Music For Easter

Listen to VPR Classical throughout Easter weekend for music for the holiday.  A few specific program notes include:

All this week on Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin at 7 p.m., he's exploring Bach's Mass in B minor.

Friday morning, our music will include Poulenc's Stabat Mater and more.

Listen to Sunday Baroque from 8-11 a.m. on Sunday for Easter music.

Springtime and Renewal on VPR Classical

There is natural poetry in the fact that one of the symbols of the Easter season is eggs, with so much potential for life represented in such a small package. Much like springtime itself.

For the next several days VPR Classical is featuring sounds of the season...all of them! We'll go well beyond birdsongs and pastoral music usually associated with this time of the year to hear how composers have used their unique creative skills to interpret Biblical events like the Easter earthquake, the ferocious pounding hailstones of the Exodus, and Mary's solemn grieving at the foot of the cross.

Exploring Music this week focuses on Bach's masterpiece, the St. Matthew Passion.

On Friday night for another perspective on the Easter story, we'll go In Concert at 8 for a special new performance of Bach's magnificent St. John Passion with Apollo's Fire.

Easter Sunday itself brings the grand finale of VPR's Sunday Bach with Mark Vogelzang. After many memorable years on the air the program has now come full circle, concluding on its 8th anniversary in a grand celebration of the holiday as only Bach can provide.

And then on Monday we break free from the pre-Easter trepidation and somberness in a joyous outburst of dances, 'Alleluias', and celebratory music to welcome springtime and all of the renewal it brings.

This time of the year has served as inspiration for some of the most poignant and vividly powerful sounds in all of classical music. Whatever your traditions, I hope you enjoy the music this week and join VPR Classical in our springtime celebration!

Cheryl Willoughby
Dir. of Music Programming