"It's almost like you're making fun of the holiday," my husband said last night as I was creating today's show: theme-based for the Fourth of July. From The Star Spangled Banner to the 1812 Overture, marches, gospel, orchestral and classical -- it's red, white & blue today.

Cheesy, predictable, unimaginative? Too obvious and sentimental? I happen to love it...

As we approach the Summer Solstice, Spanish classical guitar and flamenco heat things up on today's show -- kick up your heels and put on your red dress (guys, too)! I'll play some Carlos Montoya, Andres Segovia, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Paco de Lucia, Francisco Tarrega and Ottmar Liebert.

"Guitar needs you and you were born for her." --Tarrega's teacher Arrieta at the Spanish Music Conservatory.

I'm still hooked on the Italian classical music from last week's show, so I offer a spill-over: Bellini, Marcello, Rossini and Italian harp, plus a moshing in of baroque, Prokofiev and Honegger.

Happy Birthday to Carlos Chavez, Mexican composer and conductor. We'll hear Three Pieces for Guitar from the album Guitar Masterpieces of the 20th Century.

"If music be the food of love, play on." --William Shakespeare

Two glistening hours of Italian classical music to help set the mood in Fairfield for tonight's All Things Italian Art Walk.

At 11am we'll hear from John Dowdall of the group Red Cedar Chamber Music from Marion, Iowa. This flute and guitar duo performs on Sunday, June 8 at 2pm, at The MainStay Inn, 300 N. Main Street, Fairfield, Iowa. John will tell us about their latest program, "Hallalujah, I'm a Bum!"

"Music should be for everyone anywhere." --Pauline Oliveros

Happy Birthday to Pauline Oliveros who is now 76 years old. I dedicate a portion of my show to the woman who describes a new musical theory called "sonic awareness" -- raising auditory consciousness and awareness. Her group is called The Deep Listening Band.

I'll also play Beethoven performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and a piece from Belcea Quartet's new album, Bartok: String Quartets.

I finally got to meet Heather Miller-Rodriguez (of KRUU's Lyrical Venus) in person today, and a little Venus must've rubbed off. This week's show highlights female musicians, especially American classical guitarist Sharon Isbin and Iranian American guitarist Lily Afshar.

This is my favorite review: "Lily Afshar is a Guitar Goddess, but instead of wielding an electric axe, she spins a fine web of music on acoustic guitar. In fact, she's one of the best classical guitarists in the world."

What's the controversy over the term "crossover classical"?

This week's show will explore some of the Grammy Award winning albums for Best Crossover Classical since 1999 when the category was created.

This Lara St. John album pictured here did not win a Grammy and is not considered crossover; however, it was considered controversial and she did later record a crossover album.

DON'T FORGET TO BUY TICKETS FOR KRUU-FM'S CLASSICAL GALA BENEFIT CONCERT COMING UP NEXT SATURDAY MAY 10th at the SONDHEIM CENTER featuring cellists Elle Wells and Dr, Charles Lee, dancer Catherine Wells and pianist Meara Oberdieck.

Listening to this week's show will make you feel like you've just stepped into a Vermeer painting...

You'll hear Bach's Harpsichord Concertos and music from an Ames, Iowa, based duo, Basically Baroque. The Chamber Music Society of Fairfield arranged for the duo to perform this Sunday, May 4th at ICON Gallery in Fairfield at 2 p.m. The duo plays harpsichord, baroque oboe and bassoon.

At 10:30 a.m. I'll talk with Kevin Schilling, Associate Professor of Music at Iowa State, one of the members of Basically Baroque.  read more »

This week's two-hour show features music from Bright Sheng, Yo-Yo Ma, Sergey Prokofiev, Mstislav Rostropovich, Beethoven and Vanessa Mae.

"I use [folk melodies] as a point of departure for my inspiration, and I take a lot of freedom. I’m searching for a new idiom that doesn’t belong to preconceived categories."

—Bright Sheng