Some musicians slide right into a symphony orchestra position like [insert image of smiling child on slide]. Joel Dallow is not one of those musicians. It took him five years of intense work (on top of all of the work he'd already done as a student at the Peabody Conservatory and as a freelancer, etc., etc.,) to get the position he's occupied in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra cello section for 22 years. And now, he's on the other side of that audition table as part of the panel judging would-be ...
Jul 28, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 220
Joe Burgstaller may seem like a perfectly normal guy who just happens to have been playing trumpet since he emerged from the womb. But do not be fooled, dear listener. Something is clearly amiss. (See: Joe's music videos , particularly the video we talk about in this episode which took 26 trips through a car wash to get juuust right.) Perhaps it's all of the lip pursing. Or maybe there's something in the brass? Whatever it is has given him a case of hyper-creativity. In this episode, Joe teaches...
May 14, 2021•48 min•Ep. 219
When pianist Peter Dugan performed on NPR's From the Top at the age of 18, he had no idea that he would one day host the show. In this episode, Peter talks about how he came to be at the helm of a show that's been going for 25 years juuust before a pandemic began. He also teaches us about love, the magic the binds the molecules of music together. And he illustrates how collaborations between musicians have created that magic throughout history, and on From the Top, even in a global pandemic....
Feb 12, 2021•57 min•Ep. 218
Ginger Turner is--excuse us--a brassy broad. She was in the Army and the US Army's Field Band for 27 years. So when it came time to put on the annual Holiday Brass Concert for the International Women's Brass Conference (IWBC) during the pandemic, she did not shrink away from the challenge. She leaned right into it. And what resulted was pure, live, holiday magic. Learn about Ginger, the IWBC, and the feats of strength it took to put on a beautiful Christmas concert *safely* during COVID. And how...
Dec 25, 2020•43 min•Ep. 217
We hope that yule enjoy this holiday-ish show with Tristan Clarke, one half of YouTube sensation, the Melodica Men . In this episode, learn how two Juilliard- and Peabody-trained brass musicians took a detour from their traditional classical music work to play toy instruments on street corners, how they blew up the internet with an 89-second version of "The Rite of Spring," and why they are completely mesmerizing to watch. Also, learn how they distilled "The Nutcracker Suite" down to around 2 mi...
Dec 22, 2020•41 min•Ep. 216
Conductor and music director Stéphane Denève is a busy guy. He's got at least four jobs on two different continents. But thanks (?) to the pandemic, we caught him sitting still for long enough to teach us the ENTIRE HISTORY of French classical music! He starts at the very beginning with chant, and goes all the way through to contemporary composers. Learn about the pivotal moments in French music history, hear its evolution in musical examples, and learn what defines it--all from one of its bigge...
Oct 16, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 215
When it comes to the harp, Yolanda Kondonassis is kind of a big deal. She's literally written the book on the topic. In this episode, she teaches all about the history of the harp, describes the different kinds of harp, its mechanics, its repertoire, and about harp music being written today. She also tells the story of her personal history with the harp and how those first few plucks altered her life FOREVAH!
Aug 19, 2020•46 min•Ep. 214
The piano. A seemingly normal instrument. But where did it come from, and how did it get here? Is it a percussion or a string instrument? Is it safe for young people, or will it influence your child to become interested in (gasp!) music, like it did one Orli Shaham? In this episode, Shaham describes how she was helplessly lured by the piano, as well as how this instrument wound up in peoples' homes. She also talks about its repertoire, and how your child can start playing. Listen at your own per...
Jul 09, 2020•34 min•Ep. 213
Composer, producer, and vocalist Lisa Bielawa wants you for her project, Broadcast from Home ! She's often incorporated community-making and experimental elements into her compositional work, but this project is next level: each week during the pandemic, Bielawa is creating a "chapter"--a piece of music--based on the written and recorded submissions she gets from people all around the globe about their current experience. In this interview, Lisa teaches about other music made in times of plague,...
Jun 18, 2020•42 min•Ep. 212
Have you ever wondered what the atmosphere of a space sounds like? Well look no further! In this episode, Emmy Award winning film and TV composer Michael Whalen teaches all about the history of ambient music. He talks about its classical music roots, how circuits and tape collages and German composers had a part in its evolution, and how Brian Eno changed everything. He also talks about his own new album of music for sacred spaces.
Jun 06, 2020•33 min•Ep. 211
Academy Award-winning composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel does a lot of traveling, soaking up the musical traditions as he goes. His recent album, Migrations, received a Grammy nomination in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category. In this episode, Bermel teaches about composer Bela Bartok who inspired one of the pieces on the album. Bartok moved from his native Hungary to New York City at the outset of World War II, and while a lot of great music came out of his journey, his is a...
May 13, 2020•18 min•Ep. 210
Dramaturg and Seattle Opera Podcast host, Jonathan Dean has come back to the Classroom for this epic two-episode series about the bazillion operas based on the writing of the Russian author Alexander Pushkin. In part one, we talked all about who Pushkin was, painting a word picture of what a major impact his work had on...everything. In part two, learn about just some of the operas that Pushkin's work inspired! Also, please keep yourselves safe, and support your local arts organizations as you a...
Apr 02, 2020•38 min•Ep. 209
Weeell, we figured that right about now would be a great time to put out some new episodes of the podcast. We hope that all of you out there in the weirdness are staying nice and safe and quarantined, and that these episodes will be a tiny ray of indoor sunshine for you all. Dramaturg and Seattle Opera Podcast host, Jonathan Dean has come back to the Classroom for this epic two-episode series about the bazillion operas based on the writing of the Russian author Alexander Pushkin. Even though Pus...
Apr 02, 2020•19 min•Ep. 208
Violinist and Classical Classroom mascot Rachel Barton Pine is back to teach all about the violin concertos of Czech composer Antonin Dvorak and Soviet-Armenian Aram Khachaturian. Learn about their lives and music! Get lost with Dvorak in New York City! Hear about Khachaturian becoming a new father! Find out who threw shade at Dvorak and mucked up his whole concerto composing process, and how Khachaturian wrote his concerto in a blissed-out creative flurry. Also, learn about what makes "folk mus...
Jan 27, 2020•36 min•Ep. 207
No tickets to see The Nutcracker this year? No problem! Experience basically almost the entire thing in this episode from the Classroom Wayback Machine with musical expert Michael Remson (San Diego Youth Symphony, formerly of AFA ) and dance expert Shelly Power (Pennsylvania Ballet, formerly of Houston Ballet Academy). Hear the music and the story and learn all about the history of dance and behind the scenes tricks of the trade as you listen. It's like four levels of entertainment at once. Just...
Dec 23, 2019•40 min•Ep. 33
With Become Desert , composer John Luther Adams is done "Become"-ing (learn why in this episode). First, there was the Pulitzer- and Grammy-winning Become Ocean . Then, there was Become River . Finally, in 2019, Adams put his feet on solid ground, in a terrain he's much more comfortable with. And now there's Become Desert. Here, Adams talks about what the deceptively simple pieces of the Become trilogy are, both musically and conceptually, about Desert in particular, and about why music > pol...
Dec 04, 2019•38 min•Ep. 206
Conductor Nicholas McGegan, of San Francisco Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra fame (and so much more ) is an expert in conducting Baroque music. To some of us at the podcast, this sounds as obscure as being a modern day village cobbler or ironing one's hair with an actual iron. But in this episode, McGegan explains his love for this music and why it - and other kinds of music - will continue to be relevant for centuries to come. He illustrates his point by teaching about an opera by the composer R...
Nov 01, 2019•17 min•Ep. 205
Guitarist John Schneider is clearly obsessed. In the best, passionate-music-geek kind of way. And the thing is that the object of his obsession - Harry Partch and his work - just engenders that kind of response in people. It probably comes from the fact that Partch himself who was monomaniacally focused: he was so absorbed with the idea that music should be more than just the traditional twelve notes that he invented new musical notation, new notes, new instruments to play said notes, and new mu...
Sep 12, 2019•36 min•Ep. 204
Going to class is a major part of being a classical musician. But have you heard of a "master class"? One student at a time gets up and performs a piece in front of a class, and then the "master" leading the class critiques said performance. Sounds nerve-wracking (read: ...like the stuff of nightmares) to us. Gather 'round for this special assembly in which Classroom's first substitute teacher, Maggie Molloy , talks to Maestro Itzhak Perlman about the history and importance of the master class, ...
Jul 22, 2019•33 min
Jason Vieaux is not just a Grammy-winning classical guitarist - he's a pioneer, taking on new works that have never been performed or recorded before, like those of composer Jonathan Leshnoff . Leshnoff is an adventurer, too, writing virtuosic material for instruments he's never played, like the guitar. Find out how these fearless frontiersman find the fortitude to forge foreign... uh...how they make and play brand new stuff. The end. Special thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Far...
Jul 01, 2019•24 min•Ep. 203
In our second annual Classical Classroom Summer Music Festival Series, we hit the (sound)waves at the Music Academy of the West in sunny Santa Barbara, California! The third installment of our MAW series features composer, conductor, and pianist, Matthew Aucoin . Aucoin is a resident at that Music Academy of the West, and a sort of serial residentialist elsewhere (like the Peabody Essex Museum and soon, the Los Angeles Opera). He talks about what a "residency" is, and how it informs a composer's...
Jun 25, 2019•25 min•Ep. 137
There's a reason that great works in classical music have stuck around for so long. Once upon a time, it was all music composed by groundbreaking artists, churning out new sounds and ideas never heard before. But at some point, it's like someone somewhere decided that the canon was complete. Why? In this episode, National Orchestral Institute director Richard Scerbo and recent GRAMMY nominee/past winner David Alan Miller ( Albany Symphony Music Director) talk about the groundbreaking composers o...
Jun 17, 2019•40 min•Ep. 202
One of the distinguishing characteristics of chamber music is its inherent "democracy" – each part is of equal importance. Aaron Humble and Paul Rudoi of the Cantus Vocal Ensemble explain how it works when everyone involved in making the music is a special snowflake. Audio production by Todd "Sir Toddsalot" Hulslander with unflagging devotion to somethingerother by Dacia Clay. Music in this episode, all by Cantus: From A Harvest Home – "My Journey Yours" "How Can I Keep from Singing?" "The Pastu...
Jun 11, 2019•32 min•Ep. 75
There's a good chance that you've heard of Yale School of Music grad student and rising classical pianist, Tiffany Poon. Her YouTube vlogs have over 11 million views. In them, she talks casually with fans as she travels to gigs and invites them into the practice room. Her openness about her musical life and process has tapped into something for which fans are hungry. In this episode, Tiffany talks about Rachmaninoff 3 and about the community she created by prepping publicly for a performance of ...
Jun 03, 2019•37 min•Ep. 201
JoAnn Falletta is celebrating her 20th anniversary as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, so we've gotta give her a shout out with this old gold from the Classroom vault! By the way, did you know that a 2014 survey found that in a list of the 150 top conductors in the world, only five were women? New episode topic? --------- Who was Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and why does he have two last names? And why would a 19th century Russian composer write a symphonic poem based on a collec...
May 20, 2019•36 min•Ep. 84
It's been nearly six years since we started the Classical Classroom podcast in a small shed that also housed producer Todd's lawn mower. Since then, a lot has happened. We've learned so much from our amazing guests, traveled to music festivals, had parties and game show quizzes, talked to the dead, had trumpet lessons, and we moved into a storage unit behind KING FM in Seattle. Todd also got a new lawn mower. In this episode, we'll revisit some of our favorite moments from the last 200 episodes ...
May 13, 2019•35 min•Ep. 200
When you think of opera, words like "grandiose," "extravagant," and "whoa" come to mind. Those words all describe Georges Bizet's Carmen. Singing, dancing, costumes, sets, orchestras, fight scenes, wigs, drama! How on Earth does something with so many moving parts even get to the stage? Much less, successfully and entertainingly?! We wanted to know. And as it happens, the Seattle Opera was staging Carmen right down the street. So, we went on a field trip to see the show and - because we're us - ...
May 06, 2019•1 hr 8 min
We love celebrating our alumni here at Classical Classroom, and Jade Simmons is one of our faves. This episode is from way back in 2013 when Jade was merely a very successful woman. Now, she's the host of iTunes #1 music podcast, Decomposed . A podcast rock star. We couldn't be more stoked for her. And we're kind of riding on her coattails by posting this rerun. Just a little. -------------- Artists as entrepreneurs, Lady Gaga, horror movies, and Schubert! In this episode, concert pianist, autho...
Apr 27, 2019•32 min•Ep. 16
We're rerunning this episode with Awadagin Pratt basically because we felt like it. But we don't think you're going to mind, as he is awesome. Let his dulcet tones wash over you as Pratt teaches you all about why Brahms is one of the Big Daddies of classical music, what it has to do with Edith Bunker, and how the beard made it all possible. All music in this episode from Awadagin Pratt and Zuill Bailey's CD "Brahms Works For Cello And Piano". Audio production by Todd "Are You There Todd? It's Me...
Apr 22, 2019•37 min•Ep. 89
April is International Guitar Month! In honor of that, we're bringing back this episode with one of our fave guitarists, Valerie Hartzell, creator/director of the Classical Minds Festival and Competition . Valerie talks about the ladies of classical guitar. Who are they? Why did their numbers diminish over time? And what can we do about it?? Audio production by Todd "Not Tony Danza" Hulslander with editing by Mark DiClaudio and bossing by Dacia Clay. Music in this episode: "Valerie Loves Me," by...
Apr 15, 2019•34 min•Ep. 79
