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Radio Heartland

You can now listen to Classical and Choral Music on your iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad) or Android device.

Top Score

Top Score

In this podcast, host Emily Reese takes an in-depth listen to video game music and talks with the people who make it.

Latest Episode

Top Score: The South American Sounds of Papo & Yo
Papo & Yo turned out to be one of the most emotional experiences I've had as a gamer. While I feel as though I say that more and more, it's a trend I wholeheartedly embrace.
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Top Score Episode Archive

Composer Conversations

Composer Conversations

The Composer Conversation Series features some of today's most original, prominent, and prestigious voices in composition.

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MPR Classical Tshirt

  • Show your support for Classical Minnesota Public Radio by wearing our new Music for Living shirt design. The T-shirt is 100% cotton and features the recently updated classical MPR logo imprinted across the front.
Joyce DiDonato as the title character

Maria Stuarda live from the Met

Tune in on Saturday, January 19 at noon to hear David McVicar's new production of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda at the Met Opera, starring Joyce DiDonato.

  • Emily ReeseVideo Game Music Quiz: Can You Tell the Difference?
    We've been playing video game music all week, now the moment of reckoning: can you tell the difference between these Classical compositions and Video Game scores? Take our quiz and find out.
  • Andras SchiffAndras Schiff's 'Well-Tempered' Guide To Bach
    The pianist has such an intimate relationship with the Well-Tempered Clavier, hearing him play its kaleidoscopic preludes and fugues is like getting an inside view of a wondrously successful lifelong marriage. Communing daily with Bach helps the pianist stay fit and inspired.
  • B-Boy J-SunMusic with Minnesotans: B-Boy J-Sun
    Jason Noer is one of the hottest hip-hop dancers in The Cities. He has taken his work off the street and onto the stage at the Cowles and completely blown up any misconceptions about this art form. He dances at the Cowles this week and you should see how him busta move to Beethoven.
  • Lauren BacallFlicks in Five - Lauren Bacall
    Betty Jean Perske started as a dancer, then went to acting school. When the tuition money ran out, she turned to modeling, and if not for an appearance on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, she might never have been cast opposite Humphrey Bogart.
  • Yannick Nezet-Seguin conductingLive Jan.17 At Carnegie Hall: The Philadelphia Orchestra
    Led by its new, young music director Yannick Nezet-Seguin, The Philadelphia Orchestra shows off in virtuoso works by Maurice Ravel and Dmitri Shostakovich, as well as a rarely heard concerto with an exceptional violinist, all Thursday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.
  • "Game Music" by La PietaNew Classical Tracks - Game Music
    Famed violinist Angèle Dubeau debuts "Game Music"
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Classical Notes - Classical Minnesota Public Radio's Blog

On the Air This Week

Rex Levang

Posted January 15, by Rex Levang

Highlights from Jan. 15 to 22 Thursday, noon hour: Music with Minnesotans: hip-hop dancer B-Boy J-Sun. Thursday, 3 pm hour: Regional Spotlight: Flanders Recorder Quartet, recorded in St. Cloud. Thursday, 7 pm: Carnegie Hall Live: The Philadelphia Orchestra with conductor...

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Philadelphia's New Conductor

Rex Levang

Posted January 14, by Rex Levang

Here's a New York Times profile of the Philadelphia Orchestra's new music director, Yannick Nezet-Seguin. Read the article (and find out what his tattoo looks like), and then tune in this Thursday at 7 p. m. to hear the Orchestra,...

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On the Air This Week

Rex Levang

Posted January 08, by Rex Levang

Highlights from Jan. 8 to 15 Wednesday, noon: Music with Minnesotans: Dianne Brown, of the downtown St. Paul post office. Thursday, 3 pm hour: Regional Spotlight: Violist Kate Hamilton and pianist Jay Hershberger, from Concordia College in Moorhead. Friday, 8...

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Viral Trombone

On the Air This Week

On the Air This Week

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Arts & Culture

100 Minn. kids invited to appear in musical

Young actors from across Minnesota are getting a chance to appear onstage at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.

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State of the Arts

A jazz duo honors two greats

Singer Dorothy Doring and pianist Phil Mattson celebrate Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, two of the nation's greatest jazz composers, in CD release party tonight at St. Paul's Artists Quarter.

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Radio Highlights

  • Friday Favorites

    Each week host Steve Staruch presents four hours of classical music based on listener requests. Do you have a favorite work you'd like to share?
    Send a request
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  • Programming Highlights

    Highlights from Jan. 15 to 22

    Thursday, noon hour: Music with Minnesotans: hip-hop dancer B-Boy J-Sun.
    Thursday, 3 pm hour: Regional Spotlight: Flanders Recorder Quartet, recorded in St. Cloud.
    Thursday, 7 pm: Carnegie Hall Live: The Philadelphia Orchestra with conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin.
    Friday, 8 pm: Minnesota Orchestra: Osmo Vänskä leads music of Grieg, Lundquist, and Sibelius.
    Saturday, noon: Metropolitan Opera: Donizetti's Maria Stuarda.
    Sunday, 6 am: Pipedreams: Chorale Preludes.
    Sunday, noon: From the Top.
    Sunday, 1 pm: SymphonyCast: Daniel Harding leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
    Monday, 8 pm: Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra: All-Mozart program with Christian Zacharias and Isabel Leonard.

Choir of King's College, Cambridge

April 4, 2013
Cathedral of Saint Paul

Classical Music Events

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Music for Living

  • You may have heard us exploring our new tagline "Music for Living" on air. The playful vignettes, produced by our own John Birge, feature everyday tasks and events… and how Classical MPR can connect with you during those times.

Music and Movies

  • Many 21st-century listeners' first — and sometimes — main exposure to classical composition is through movie scores. With this in mind, Classical MPR has developed programming that celebrates and explores the relationship between music and movies today and throughout the history of film. Enjoy Roll Credits on Monday nights at 7 p.m. and Flicks in Five on Saturdays at 10 a.m.

Writers Almanac

  • Each day, The Writer's Almanac features Garrison Keillor recounting the highlights of this day in history and reading a short poem or two. The Writer's Almanac is produced by Prairie Home Productions and presented by American Public Media.
Jan. 19, 2013: The Writer's Almanac
Poem: "The Raven (excerpt)" by Edgar Allan Poe, and the literary and historical notes for Saturday, January 19, 2013.
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