Music

There's a lot of local music compilations out right now. The "compilation" is an increasingly popular and practical way for musicians to get their music out. Observers say they demonstrate the vitality of Minnesota's music scene.
On Nov. 13, 1943, 25 year-old Leonard Bernstein heard his song cycle "I Hate Music" premiered in New York. A fine title by a young man who, the very next day, would become the most famous musician in America. Open Air host Bill Morelock follows Leonard Bernstein on perhaps the most remarkable day in a remarkable life in music.
How much does it cost to make a hit? The drummer of the former Minneapolis band Semisonic knows. He'll talk about that and give his perspective on payola.
Irv Williams, 86, has been a fixture in the Twin Cities jazz scene for more than 50 years. His favorite classical piece comes from a composer known in jazz circles for his jazz sensibilities.
You can bring opera to Duluth, but will anyone be listening?
When Johann Strauss, Jr. came to America in 1872, concert promoters in Boston went all out. They built a great wooden hall which held an audience of 100,000, not to mention an additional 20,000 singers and musicians. Strauss conducted his own music, communicating with the multitudes through 100 assistant conductors. A sincere expression of our love of Strauss' music (or celebrity?), or a megalomaniacal lust for spectacle? Strauss was pretty sure he knew. Bill Morelock looks at the American sojourn of a reluctant Waltz King.
Minnesota native and internationnally accalimed early music singer Emily Van Evera has released a new CD focusing on Lady Penelope Rich, the tragic muse of the Elizabethan court.
What do you do if one day you realize the job you've loved all your life isn't cutting it anymore? Here's the story of a man who changed his art, and how the art changed the man.
After several years away from the clarinet, Minnesota Orchestra Music Director Osmo Vanska makes his Orchestra Hall debut on the instrument in a Sommerfest chamber music performance.