Saint Paul Sunday

Saint Paul Sunday

Genre	live classical music performance and interviews
Running time	60 minutes, weekly
Country	USA
Home station	Minnesota Public Radio
Syndicates	200 U.S. radio stations Sirius XM Radio Radio New Zealand Concert
Hosts	Bill McGlaughlin
Creators	Tom Voegeli
Writers	Bill McGlaughlin
Producers	Vaughn Ormseth
Exec. producers	Mary Lee
Recording studio	Saint Paul, Minnesota
Air dates	since 1980
Website	saintpaulsunday.publicradio.org

Saint Paul Sunday is a Peabody Award-winning weekly classical music radio program hosted by Bill McGlaughlin. It is America's most widely listened to weekly classical music program produced by public radio, and airs on approximately 200 stations nationwide.^[1] Programs since 1997 are also available as archived audio on the Internet.^[2] The one-hour show features live, in-studio performances by and interviews with the world's top classical musicians, both soloists and ensembles.

For each hour-long show, host Bill McGlaughlin invites a virtuoso soloist or ensemble into the studio to discuss and perform music. The music on the program generally fits under the wide umbrella of classical music, and the pieces performed run the gamut from late medieval through to contemporary music.

Saint Paul Sunday is distributed by American Public Media, and is produced in the Saint Paul, Minnesota studios of Minnesota Public Radio, American Public Media's main subsidiary.

Format

Premise

According to the Saint Paul Sunday website, the show's premise is, "What would it be like to hear the Juilliard String Quartet perform in your living room? Or to invite violinist Joshua Bell over for brunch and Bach?" Host Bill McGlaughlin opens the studio to the world's best classical musicians, of every conceivable style and mix, for both discussion and performance — giving listeners intimate access to how excellent music is created. McGlaughlin engages each soloist or ensemble in spontaneous live questioning and conversation, so that insights, anecdotes, and commentary alternate with live performances by the guest musicians.

One of the show's intentions is to disprove the misconception that chamber music is open only to connoisseurs. McGlaughlin aims to dispel this view, and to make the music fresh, lively, and fun.^[3]

Outreach

To keep the music and performances contemporary and relevant to today's audiences, Saint Paul Sunday expands the definition of chamber music. The show has included a diverse and eclectic mix of performers and music from around the world — music and musicians which have included Brazilian choro music from the Robison-Lubambo-Baptista Trio, American gospel group the Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers, Latin-American and African carols and folk dances from Andrew Lawrence-King and The Harp Consort, the viol quartet Phantasm, jazz trumpeter Art Farmer, Bolivian Andean music specialists Rumillajta, eclectic composer Mark O'Connor and the Appalachia Waltz Trio, and African-American Latino wind group Imani Winds.

Saint Paul Sunday has many times hosted performances of recent music by living composers — composers which have included Thomas Adès, George Tsontakis, Osvaldo Golijov, Fred Lerdahl, Derek Bermel, Frederic Rzewski, and dozens of others. In addition, Saint Paul Sunday has itself commissioned new works from composers such as Pierre Jalbert, Aaron Jay Kernis, Nicholas Maw (in partnership with PRI), Kenneth Frazelle, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Edgar Meyer, among others.

For physical outreach, from time to time McGlaughlin and Saint Paul Sunday have traveled to do on-site programs with notable classical musical ensembles at various venues around the U.S. These concerts have generated much excitement from local audiences. To further make classical music more accessible to more people, Saint Paul Sunday has also done residencies at primary and secondary schools in the Midwest — which include recording sessions, performances, and question-and-answer sessions with McGlaughlin, the musicians, and the students.^[4]

Inception and history

During the late 1970s, Pennsylvania native Bill McGlaughlin, a trombonist and conductor, was engaged as Associate Conductor of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In his off hours, McGlaughlin occasionally filled in as host on Garrison Keillor's daily morning radio show on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR).^[5]

Around this same time, U.S. public radio gained access to a communications satellite, which meant that production was no longer limited to New York, Los Angeles, or Washington. Cities with uplinks, like Saint Paul, could finally produce their own national shows. Consequently, in 1979 the Mellon Foundation provided MPR with seed money to make several pilot programs.^[6][7]

In early 1980, via local benefactors, Minnesota Public Radio also built a new studio — the Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio ("Studio M") — a beautiful space with 20-foot windows overlooking Saint Paul’s cathedral district.^[8][9][10] This inspired producer Tom Voegeli, then working in national programming for MPR, to create a new show that would play to the studio’s strengths. Voegeli came up with the idea for Saint Paul Sunday Morning, with McGlaughlin as host — a distinctive, intimate program which would present world-class musicians, live, to a national audience. Voegeli also wanted McGlaughlin to sound like a musician rather than like a broadcaster, and to share his own spontaneous, animated enthusiasm with listeners.^[6][11]

The show debuted locally in 1980, and went national via syndication in 1981, eventually shortening its name to Saint Paul Sunday. The series' unique approach and sense of exuberance and curiosity has won it hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic listeners, and the 1995 Peabody Award.^[12]

Notable guests

Saint Paul Sunday has been host to hundreds of musicians of international repute. These have included many singers, both ensemble and solo; many quartets and trios and various other sizes and combinations of chamber groups; many pianists and other soloists; small orchestras and choruses; and traditional and non-traditional musical groups from around the world.

A small sampling of guests includes such artists as:

Impact and reception

In 1995 the Peabody Award, the highest honor in broadcasting, was awarded to Saint Paul Sunday. The foundation stated:

For 15 years Minnesota Public Radio's Saint Paul Sunday has provided listeners with extraordinary access to the world's finest classical musicians. The luminaries presented by Bill McGlaughlin, host since the show's inception, ... [are numerous]. Saint Paul Sunday presents emerging new talent as well as commissioned classical works, including those by new composers Aaron Jay Kernis, Kenneth Frazelle, and Edgar Meyer. Through the program's music and discussion format, listeners get to know the people behind the music and gain insight into the creative process. For an excellent series showcasing classical music, a Peabody to Minnesota Public Radio for Saint Paul Sunday.^[12]

The Los Angeles Times reports that:

Saint Paul Sunday has a history of [listener] loyalty .... Ask these people what inspires their devotion, and the answers are all variations on one theme: The show achieves an inside look at world-class music-making that is intimate, welcoming, and ultimately addictive.^[6]

Listening

Saint Paul Sunday is broadcast on approximately 200 public and commercial radio stations in the U.S.^[13] Past, current, and future shows can also be listened to on the show's website.^[2] Current shows can also be listened to at various times of day on 31 online radio stations.^[14] The show also airs in New Zealand on Radio New Zealand Concert,^[15] and on XM Satellite Radio Channel 133 Mondays at 4:00 AM Eastern Time.^[16] Online program notes, playlists, and artist profiles for each show — past, present, and future — are provided on the Saint Paul Sunday website.

See also

• Chamber music
• Performance Today
• Exploring Music

Footnotes

References

• Saint Paul Sunday Official Site
• Classical Music Initiative. "American Public Media’s Saint Paul Sunday." Classical Radio 101: A Primer for Performing Arts Partnerships. American Public Media, January 2005. p. 37
• "St. Paul Sunday Radio Program Features the Best of Contemporary Chamber Music." National Endowment for the Arts, Annual Report 2002. p. 29
• Uslan, Rachel. "It Wouldn't Be a Sunday Without 'Saint Paul.'" Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2001. p. F-26 (retrieved October 10, 2008)
• Phillips, Lisa. Public Radio: Behind the Voices. Vanguard Press, 2006. pp. 313-317

External links

• Saint Paul Sunday Official Site
• Saint Paul Sunday: Past, current, and future shows, listenable online
• Saint Paul Sunday via streaming audio
• List of public radio stations currently airing Saint Paul Sunday
• Classical Music Initiative. "American Public Media’s Saint Paul Sunday." Classical Radio 101: A Primer for Performing Arts Partnerships. American Public Media, January 2005. p. 37
• Each Show Is Different: A Glimpse Behind the Scenes at Saint Paul Sunday
• "It Wouldn't Be a Sunday Without 'Saint Paul.'" Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2001
• Artist Profiles