #1 in G major.
July 5, 2005 - Libby Larsen is one of Minnesota's best known composers. It turns out that for the last 10 years, Larsen has been listening to a lot of "electronica," including rave, turntable, and re-mix music.
July 13, 2005 - Heather Barringer of Zeitgeist has a not-so-secret confession…she is a headbanger, and Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” holds a special place in her heart.
July 19, 2005 - St. Paul Chamber Orchestra concertmaster Steven Copes usually turns on the CD player in the car or when he's cooking a meal for friends at home. He's drawn to music that has a lot of rhythm, and artists with very distinctive voices, including blues artist Sun House.
July 27, 2005 - Wendy Lewis, lead singer and songwriter for the band Redstart, comes from a musical family. Both her parents are gifted musicians. Her brother Greg and Greg's son Mike are members of Redstart. So it's not surprising Lewis' favorite piece of classical music, "Adagio For Strings" by Samuel Barber, has a familial connection.
August 2, 2005 - Nirmala Rajasekar has been performing ancient south Indian classical music for most of her life. She's an accomplished player of the veena, a traditional Indian stringed instrument. Rajasekar also happens to be a huge fan of the American musical…”The Sound of Music”
August 9, 2005 - Chris Silver, former member of bluegrass band Stoney Lonesome, and now frontman for The Chris Silver Band, says he spends many of his waking hours listening to a broad range of music. Lately, he's been pretty fixated on jazz…in particular, Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing.”
August 18, 2005 - Renowned Twin Cities tenor saxophonist Irv Williams shares his appreciation for the classical composition “Paris, A Night Piece - The Song of a Great City" by Frederick Delius.
August 24, 2005 - American musician John Munson has been a key figure in some of the most popular and influential rock bands in Twin Cities music history. Munson shares his immersion into ancient Chinese music, including a folk song titled “Meng Jiang Nü.”
August 31, 2005 - Nationally known experimental musician and composer George Cartwright shares his appreciation for Memphis Blues legend Furry Lewis and his rendition of “Casey Jones.” Cartwright lived as a young man Cartwright in the Mississippi Delta.