Since MPR was founded in 1967, our studios have been a regular stop for the world's master musicians, composers, and conductors. Additionally, in partnership with Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, MPR has recorded interviews and performances with many incredible visiting musicians and leaders in the classical music world, such as Bobby McFerrin, Osmo Vänskä, and Neville Marriner, to name a few. The Archive at MPR has preserved these interviews to make them accessible to you. Enjoy this collection which includes unique conversations occasionally combined with performance highlights and excerpts, as well as reports on the local classical scene.
Please note: Most content related to this topic that is contemporary or created after 2005 can be found on our main content pages of YourClassical MPR and MPR News
March 18, 1998 - MPR’s Dan Olson takes a look at the timpani, sometimes called the kettle drum, as it takes the spotlight at The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Earl Yowell, the chamber orchestra's principal timpanist, plays the seldom performed Johann Carl Fischer’s Timpani Concerto.
March 26, 1998 - Minnesota Opera Artistic Director Dale Johnson discusses Un bel di Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" as one of four operas selected as part of the 1999 Minnesota Opera season. The company will also perform Gounod's "Faust", Verdi's "Otello," and Britten's "Turn of the Screw."
May 18, 1998 - In a surprise announcement, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra appointed a new acting concertmaster. The selection of the violinist to lead the musicians in any orchestra is a complex, mysterious, process. Insiders expected the SPCO selection committee to take a year to choose a successor to Romauld Tecco, but they found someone they really wanted…Denver-based Steven Copes playing and they hired him on the spot.
June 1, 1998 - The Church of St. Louis, King of France (aka “The Little French Church”) in downtown St. Paul introduces its brand new pipe organ. The organ is the centerpiece of a campaign to renovate the church, which was designed by French architect Emmanuel Louis Masqueray in 1909. The architect also designed the St. Paul Cathedral and the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, but Masqueray called the Church of St. Louis his 'little gem'...and church officials say the new organ will be its crowning jewel.
June 15, 1998 - On this Midday program: MPR's "Voices of Minnesota" series continues, featuring in-depth interviews with musicians Romuald Tecco, longtime concertmaster of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Dominick Argento, the internationally known Minnesota composer.
March 12, 1999 - MPR’s Vaughn Ormseth takes a look at Einojuhani Rautavaara, one of Finland’s best-loved composers. Rautavaara has come to Minnesota with new work, "Finlands Spirit: Rautavaara." The premiere is sponsored by the Plymouth Music series, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota and St. Olaf College.
March 17, 1999 - A profile of St. Paul composer Eric Stokes, who died in a car accident at the age of 68. Report includes a portion of Composer’s Voice 1993 interview with Stokes.
May 20, 1999 - A farm in southwest Minnesota probably is not the first place you'd expect a professional mezzo soprano to call home, but that is exactly what MPR’s Mark Steil found when talking with Gary Overgaard, a farmer, and his wife Emily Lodine, an opera singer.
June 2, 1999 - Mainstreet Radio’s Marisa Helms reports on the Brainerd High School Choir and their year-end performance of Sarah Hopkin’s “Past Life Melodies.” All year long, the choir's been working on the unique piece featuring aboriginal sounds from Australia. The decidedly NOT-WESTERN music has been educational in all sorts of ways.
October 21, 1999 - MPR’s Bob Potter talks with architect Hugh Hardy, who designed Orchestra Hall. Hardy discusses the issue of acoustics and capacity. He says the new building might not have been built if the Lycium Theatre had been a little bigger.