Prairie Performances

Prairie Performances

with Mel Miller

Thursdays at 7 pm on FM 90.9

Saxophonist Chip McNeill plays in front of members of the U.S. Navy Band
Chip McNeill

Prairie Performances: Jazz

On this week’s Prairie Performances, we welcome Grammy award-winning saxophonist and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Professor of Jazz Performance, Chip McNeill.

Prairie Performances logo with Jazz
Kurt Bielema

Prairie Performances: Jazz

Tonight, we’ll explore a taste of what the Illinois jazz scene has to offer, what local artists are creating and listening to, and how to find jazz performances in your hometown!

Roger Cooper with William Warfield
Illinois Public Media

A Look Back: Classically Black

This week’s episode of Prairie Performances is an homage to Classically Black, a WILL radio program highlighting the contributions of black artists to classical music. Classically Black was produced by the now-retired Classical FM host, Roger Cooper, whose voice some listeners may already be familiar with. 

Mel Miller, host of Prairie Performances
Kurt Bielema

Meet Melissa Bialecki Miller

Please join us in welcoming Melissa (Mel) Bialecki Miller to the Classical 90.9 team. Mel joins us as the next John Frayne Classical Music Graduate Student Fellow. “I’m excited for this opportunity to bring classical music to the local community,” she said. “My background is in academia, and what I’ve always found most rewarding about that work is education and outreach. Whenever I see a student enjoy a genre of music they might never have engaged with before, or realize something new about a piece they already enjoy, that’s when I feel I’ve really done my job. Working with WILL feels like a natural extension of that work. I love talking about music, I love telling stories, and I’m looking forward to learning to do all of that through the medium of radio.”