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Music

Luther College's Weston Noble retires after 57 years

With graduation this weekend, Luther College will mark the end of an era. Its celebrated choral conductor, Weston Noble is retiring after 57 years at the helm of the college's Nordic choir. Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson sat down recently with Noble to talk about his conducting career and the divine guidance that he says kept him at Luther all these years.

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Introducing the Cleophone

What looks like a dulcimer and sounds like electronically altered Balinese gamelan? The answer is the Cleophone. The Cleophone's Minneapolis inventor created it mainly for the sheer pleasure of sonic exploration.

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Cary John Franklin composes for students

This Sunday three Minnesota high school choirs will fan out across the stage at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis to sing compositions written just for them. It's the culmination of a three year composers residency by Cary John Franklin. He says he hopes he's shown his students that composers are real people.

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Jamming with the SPCO

Tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano improvises with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in the U.S. premiere of "A Man Descending."

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Conscience vs. McCarthy: the political Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland has been synonymous with American music for more than 60 years. But during the McCarthy era, not even the composer of Lincoln Portrait and Fanfare for the Common Man--two WWII morale boosters--was immune from Sen. Joseph McCarthy's questions about political affiliations in the thirties and forties. Classical musical host Bill Morelock traces the activities of Aaron Copland the composer and Copland the citizen leading up to a cancelled performance and an offical grilling in 1953.

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Jeremy Walker continues his jazz mission

It's been a little over a year since saxophonist Jeremy Walker's downtown St. Paul jazz club, Brilliant Corners, closed its doors. Walker is continuing his mission of developing jazz in the Twin Cities with the new Jazz is NOW! Orchestra.

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The career path of J. S. Bach; from Arnstadt to Leipzig

Even geniuses have have not-so-great jobs like the common folk. Open Air host Bill Morelock wonders how J. S. Bach could have created so many well-crafted pieces while he labored long days in undesirable employment.

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Prospect Park Players end musical adventures

One of the Twin Cities' most highly regarded chamber music groups, the Prospect Park Players, is calling it quits this weekend after one final concert.

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Singing Hebrew along the Yellow Brick Road

For the past few years the Talmud Torah School in St. Paul has presented Hebrew language versions of popular musicals. This week they're doing a newly-translated "Wizard of Oz."

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Bob Dylan at the crossroads

The idea of writing an entire book around a single song would be considered a daunting task by most authors. Greil Marcus just thought it was a bad idea. However, after first refusing the project, Griel began to realize the cultural impact of "Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads."

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