Phillip Gainsley's Podcast

Episode 57: Libby Larsen, Grammy award winning composer, whose works are performed by orchestras around the world.

Episode 56: Robert Christianson: Composer, arranger, orchestrator. You'll recognize his work immediately

Episode 55: Francesca Zambello, director and administrator of opera, is beginning her final season at Glimmerglass, after breathing new life in it as a festival.

Episode 54: Ian Strasfogel was a member of the children's chorus at the Metropolitan Opera in its days on West 39th Street. He grew up a few blocks from Carnegie Hall. No wonder he enjoys a rich career in opera as a director and essayist. His father was a coach

Episode 53: Robert Israel has designed sets and costumes for over sixty productions in opera houses worldwide. His work has been exhibited at numerous museums and galleries, including the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Milwaukee Art Center, and Founda

Episode 52: Stephen Sondheim died on November 26, 2021. On November 14, 2002, he and I had a conversation at the Chicago Cultural Center, just before the Lyric Opera of Chicago's premiere of its production of "Sweeney Todd." It was an exciting and informative inte

Some time in the spring of 1970, after seeing the Broadway musical, “Company,” I wrote its composer/lyricist, Stephen Sondheim, simply to tell him how highly I thought of his show. That began 51 years of correspondence between us. I might write a letter of a few paragraphs and he would respond with a sentence. But what a sentence. Each word had meaning. And there nearly always was a response. In 1971, I mentioned to him how unfortunate it was that the original cast recording of “Follies” didn’t ...

Episode 51: Sonya Friedman is a pioneer in opera titling --- subtitles, surtitles and Emmy-nominated Met titles. Her career began as a translator of foreign films. She has produced award-winning television documentaries.

Episode 50: Universally acclaimed tenor Matthew Polenzani discusses his outstanding career at the Metropolitan Opera and elsewhere, his repertoire, his busy international travel and most important to him, his family.

Episode 49: The brilliant JoAnn Falletta talks about her career and her productive relationship with the esteemed Buffalo Philharmonic and the highly regarded Naxos Records

Episode 48: Producer/director Michael Brindisi, actor/singer Michelle Barber, and their daughter, actor/singer/dancer Cat Brindisi talk about their lives in music theater and their devotion to Chanhassen Dinner Theaters just outside of Minneapolis.