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
December 4, 1996 - MPR’s Chris Roberts interviews Jane Anfinson, electric violinist and vocalist of Own, a Minneapolis art rock band that combines classical and jazz influences with traditional pop song structures. Anfinson discusses redefining instrumentation and abstract lyrics.
December 24, 1996 - MPR’s Eric Friesen interviews local composer Stephen Paulus and poet Kevin Crossley-Holland about carols. They have collaborated on the creating the piece “Pilgrim Jesus” for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge.
January 15, 1997 - MPR’s John Rabe interviews local composer Paul Siskind about his composition “Fantasy-Variations.” The piece started off as a music school assignment, and sat on the shelf for a few years. Now the Minnesota Orchestra, under Eiji Oue, will give the world premiere performance of Siskind's “Fantasy-variations : on a fragment by Schoenberg.”
February 7, 1997 - MPR’s Dan Olson reports on a University of Minnesota Symphony Orchestra performance of the music of Roy Harris, Rimsky-Korsakov… and “Beijing Drum,” a piece of new music by a Chinese composer Zhou Long written for the pipa, an instrument similar to a lute.
February 7, 1997 - MPR’s Chris Roberts profile sisters Julia and Irina Elkina, one of Russia's more prominent duo-piano teams. The immigrated to Minnesota, and now call Minneapolis their home. One advantage they may have over other piano duos, is they also happen to be identical twins.
May 8, 1997 - MPR’s John Rabe talks with Larry Schoenberg, son of composer son of composer Arnold Schoenberg. The two discuss Arnold Schoenberg’s evolving compositions and The Minnesota Orchestra performance of Schoenberg’s piece “Guerre-Lieder.”
May 12, 1997 - MPR’s John Biewen profiles local composer Randall Davidson and the work of connecting artist with communities. For Davidson, that includes projects involving Hmong community and life stories of St. Paul public housing residents.
June 11, 1997 - Midday talks with MPR Classical Music Host Eric Friesen as he prepares to leave Minnesota Public Radio. Friesen has accepted a position as a national music host with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto.
June 18, 1997 - Brandi Parisi reports on strife in the classical music scene, as a debate brews over the direction and public interest in the genre. Parisi gets varied commentary from those in the community. Some see a crisis point; others see a natural evolution.
July 17, 1997 - MPR’s John Rabe intreviews David Reville, the McKnight Visiting Composer with the American Composers Forum, about his film score for “The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty." The film is screening at the Red Eye Cinema in Minneapolis.