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Classical Minnesota Public Radio Announces Regional Broadcast Times for Performance Today, SymphonyCast
St. Paul-based American Public Media's acquisition of major, nationally distributed classical music programming offers regional listeners access to live classical music performances from top orchestras around the world
January 9, 2007
Classical Minnesota Public Radio announces that it will begin broadcasting Performance Today from noon to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday, starting Tuesday, January 16 on Classical Minnesota Public Radio stations regionally. SymphonyCast will air regionally from 8-10 p.m. Thursdays.
Hosted by the renowned Fred Child, Performance Today will feature classical music in concert from MPR's own studios and studios and sites across the nation and around the world, as well as classical music news and interviews.
The first week of Performance Today will feature great violinists, including performance interviews with Hilary Hahn and Anne-Sophie Mutter. On Wednesday, January 17, pianist Bruce Adolphe joins Child for his weekly Piano Puzzler, in which Adolphe performs a well-known tune in the style of a classical composer. Listeners try to guess both the song and the composer.
Through March 2007, SymphonyCast's winter line-up includes performances by the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Dallas Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Symphony and others. Peabody Award-winning Brian Newhouse, host of Minnesota Orchestra broadcasts and the BBC Proms, was named the new host of SymphonyCast in November.
With the addition of Performance Today and SymphonyCast to its array of award-winning classical programs and specials, Minnesota Public Radio and its national distribution division, American Public Media, are now the largest producers and distributors of classical music programming in the nation. Their high-quality programming is syndicated by classical music radio stations nationwide.
Performance Today is America's most listened-to classical music program, reaching one million listeners on 230 public radio stations around the country each week.Performance Today was created in 1987 to showcase live concerts by world-renowned classical musicians.
"At a time when so many commentators are predicting the imminent demise of this art form, Performance Today doesn't simply argue the opposite—the case is plainly made by the vitality and enthusiasm of artists and audiences who connect through music every day, in concert halls around the world," said Child.
Listeners experience the finest solo, chamber and symphonic works—not on CD, but in richly textured live performances recorded for broadcast. The two-hour program also offers intriguing features, engaging and entertaining interviews and in-depth commentary by nationally known music experts to help listeners learn more about this vibrant art form and enjoy firsthand the creative vitality of the classical music world. For more information, visit www.performancetoday.org.
SymphonyCast is a two-hour weekly radio program featuring a full-length concert by a major symphony. Musical selections are drawn from European Broadcasting Union offerings along with U.S. orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra. For more information, visit www.symphonycast.org.
"Orchestras play a vital cultural role in communities small and large all across the country. It's a thrill for us at American Public Media to bring the best of these to our audiences," said Newhouse. "Whether they're in Nashville or Los Angeles, Boston or Buffalo, every week musicians come on stage and give it their all, and because this is music that's stood the test of time, the results are often magical. We're so glad that SymphonyCast is coming to St. Paul."
For a special introductory video on these new programs (entitled "Acquisitions"), click here.
Minnesota Public Radio® operates a 37-station radio network serving virtually all of Minnesota and parts of surrounding states and produces programming for radio, Internet and face-to-face audiences. Programs produced by Minnesota Public Radio, operating as American Public Media™, reach 14.5 million listeners nationwide each week. Of those, more than 790,000 listen regionally, in Minnesota and surrounding states. A complete list of stations, programs and additional services can be obtained at www.mpr.org and www.americanpublicmedia.org.
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Source: Data are copyright Arbitron, Inc. Arbitron data are estimates only.
Fall 2005/Spring 2006 average
Press Contacts:
Jennifer Haugh
Minnesota Public Radio
651-290-1369
jhaugh@mpr.org
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