May 4, 2016 - A dozen years before the beginning of the Second World War, the Nazis began what would become the unparalleled slaughter of Europe’s “undesirables,” most of whom were Jews. Millions would die, but there were survivors as well, each with a unique story. Classical MPR’s Mindy Ratner has gathered a collection of conversations with some of those touched directly by the Holocaust and those conversations form the basis of “Kaddish: Reflections on the Holocaust in Music and Words.”
November 20, 2003 - Oleg Timofeyev plays and discusses a Russian seven-string guitar with MPR’s Mindy Ratner. Timofeyev learned instrument so he could play medieval music, never dreaming he ever perform 20th century Russian music. Then he discovered the work of Georgian-born composer Matvei Pavlov-Azancheev, who created a body of work for the Russian seven-string guitar while languishing in a Soviet labor camp during the Stalin years.
October 21, 2003 - MPR Classical Music Host Mindy Ratner talks with Israeli-American violinist Itzhak Perlman. He is in St. Paul to play at the Shubert Club; his first concert in over a decade in Minnesota. Perlman states that even after four decades as a top international performer, the music still moves him.
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.
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.
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.
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.
July 14, 1994 - Includes author's reading from French Lessons: A Memoir set in Saint Louis Park, 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.