Music

LIKE YOUR THANKSGIVING FEAST, Giving Thanks combines traditional fare with unexpected delights. For Thanksgiving 2002, we've invited some wonderful guests to the program, including John Updike, Anne Lamott, and Donald Hall.
The University of Minnesota-Duluth's new Weber Music Hall was designed for near perfect acoustics. An acoustician's fine tuning makes it perfect.
While Argento's fame has spread across the United States and Europe, its fountainhead is Minnesota. More than 60 Argento works have been premiered in the Twin Cities, and nearly every major musical organization in the state has commissioned work from him. Although Minnesota's best orchestras and choruses have long served as ambassadors for the arts around the globe, no single figure has done more to place Minnesota on the international musical map than Dominick Argento.
On October 15, 1852, the first train of the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad traveled from Chicago to Joliet, Illinois. Two years later it would bring a delegation of east coast journalists and dignitaries to the Mississippi River as part of the Grand Excursion to Minnesota. Over the next 50 years, as the Rock Island Line grew, it carried passengers and freight through 14 states and became part of the story of the American west. Then it inspired a song that has been passed from generation to generation. Minnesota Public Radio's Jim Bickal has traced the stories of the song and the railroad and discovered that together they tell quite a tale.
On October 15, 1852, the first train of the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad traveled from Chicago to Joliet, Illinois. Two years later it would bring a delegation of East Coast journalists and dignitaries to the Mississippi River as part of the Grand Excursion to Minnesota. Over the next 50 years, as the Rock Island Line grew, it carried passengers and freight through 14 states and became part of the story of the American west. Then it inspired a song that has been passed from generation to generation. Minnesota Public Radio's Jim Bickal has traced the stories of the song and the railroad and discovered that together they tell quite a tale.
David Galligan is the new President and CEO at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul. He faces several challenges, including balancing the budget and keeping his tenants - four major arts organizations - happy.
The composers who have written works for the World Choral Symposium in the Twin Cities this week have a rare opportunity - to hear a full-fledged performance of their work by some of the world's greatest singers.
Some of the best singers in the world are in Minnesota for the next several days. The Twin Cities is hosting the triennial World Choral Symposium. It's the first time the event has ever been held in the U.S.
The International Piano e-Competition is a first in many ways. There’s never been an international music competition of this scale in Minnesota before. It’s the first competition that takes advantage of digital technology, providing a live performance equivalent to two members of the jury who will be in a hotel room in Tokyo listening to the same player that the judges in St. Paul will hear, at the same time. It’s probably the first time that one can experience these young pianists live, new discoveries awaiting those who are ready to listen.
"Mr. and Mrs. Olson," says Garrison Keillor, "is the story of a marriage searching for romance, as all marriages do from time to time, and it is a pastiche that Andy Stein and I have cobbled together from classics, stealing here and there, as other composers do but without admitting it.