Latest in Classical Music

This program features music from the medieval and renaissance eras, but reimagined by 20th-century composers.

Hear Notre Dame polyphony, Renaissance keyboard pieces and a variety of instrumental dance music brought to life by modern wind bands, brass ensembles and orchestras.

This week, Classical IPR in Concert features the Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet.

The group's recent performance at Interlochen Center for the Arts includes works by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and Beethoven.

Tune in this Friday at 8 p.m., Sunday at noon, or listen below at any time.

I play the keyboard for a little country church. After one of the COVID-careful services, I complained to my husband that it felt wrong, somehow, to play hymns when nobody was singing.

He pointed out that, although the congregation wasn't singing, a cricket was.

To be technical, crickets do not sing.

It's more like percussion, a sound made by striking or scraping. 

Hi Kids Commuters!

This week on Kids Commute, we've put together a week for Kids Commuter Hazel, who's a big fan of clouds. With some help from our friend meteorologist Jayne Firstenberg and some wonderful composers - it's Cloud Week!

Tune in to hear Cloud Music and take your chance at our weekly Quizlet. Listen Monday through Friday mornings at 7:40 a.m., or listen any time at the links below.

This week's program features music of Sergei Prokofiev.

Join us for an hour of music performed by Interlochen Arts Camp and Arts Academy students through the decades. 

The program includes archival recordings of Prokofiev's music for opera, ballet and film, plus chamber music inspired by folk sounds of Kabarda, a remote region of the Caucasus. 

  There’s nothing like the thrilling sound of many voices coming together!

On this week’s episode of GAMEPLAY, we celebrate the chorus in videogames.

We’ll hear the first piece of game music to win a Grammy, and we’ll enjoy singing in languages living, dead, and created too, from English and Latin to Swahili, Old Norse, and a magical tongue spoken by dragons!  

This week’s full episode and playlist are available below.

We all know that trees are essential for the environment, but trees are actually quite important to visual artists as well.

While the finest papers are still made from rags, these days, most paper comes from wood pulp.

Paper also is processed and sized with various gums derived from trees.

Rosins, usually from pine trees, are used as surface coatings for many papers.

Many historical works of art - especially Italian paintings - were created by dissolving pigments in walnut oil.

Gums from trees act as binders for watercolors.

This week on Classical IPR in Concert we feature a performance by cellist Camille Thomas and pianist Roman Rabinovich.

The concert took place at Interlochen Center for the Arts in the Dendrinos Chapel and Recital Hall.

Tune in Friday at 8 p.m. or Sunday at noon on Classical IPR.

Stream on demand any time below.

Click on the image to enlarge the program.

This concert was engineered by Michael Culler.

Hey Kids Commuters! Welcome back to school - and Season Four of IPR's Kids Commute!

We're overjoyed to be back with you, so this week, it's Joy Week. We'll hear music all about joy - the feeling of huge happiness.

Speaking of joy - we have new prizes for our Quizlet, too!

Tune in to Classical IPR weekday mornings at 7:40 or listen any time below. 

Congrats to our Quizlet winners this week: Finn from Traverse City, Fiona from Reed City, J.A. from Farmington Hills and Hazel from Rapid City!

  This week on Gameplay, we’ll enjoy some exciting new 2020 recordings from two classically-trained ensembles that specialize in performing the music of videogames!

We’ll hear themes from games like Super Mario Sunshine, Chrono Cross, and Final Fantasy 7 arranged for brass ensemble, string quartet, woodwinds, steel drums, and much more.

On this program, we revisit a radio broadcast from July 1974 that featured a complete performance of The Planets by Gustav Holst.

The performance included the World Youth Symphony Orchestra, High School Women's Chorus and student narrators Abbe Sher and Phillip Silverman.

The Classical IPR staff worked together to create a singalong soiree of songs from the World War II era.

Featuring music of Glenn Miller, the Andrews Sisters, Vera Lynn and many more, the program is a musical journey back to the 1940s.

Back in 1772, playing in Haydn's orchestra at Prince Esterhazy's summer palace probably seemed like a pretty sweet gig.

But as the long season wore on, the musicians were more than ready to return home to their wives and families.

According to the familiar story, rather than pleading the musicians' case to the Prince directly, Haydn wrote the work that has come to be known as the Farewell Symphony.