KPR to showcase live classical music; free Halloween-themed concert to conclude daylong broadcast

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Post updated at 1:22 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24:

Community members can tune into the radio or visit the Lawrence library Friday for a full day of free, live classical music performances, and a Halloween-inspired concert to cap it off.

KPR will broadcast for more than seven hours from both the KPR station and Lawrence Public Library as part of this year’s KPR Live Day on Friday, Oct. 25, according to a news release. Local strings musicians and ensembles will give hourlong free performances throughout the day.

Kicking it off will be the Midwest Chamber Ensemble, a Kansas City-based performing arts group. The ensemble is set to perform from the KPR studio in a live broadcast live at 9 a.m.

Selections from the Washburn Wind Quintet will follow at 10 a.m., performing live in the Lawrence Public Library auditorium, 707 Vermont St.

More performances will then continue in the library at noon and 2 p.m. Jopara and the music of Paraguay, the St. Petersburg String Quartet, pianist Lucy Tan, and The Ad Astra Duo are included in the lineup.

Violist Boris Vayner and fellow members of the St. Petersburg String Quartet perform at Lawrence Public Library during KPR’s 2022 Live Day. (Contributed photo / KPR)

The Halloween-themed concert will start at 7 p.m. at the library. Destiny Ann Mermagen, Kansas City violinist and host of KPR’s “Evening Classical,” will create spooky sounds, accompanied by pianist Hyunsoon Whang, percussionist John Currey and cellist Michael Mermagen. In addition, 9-year-old Eloise McFee will play her violin along with a special cadenza she wrote herself. 

Free refreshments will be offered, and guests may also participate in a costume contest, beginning at 6:15 p.m.

Concerts are free to attend and open to the public as space allows, according to the release.

Cordelia Brown and Kaye McIntyre, of KPR, will host the broadcast.

KPR broadcasts on 91.5 FM and 96.1 FM in Lawrence in addition to other stations for surrounding cities.

Listeners can also access on the website, kansaspublicradio.org, and KPR2, a news-talk programming stream, which is available on an HD receiver or on KPR’s website.

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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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