The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaugh Williams is a centerpiece in this episode which also includes selections from Handel's Messiah and Carmen by Georges Bizet.

Hear Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "The Queen of Spades" on Classical IPR on Saturday at 1 p.m.

In 1940, renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Frederick Stock visited Interlochen's National Music Camp for the first time.

When an air raid siren went off recently in Kyiv, a young singer spontaneously began harmonizing with the alarm. The result went viral on social media.

Muskrats are solitary creatures that mainly eat cattails and court through scent marking. It's a different courtship than in the song "Muskrat love" made popular by Captain and Tennille.

For the beginning of Kids Commute Season 8, we thought it would be fun to hear music that is often heard as a beginning. This week: all about overtures!

IPR listeners are eligible for free tickets to select performances at Interlochen.

This episode ranges from Tomaso Albinoni to Max Richter with plenty of variety in between!

Hear Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca" on Classical IPR on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Composer Paola Prestini discusses her operatic adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea." The premiere recording of the opera is out today on VIA Records.

In 1966, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performed at Interlochen Center for the Arts for the first time. The program was presented in memory of Interlochen's founder Joe Maddy and included music of Ravel, Stravinsky, Kay and Papandopulo.

Founders Joe Skerik and Kyle Stachnik have assembled a quintet version of Viridian Strings for a late summer concert tour.

A bumblebee’s buzz creates an electrical interaction with flowers, vital for ecosystems and agriculture. This distinctive buzzing also inspired Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s composition, "Flight of the bumblebee."

Nainita Desai composes irresistible and intricate scores for film, TV and video games. She joins us this week on GAMEPLAY to talk about her interactive music for games including Immortality, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and more.

Jader Bignamini conducts the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in music of Strauss and Beethoven, and DSO musicians join Interlochen's World Youth Symphony Orchestra for Verdi and Dvorak.

There's been a robust response to this week's Music by Request theme of piano music. Listeners from here in Michigan participated, and so did folks from Texas and Missouri!

Hear Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Idomeneo" on Classical IPR on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Hear Interlochen Arts Academy and Camp students perform iconic music by John Williams for stage and screen.

Bernstein was a musical genius loved around the world. But why did so many in America give this famous composer a hard time?

Franz Liszt’s piano etude “Forest Murmurs” evokes the rustling of forest leaves, a natural phenomenon of aspen trees in the Great Lakes Region.

Hear music from the game that inspired HBO's hit TV series.

Hear Antonín Dvorak's "Rusalka" on Classical IPR on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Hear Interlochen student performances of three ballets Igor Stravinsky wrote for the Ballets Russes: "The Firebird," "Petrushka" and "The Rite of Spring."