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Joyce DiDonato makes old favorites sound new

Joyce DiDonato took the old Italian songs and arias sung by every aspiring classical student as the basis for her new album, Songplay. Her all-star team of musicians arranged the songs in jazz and samba styles. She intersperses those with show tunes and jazz standards of our own time. Michael Keelan talked with her about the album and her roles in the upcoming Metropolitan Opera season.

Michael Keelan grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, as the only junior high student in town to call and win public radio quizzes. He played the violin on the state's NPR network in high school, going on to earn degrees in music from Baldwin Wallace College in Ohio and the University of Maryland-College Park. Michael began hosting on NET Radio, Nebraska's NPR Network, at the same time as playing for the Omaha Symphony, which gave him the unique opportunity to host his own performances. (He did not try to simultaneously engineer the recordings.) Prior to that ensemble, he was concertmaster of the Green Bay, Wisconsin Symphony for several years. Besides his work at KPR, he is the orchestral conductor at Ottawa University, which also welcomes community players. Previously, he was on the music faculties of Concordia University-Nebraska and the Wausau Conservatory.