Destiny Mermagen, KPR’s new music director, records at the studio (photo by Jim Barcus)
KPR’s new music director has made her mark as a radio host, performer, recording artist and concert organizer
Kansas Public Radio’s new music director brings a distinguished musical history to the job, which she assumes Jan. 1.
Violinist Destiny Mermagen is a world-class soloist and chamber musician who performs worldwide and has won numerous competitions and awards.
The Kansas City Star commended her “out of this world playing and welcoming and friendly demeanor.” The Washington Post termed her “endearingly coltish.”
Mermagen has played in Russia, Europe and at major U.S. venues including the Kennedy Center, Strathmore and Carnegie Halls. Her history includes performances with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore, Virginia and Amadeus Chamber Orchestras, the Peabody Conservatory and the Kansas City Symphony.
Playing a 300-year-old violin (which was featured in the Dreamworks film, “The Soloist” and in the PBS documentary and soundtrack of “Defiant Requiem: Voices of Resistance”), she appeared as a guest performer at the 2013 International Double Reed Society Conference in L.A.
Mermagen’s affiliation with KPR began in 2022 when she took the post of announcer/producer/host of the station’s “Evening Classical & Classics By Request.” Her new post adds to her scope.
“I’m super excited to have more of an on-air presence and eager to spread the ‘classical-music-will-save-the-world love’!” she said in a recent interview.
In the meantime, there are challenges. What the future holds for her popular program amid drastic new government funding restrictions remains to be seen. “Everyone is nervous and worried, but trying to remain hopeful,” she says.
At a station meeting in July, Mermagen stressed that although national programming is the divisive point, it constitutes only a very small portion of scheduling. KPR broadcasts classical music from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m., followed by overnight jazz.
It’s the local flavor and the live hosts that constitute public radio’s real value, she said. Without them, there is a devastating loss of community.
Mermagen’s program bears her personal stamp.
“My favorite way to choose music is for me to sort of act as a musical doctor — like writing a prescription for an ailment,” she explained. “I try to empathize with common struggles that people may have, and based on this, I pick the music that I think might prove the most cathartic. And even the weather informs my choices sometimes, too! My boss, Darrell Brogdon, and I both often say, ‘Who says Classical Music can’t be FUN?!’”
Mermagen was born to wealthy oil-business parents in Texas, but her father went to prison for fraud, and their fortune was lost. She grew up with her mom at her grandparents’ farm in Montana, and when her father was released, the family moved to South Dakota. It was there at school that she discovered a love for music and, specifically, the violin.
It was music, Mermagen says, that got her through trying years of her parents’ alcoholism and even some instances of physical and sexual abuse by an extended family member.
With the help of The National Symphony’s Summer Music Institute Program, she scored a full music scholarship to the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at The Catholic University of America, where she earned her master’s degree. She stayed and worked in Washington, D.C., for 15 years and met her cello master husband, Michael.
In 2017, when Michael was offered a position at the UMKC Conservatory, the couple moved to Kansas City. Mermagen met and immediately befriended Will Breytspraak, music director at Village Presbyterian Church, who had lived near her in D.C. Soon she was doing regular recitals at the church.
An intriguing and unexpected part of Mermagen’s profile is her identity as a cowgirl, rooted in her Western upbringing. In 2018 she released her singular album “Classical Cowgirl – Bach to Barn Burners,” featuring classical folk melodies and American fiddling with Mermagen on violin and Heather Adelsberger on piano. The album is the first to present the complete works of Bouquet Américain by Henri Vieuxtemps, known for his love of folk melody and American fiddling.
Mermagen’s other projects are wide-ranging. She created 3rd Wednesday/Wellness, a mental health-based interactive concert experience, as well as the annual Violin Camp with Destiny, which included violin stars Hilary Hahn, Gil Shaham and Jun Iwasaki.
Her pride and joy is Prairie Classical, a chamber ensemble she founded in 2018 as the Village Players, which pairs professional performers with young musicians for development and onstage performances. Now in its third year as Prairie Classical, the venture is fully funded by contributions and recently released its 2026 schedule of four live concerts. For details, see prairieclassical.org.
