opinion

Classical IPR wants to hear from you as we make plans for the next chapter in our programming for children and families. Please take our survey.

There are such different ways classical music audiences can show their appreciation for the music - perhaps silently, perhaps by clapping. What happens, though, when concert attendance ends up being about "the rules"?

Classical IPR has spent years focusing on how to be local.

Ted Beiderwieden volunteered at IPR hundreds of hours every year, earning Interlochen's Volunteer of the Year Award in 2018, 2019 and 2020. He recently passed away at the age of 87.

How does a long-running show like Music by Request stay interesting and relevant to its current audiences while continuing to grow new audiences? Do we change the program to try to freshen it up, or do we decide the program has run its course and replace it?

IPR's Sound Garden Project musicians approached people at gas stations, golf courses, laundromats and grocery stores, playing music for them and asking for their opinions.

When IPR went on the air in 1963, FM radio was the only way to connect with us. Now there's email, apps, social media, streaming and, of course, FM.

As IPR transitions its music library from physical CDs to digital music files, we're living and reliving a lot of the history that exists in that music library.

Public media services around the country are removing classical music from their daily radio broadcasts. It's a tough but understandable choice.

The Metropolitan Opera's audiences are getting younger and attending more operas by living composers. What does that mean for classical music as an institution?