Classical Music on KPR

Weekdays from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Enter to win classical music giveaways »About the Host: Cordelia BrownCordelia and music are long-entwined. Her dad was a jazz fanatic and her mom was especially keen on 20th century opera. Cordelia chose violin and piano as the first things she could do well that also interested her, after reading or being outside.Aside from music teaching, directing and accompanying at Bishop Seabury Academy, Kansas City Kansas Community College, Eudora High School and various Johnson County music stores, Cordelia has always been in radio. She started programming and announcing classical music at age 18 when Radio Kansas in Hutchinson first went on the air in 1979.She hosted KANU’s Music by Candlelight in the early 1980s before she left for classical KXTR-FM in Kansas City and later WITF TV/FM in Harrisburg, Penn. She returned to KANU in 1991 and has been here for most of that time since.“Every good piece of classical music tells a story. I hope I can help KPR listeners find those stories or meanings within the pieces, which can vary so much depending on the person, the hearing or the performance. And above all, classical music is for everybody, regardless of how much you know or how good your stereo is. It’s just like books or movies or artwork; you just like what you like, and there’s always so much more you can discover.”

Weekdays from 12 - 3 p.m.Enter to win classical music giveaways »About the Host: Jeff Watson Jeff began in public radio announcing in Garden City at KANZ-KZNA as the Sunday host of All Things Considered and other shows.Jeff came to KU in 1997. He earned a degree in film studies and a minor in English and is working on a political science degree. Hired by KPR in 2001 as a part-time announcer for ATC and classical music, Jeff took over evening classical music in fall 2004.An enthusiast of film soundtracks, particularly American films of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Jeff enjoys his colleagues and meeting listeners. "It was a thrill for me to meet George Harter. I really enjoy A Night on the Town. It is also an enduring pleasure for me to go out in Lawrence and meet strangers who tell me that they recognize my voice from the radio."Currently at work on a 520-page epic poem entitled "Anthony Perkins: Unsung" to be completed just as soon as he can find the right word to rhyme with Hitchcock, Jeff is a real team player.

Weekdays from 7 - 9 p.m. Enter to win classical music giveaways »About the Host: Destiny Ann MermagenKansas City violinist Destiny Ann Mermagen, also known as the Classical Cowgirl, joined the KPR staff as host of Evening Classical in November of 2022.As the winner of international competitions and performance awards, Destiny has appeared as violin soloist and chamber musician in many prestigious venues across the United States, in Russia, Prague, and elsewhere in Europe. Regional performance concert halls include Kennedy Center stages, Strathmore Hall, and New York City's Carnegie Hall. Throughout the last two decades, Destiny has been involved in various musical and educational productions around the world, including those with the National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, and many more.In 2015, Destiny received the Live Positive award given for acts of kindness. She donated the $10,000 cash prize to Washington, D.C.'s Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where she volunteered her time giving musical performances. As a current resident of Prairie Village, Kansas, Destiny now volunteers at the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Missouri.

Classics Live brings you exclusive performances from throughout the KPR listening area. Our microphones travel to the Sunflower Music Festival, the Lied Center, the Ruel Joyce Recital series, the Great Spaces Music and Arts series, as well as performances recorded in Kansas Public Radio's live studio. Performers include the Emerson String Quartet, the Zoco Duo, Ensemble Iberica, and members of the Kansas City Symphony, among others. The series producer is KPR's Cordelia Brown, with recording engineer Chuck Smith. Darrell Brogdon hosts the program. Thursdays at 7 p.m. Upcoming ShowsSeptember 18 2025 Classics Live 226: Topeka Symphony in AprilKyle Wiley Pickett and the Topeka Symphony focused on film music for their April 2024 concert. You can hear themes from The Mission, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Last of the Mohicans and more in full symphonic classical form.September 25 2025 Classics Live 227: Pianist Janice Carissa.When Janice Carissa brought her piano recital to the Lied Center Pavilion, concert-goers were gifted with Schumann’s Op 99 piano suite Bunte Blatter or Colorful Leaves (or pages.) A Prelude and Fugue by Bach, Beethoven’s 2nd piano sonata, and more. Listen to the KPR recording of this fantastic recital of Janice Carissa.October 2 2025 Classics Live 228: Topeka Symphony Goes ThaiTopeka Symphony goes THAI and TCHAIkovsky! Inspired by his time in Taiwan, conductor Kyle Wiley Pickett brings us pure Taiwanese music called Sound Echo and Silence. The Tchaikovsky is the Symphony No 4.October 9 2025 Classics Live 229: Destiny in ConcertKPR’s own spirited classical evening show host DESTINY ANN MERMAGEN appeared recently in a Doreen Maronde Professional Recital along with her husband Michael, who teaches cello at UMKC, and the official accompanist and concert pianist of Park University, Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich. With fruitful combinations of violin, cello, and piano by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.October 16 2025 Classics Live 230: Soojin Jin, piano + cellist Ed LautA rare concert featuring Professor Emeritus of Cello from KU, Ed Laut, who spent 25 years as first cellist with the Cleveland Orchestra. Piano and cello masterpieces by Schumann, Debussy, and Frank Bridge.October 23 2025 Classics Live 231: The St Petersburg QuartetFeaturing local classical violist and cellist Boris Vayner and Sascha Groschang, the St Petersburg String Quartet has enjoyed an illustrious international career. The Doreen Maronde Professional Recital Series was thrilled to host them and KPR was grateful to record it for you. Bach, Shostakovich and Ravel await!October 30 2025 Classics Live 232: Jayne Siemens, soprano.Classics Live's this week is a wonderful bouquet of vivid love songs from the heart. Kansas City soprano Jayne Siemens tells many stories of passion in this special concert. She’s assisted by John Livingston, piano. Listen for famous opera arias, plus, Spanish love songs and some Jerome Kern and George Gershwin. November 6 2025 Classics Live 233: Tom Aber + Brookside QuartetTom Aber has mastered the bass and contra alto clarinets. Pair him with the KC Brookside String Quartet and you’ll have a fascinating classical concert including a Phantasy Quintet just for that scoring by York Bowen, a 20th c composer.

Classical recordings from the KPR Live Performance Studio. Production credit: sound engineers Chuck Smith and Jason Slote.