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
February 10, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio's Stephanie Hemphill profiles Ryan Rapsys, a young composer who has turned Duluth-Superior harbor sounds into music. While most people who visit Duluth spend some time sight-seeing on the waterfront, for Rapsys, sounds of the harbor can be just as inspiring as the sights.
May 27, 2004 - MPR’s Dan Olson profiles The Dale Warland Singers as the choral group is ends 32 years of performance. Founder and conductor Dale Warland announced a year ago this was the group's final season. He says he'll devote more time to arranging and composing.
July 8, 2004 - Classical musicians from across the Twin Cities have come together to perform the premiere of a new orchestral work called “Mosaic: Cedar and Lake.” The piece attempts to capture the cultural diversity of Minneapolis.
November 13, 2004 - MPR’s Dan Olson reports on the paths of two gifted musicians, who crossed when they moved to the Twin Cities. Both Shulamit Irina Maneev and Yuri Merzhevsky are from the former Soviet Union. They studied separately at the same music school in Russia…and now they play together the classical music they both love.
December 25, 2004 - The Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra is offering hundreds of student violin players a chance to rehearse with classical superstar Midori. The symphony received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to organize a ‘giant youth orchestra’ event in May 2004. Orchestra Director Andrew Berryhill discusses how his group wants to encourage youth orchestras…and not just because they can produce adult players someday.
January 5, 2005 - All Things Considered’s Tom Crann interviews one of Minnesota's most celebrated composers, Dominick Argento. In a new memoir, Argento says he has as little insight as anyone into what happens when he sits down to compose. So instead, he offers a series of reflections on his lifetime of work, the individual pieces, and teaching and learning in Minnesota. Those memories include his first impression of the state, when he was called to teach at the University of Minnesota on the first weekend of the school year in 1958.
January 25, 2005 - MPR’s Jeff Horwich talks with classical music host Brian Newhouse about Osmo Vanska and the Lhatki Symphony Orchestra, which is performing at Orchestra Hall. Vanska pulls off a musical feat, as he is both music director for the Minnesota Orchestra and Lhatki’s chief conductor.
February 3, 2005 - MPR's Marianne Combs reports on "Mozart in Manhattan," a new opera premiering in St. Paul. So what if Mozart had travelled to America? Combs interviews performers and composer on their thoughts.
April 14, 2005 - MPR’s Karl Gehrke reports on the end of the Minneapolis chamber group Prospect Park Players. Gehrke interviews Prospect Park Artistic Director William Eddins and composer Randall Davidson about the seven year run of of the classical group.
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.