Music with Minnesotans: Bartley Stratton

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Bartley Stratton loves musical theatre.

By day she owns a social media company called Yodel Networking which she tells me primarily helps companies have a successful presence on Facebook.

But at night - and weekends - Bartley can be found at the theatre. She evaluates for the Ivey Awards and told me she only really needs to see about five shows a year to qualify for that volunteer job, but in this month alone, she will see about 15 different shows!

Bartley experiences theatre perhaps ins a similar way that this classical DJ experiences music. She write a blog called "The Playbill Collector," so while simply enjoying the show is an option, she is often thinking critically and noticing details to write about.

But it's not just musicals that Bartley would pack for her desert island. She studied voice in college and her teacher had her sing Mozart. Once she heard Cecilia Bartoli sing the same aria she was studying, a whole new world opened to her.

In her college choir class they sang an arrangement of Mahler's "I am lost to the world." She says that absolutely transformative music made going to choir a highlight of the week.

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Bartley Stratton's playlist:

Cole Porter, Gay Divorce: Night and Day - Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and friends

Cole Porter, Kiss me Kate: So in Love - Maureen Forrester

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, The Marriage of Figaro: Voi che sapete - Cecilia Bartoli/Vienna Philharmonic

Peter Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake: opening - Montreal/Dutoit

Gustav Mahler, Ruckert Lieder: I am Lost to the World - Accentus

George Gershwin, Strike up the Band - Boston Pops/Williams

Leonard Bernstein, West Side Story: Mambo - Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra/Dudamel

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