Two Choral Supergroups, One Magical Concert

Submitted by Brian Newhouse, Host, Managing Director, Classical ProgrammingOn Monday, October 3, I was thrilled to host the first-ever joint concert between two choral supergroups: Cantus (based in Mpls) and Chanticleer (based in San Francisco). Classical MPR broadcast the sold-out concert live from Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis on a number of platforms including a Facebook live stream.This was exciting for several reasons:

• They’d never done this before, as they are essentially competitors. (Imagine if Infiniti and Lexus decided to make a really cool car together – in our backyard!)
• The groups were inspired to collaborate after a chance encounter last February. They happened to find themselves touring in the same area and agreed to go into a bar and sing together; a grainy five-minute iPhone video of that night went wildly viral, drawing nearly one million views in 24 hours.
• Orchestra Hall was sold out for the October 3rd concert; so Classical MPR was the only way anyone else could enjoy this concert.
• With huge credit to our colleagues managing the broadcast and technical details, we fed video/audio of the concert directly into Facebook Live, via our Choral Stream page. This was in addition to our live radio broadcast on Classical MPR and the classicalmpr.org stream.
• We asked both choirs to share Choral Stream links to their networks of fans around the country, and the world.
• And we created an audience engagement piece to support our connections goals, too.

 It was such an honor for me to host this historic event, but what was especially cool was watching the Facebook Live action while I tried to keep one eye on what was going on, onstage! We averaged 1500 viewers at any time during the concert. And about 20,000 people viewed the live feed for some length of time, and another 15,000 have watched the on-demand video excerpts. (Sadly, we’re going to have to take the videos down due to the rights agreements we abide by.)It was so gratifying to see comments stream in during the concert from Australia, Japan, Germany, the UK, and dozens of States here in the US. The very best thing, though, were how heartfelt the comments were, one after another, that thanked Classical MPR for offering this service to those who couldn’t make it to Minneapolis.https://youtu.be/oJGckjXoS40   

The CEO and the TSA: An Unlikely Moment of Gratitude

Here at APMG we're used to getting emails like this from our CEO Jon McTaggart. Those of us who've been around a while might even take them for granted. It's just part of the culture. But I'm reminded today that it's one of those things that makes us pretty unique... this culture of gratitude is demonstrated from the top-down, bottom-up, sideways, to-and-from our members, within and even beyond our communities. Read on to see what I mean:The email continues:He said, “I hear you a couple of times a year.”  Could it be that he recognizes my name from my brief “thank you” messages after the MPR on-air Member drives?Then he said two of the nicest things I’ve ever heard from a TSA agent.  “I’m a member,” he said. “Thank you for what you do.”  He was thanking me!  As he waived me through the check point, my heart swelled with pride.  I gave him my best morning smile and said, “Thank you, so much, for listening and for your membership support!”There are nearly a million listeners to Minnesota Public Radio, more than 19 million listeners to our American Public Media programs, and even more when we add our digital and social services and live programs.  This morning’s brief encounter is another proof point that…what we do really matters.I share the heartfelt gratitude of this TSA agent as a proxy for every listener and user whose lives we will touch today.  Thank You for all your great work, today and every day.    more from the Inside APMG Blog