A bit of Americana is on stage at a Center for the Arts in Fergus Falls. Songs From the Tallgrass Prairie is a musical created by Los Angeles songwriter Randy Hale.
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
Adolescent boys pose a real challenge for choir directors. Their changing voices are difficult to place in a choir. At the beginning of year a young man may be an alto, a few months he could be a tenor. The time in between can be awkward and uncomfortable for young singers. A group at St. John's University in Collegeville is spreading the word about the science of changing voices.
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
The brainchild of a pair of dynamic musicians: pianist Wu Han and her husband cellist David Finckel. They'd had a longstanding dream to create a chamber-music celebration that embraced students, an eager audience, and an A-list of performers from around the world. They found the perfect site a half-hour south of San Francisco, in the city of Menlo Park, California, and last August opened their doors. Over the course of the festival's three weeks, critics, performers, the organizers, everyone remarked on the strikingly high level of execution. Audiences, though, spoke loudest about this event: Californians lined up by the hundreds to get in, many were turned away at the door.
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
Professor David B. Levy of Wake Forest University and MPR's Michael Barone explore the masterwork Symphonies of Beethoven, movement by movement with musical examples.
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
The Minnesota rock band gb leighton is a bona fide phenomenon in the regional music scene. Over 14 years, the group has become one of the top drawing acts in Minnesota. Rarely does a night pass when gb leighton isn't performing somewhere, usually in the Twin Cities. MPR's Chris Roberts spoke with the band's founder, Brian Leighton, about his earnest songwriting style, the band's reception among critics, and its legions of fans. He also took in a gb leighton show to witness the "phenomenon" in person.
The Minnesota Orchestra has dropped the Viennese and added video screens to its Sommerfest. Perhaps the most substantial change concert-goers will notice is the addition of conductor Andrew Litton as the new director. Litton makes his debut Friday night with an ambitious program of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 and Beethoven's Triple Concerto.
The Julliard-trained pianist will be playing and conducting during the Friday night performance at Orchestra Hall. Litton told MPR's Greta Cunningham he's honored to be leading Sommerfest into the future. He says it's a great time for people and players to have fun.
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
The hardanger fiddle is Norway's national instrument. To the untrained eye, it looks much like the violin. But the nine-string fiddle produces its own distinctive sound. That sound and the instrument will be celebrated this week at St. Olaf College in Northfield.
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
Young-Nam Kim is artistic director of the Northern Lights Chamber Music Institute, sponsored by the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota. The first institute was held at the YMCA's Camp du Nord near Ely in 2002.
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
For lots of young people, summer means time to go to camp. There are different kinds of camps - hockey camp, language camp, Girl Scout camp. An increasingly popular option for talented young instrumentalists is music camp. On Madeline Island just off the south shore of Lake Superior, young people from around the midwest spend four weeks playing classical music.
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
Mickey Hart, longtime drummer for the Grateful Dead, has written a book in collaboration with National Geographic to focus attention on the need to save the world's indigenous music.
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
