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In a time when many musicians rely on digital technology to enhance their sound, folk icon Ani DiFranco is returning to basics. She recorded her new album, Educated Guess, by herself, in her living room, using an old reel-to-reel tape recorder. The result is a raw, intimate, sound. DiFranco brings that sound to the Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis this weekend.
At the end of this season, the SPCO will dissolve its Music Director position. The musicians will assume many of the responsibilities for running the orchestra. The SPCO says the move is designed to strengthen its position as one of the premier chamber orchestras in the country. Most of the musicians say they're energized and excited by the transfer of power. But some observers say they'll face a number of challenges as the new system is put in place.
Beatrice Ohanessian is a woman of many firsts. She was Iraq's first concert pianist. She was the first ever Iraqi female composer. She performed with the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra for three decades. Now she makes a quiet living teaching piano from her home in the Twin Cities suburbs.
Spanning nine centuries of history, the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, London, has established itself as one of the major forces in British church music today. The group visited the Twin Cities' own Cathedral of Saint Paul in October 2003, and we'll hear a broadcast of that performance. The program includes outstanding British repertoire, plus the world premiere of a new work by VocalEssence composer-in-residence Cary John Franklin, based on Psalm 8
A few years back, Twin Cities singer and songwriter Barbara Cohen was enjoying a promising career. She signed to Virgin Records and relocated to Los Angeles. Cohen is back in Minnesota for a performance this weekend at the Cedar Cultural Centre in Minneapolis. Her circumstances have changed, however. She returns with a new solo cd, but no record contract. Cohen's CD is called "California." Several of the songs reflect disillusionment and a longing for home.
Andreas Delfs is leaving the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He will step down at the end of the 2003-2004 season. The move is in conjunction with the SPCO's adoption of a new model of creative leadership which places musicians at the center of the decision making.
A special holiday broadcast of Christmas Stocking with Glenn Mitchell. Mitchell has spent the past 30 years collecting interviews with musicologists, historians, writers, astronomers and theologians, as well as audio clippings covering the oddities of Christmas and musical selections from the sublime to the ridiculous - from Handel's Messiah to I Want a Goat for Christmas.