Meet Alison Young

Alison Young hosts weekday mornings 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Classical Minnesota Public Radio. She is also the host of APM's SymphonyCast and the annual Saint Olaf Christmas concerts broadcast nationally each December. Regionally, Alison hosts the live concert broadcasts of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Alison has been working in radio less than a decade. Previously, she enjoyed a successful career as a professional flutist before an illness cut her career short. She has performed as principal flutist with the Houston, Boston and Atlanta Symphonies, where she was hailed by the Atlanta Constitution and Journal as a "recitalist of great poise and technical security, dazzling precision and virtuosic flair." Young has recorded several CDs and continues (to her surprise) to be sought after as a master class clinician and private teacher. Prize-winning American composer David Diamond praised her recording of his Concerto for Flute and Orchestra as "some of the finest flute playing I have heard." Young attended the Interlochen Arts Academy and earned her bachelor's degree in music from the University of Southern California and a master's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She is an avid kayaker, backpacker, and rock climber and lives in Saint Paul with her husband Richard Rasch, Producer for APM's Pipedreams.