Greg Kostraba

February 16, 2009 marked the beginning of my second go-around at WBAA. I worked here as a Program Host/Producer from 1995 to 2001, hosting classical music, Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and the weekly 20th century classical music series “The Kostraba Conundrum.” After a short stint as PD at a public radio station in Kansas, I moved with my family to Toledo to serve as Classical Music Director at WGTE-FM, staying for seven years. Among my highlights in Toledo, I was fortunate to win the 2007 Ohio Public Broadcasting Award for "Radio Producer of the Year" for my monthly in-studio performance program “Live From FM 91” and special programs celebrating the life and music of composers William Grant Still and Samuel Adler.

Aside from my family, my passion in life is playing the piano. I have master’s and doctoral degrees in piano performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. You may have heard my performance of William Grant Still’s Kaintuck’ with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra on NPR’s Performance Today or seen me perform with the Lafayette and Purdue Symphony Orchestras, or at Duncan Hall with the Tippecanoe Chamber Music Society. I was also a semifinalist at the Fourth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in 2004. Most recently, I produced the Toledo Clarinets premiere CD on the Cambria label, making two arrangements of William Grant Still’s music for the recording, and performing with the ‘Clarinets on one of them. My favorite gig, though, may have been playing on a weekly basis in the Rusty’s Jazz Café Big Band in Toledo.