This year's performance features charming folk songs, tender hymns and five world premieres that honor the intricate patchwork of our nation's community of cultures. Complementing the program is Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Crann, who has been invited to narrate several seasonal readings interspersed throughout the performance.
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The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and conductor Nicholas McGegan pay tribute to the great English composer Henry Purcell. November 22 is the Feast Day of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music, and the SPCO will perform Ode to St. Cecilia Purcell composed in celebration of that day. Minnesota Public Radio's John Birge spoke with Nicholas McGegan about Purcell's life (and two amazing theories about his death), the tradition of St. Cecilia, and how to mix bowl of traditional St. Cecilia's Day punch that Nic says "could kill a donkey!"
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People come from all over the world to play the organ at Sacred Heart in Duluth. They love the sound. Bluegrass bands and punk rockers like the sound, too. The Sacred Heart Music Center spent more than 100 years as a cathedral. It has different acoustics from most concert halls and recording studios. And musicians say it has a different feel.
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Back in his days as an early-music specialist, musician/scholar Oleg Timofeyev never dreamed of performing Russian music. Then he discovered 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. Minnesota Public Radioâs Mindy Ratner spoke with Timofeyev about composer Pavlov-Azancheev, and the unique instrument for which he wrote.
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Percussionist Marc Anderson has followed a musical path that has taken him far from his hometown of Austin, Minnesota. From the foothills of the Himalayas to the steaming forests of west Africa, Anderson has spanned the globe in the spirit of musical and cultural exploration.
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Leon Fleisher was in the Twin Cities for a performance with the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota on November 16, 2003. He's widely acknowledged as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. Because of an injury to his right hand ( focal dystonia ), most likely caused by repetitive stress syndrome, his concert career came to an abrupt halt in 1965. He took that opportunity to regroup and take on the left-handed repertoire for the piano, in addition to becoming a conductor, an arts administrator and a renowned teacher. Minnesota Public Radio's Silvester Vicic talked with him about his career, his recent solo recital at Carnegie Hall, his philosophies on teaching, the arts and music, and his visit to the Twin Cities.
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When I was a lad, books like Captains Courageous and Two Years Before the Mast, The Sea Wolf and later, Moby Dick, all gave me dreams of being a sailor. But after several Channel crossings and a sailing weekend on Lake Superior, I've found I don't have the stomach for it. It seems I'll have to keep my sailing adventures to the printed page, and the silver screen. But as a classical music broadcaster, I have to give O'Brian especially good marks for the way he treats music in his novels. How could you not love a writer who ends a rollicking sea adventure, The Letter of Marque, with everyone on deck singing an aria from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte!
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As the first scene opens, there is a lavish party is in progress at the duke's palace. The Duke tells his companion, Borsa, about a young woman who has caught his attention at church. No sooner has he finished describing her than he is talking about another woman, the Countess Ceprano. Borsa warns him to look out for her husband. But the Duke is unconcerned. He considers women to be his playthingsâhe claims he simply can't help himself when surrounded by so many pretty faces
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Like your Thanksgiving Day feast, Giving Thanks combines traditional fare with unexpected delights. For Thanksgiving 2003, we've invited some wonderful guests to the program, including Wendy Wasserstein, Donald Hall, and highlights from the Broadway production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town.
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