a visit to mn public radio

The Singers and I made it downtown to the Saint Paul studios of Minnesota Public Radio last Monday to record a 4-song interview/performance for their upcoming concert, Under the North Star: Music of Minnesota. The program is in honor of Minnesota's 150th anniversary and, as you've probably guessed, contains pieces solely by my colleagues (and, in some cases, idols). I'll post the link to the interview when I get it.

The MPR building is amazing. It's nice but, in an emergency, I'm not sure I could stand there for 15 seconds while the door slowly opens. It should read "Glass can be broken in 1 second."













Here's some of the Singers waiting in the green room.













In the Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio. This space is sort of "famous" if you listen to a lot of public radio but it is a BEAST to sing in...one of the drier places I've ever performed in.













Me and my fellow baritone, Tony Mudra. He commissioned The Minstrel Boy way back when and gave it an amazing first performance. Below us is Vicki Peters, conductor of The Summer Singers (not to be confused with the group pictured here) and commissioner of the previous volume of Color Madrigals.













With conductor Matthew Culloton and MPR host Steve Staruch. We've worked with him before but I forgot what it's like to stand face to face with the voice you hear on the radio all the time. He was incredibly gracious and, along with one of the madrigals (Orange Mounts of More Soft Ascent), he had us perform Carol Barnett's arrangement of Oh, Yes and Dominick Argento's Sonnet 64.













This picture was not my idea but turned out semi-funny and warrants inclusion. Thanks to my fellow composer-in-residence, the dreamy Jocelyn Hagen.













Afterwards it was sushi and sake at Fuji-Ya.