Classical Post® is created and produced by⁠⁠ ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠⁠⁠® LLC, a leading New York marketing agency serving the performing arts industry. Explore how we can⁠⁠ ⁠grow your audience⁠⁠⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Classical Post® is created and produced by⁠ ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠⁠® LLC, a leading New York marketing agency serving the performing arts industry. Explore how we can⁠ ⁠grow your audience⁠⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

For more than a year now, I've been obsessed with TÁR, the 2022 Todd Field film starring Cate Blanchett as an orchestral conductor whose power plays lead to her devastating downfall. Yes, the story is gripping and suspenseful, but it's the music interlaced throughout the film that keeps me coming back.

Aside from the two works performed in the film — Mahler's Fifth Symphony and Elgar's Cello Concerto — which were baked into Field's script, the music you hear throughout TÁR is the result of months of work by the film's music supervisor, Lucy Bright. A specialist in the arenas of film and television scoring, Bright has worked with some of today's biggest composers — including Nico Muhly, Michael Nyman, and Volker Bertelmann — on projects ranging from Assassin's Creed to Aftersun and The Iron Claw.

But what exactly does a music supervisor do on a film of this scale? Turns out, it's a lot. 

From working with a team of on-set sound engineers who specialize in recording symphony orchestras to developing the film's Deutsche Grammophon concept album and recreating Urbie Green's 1967 recording of "Twenty-one Trombones," Bright was kept busy managing countless aspects of the film's musical atmosphere across three countries.

In this episode of the Classical Post podcast, I speak with Bright about the expert levels of coordination and collaboration vital to her work, working with the Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir to realize Lydia Tár's compositions, and what it was like seeing Cate Blanchett raise a baton to conduct Mahler. Plus, she shares her fascinating history with modern architecture, her go-to burger place in New York City, and the therapeutic benefits of swimming in the natural springs of London's Hampstead Heath.

Stream TÁR (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture) on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or wherever you stream music.

-

Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.

Poetry has long served as a point of inspiration for classical composers. Just think of Beethoven's magnificent setting of Schiller's "Ode to Joy," Schubert's cinematic take on Goethe's "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel," or Ned Rorem's soulful songs based on the words of Frank O'Hara.

And now there's a new work to add to this storied tradition from composer Brian Raphael Nabors. In Upon Daybreak, premiered by the Berkeley Symphony in late 2022, Nabors turns to a poignant poem by the late Maya Angelou, "A Brave, Startling Truth." Rather than set the poem's text to music, however, Nabors distills Angelou's visionary call for a great "day of peacemaking" into a powerful orchestral work that imagines a utopian world without hatred or malice.

"In the poem, [Angelou] talks about all the chaos, war, and dystopia that come about from us being humans and destructive," Nabors says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "But also all the beauty that comes from humanity and what we're able to offer. It talks about this day when all this war mongering ends finally and we realize that the true wonders of the world are ourselves and life itself."

Commissioned by New Music USA as part of its Amplifying Voices program, Upon Daybreak has been performed by the Detroit Symphony, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra since its Berkeley premiere, and the work will make its way to the Seattle Symphony in 2024. 

In this episode, Nabors and I talk more about composing Upon Daybreak and what it was like working with the Berkeley Symphony's music director, Joseph Young, on a host of community engagement projects leading up to the premiere. Plus, he shares the important part his spiritual life plays in maintaining the energy to compose, how video games help him overcome creative blocks, and why skin care is always a top priority in his wellness routine.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.

There's an interesting dichotomy baked into the act of composing. Although the music that composers write reflects their own thoughts, emotions, and perspectives, they need to hand that music over to other people to bring it to life.

But for Andrew Bennett, a Canadian composer of experimental electronic music who records under the moniker Factor Eight, his own voice is the driving force behind his 2022 album, II. Although that was never Bennett's plan for the album — it proved to be a creative breakthrough.

"Throughout the creation of that record, I was also trying to create a sound that was entirely my own, something that felt more authentically me," Bennett says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "I didn't really set out to create music using only my voice, but when I look back it's sort of serendipitous that these things happened in tandem. There's a parallel in the album between my artistic sound and my personal story behind the record."

By manipulating the vocals using a raft of technologies, he created a vast, mystical soundscape that's profoundly personal to Bennett. The new album became an avenue for revealing his struggles with mental illness and raising awareness of the stigma around bipolar disorder. Mental health advocacy has always been part of Bennett's mission as an artist, and he is donating proceeds from digital sales of II to the Canadian Mental Health Association Saskatoon.

In this episode, Bennett and I talk more about the creation of the album, and how the process inspired him to continue using his voice as the primary canvas for his music. Plus, he shares how the act of collaboration fuels his creativity, why a Vitamix blender is the most important gadget in his kitchen, and the importance of the visual arts in his sound-based work.

Listen to II on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, or wherever you stream or download music.

— ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

When most people think of the pipe organ, they imagine its massive, majestic sound filling a large church during a wedding, funeral, or other Christian ceremonies.

But as I learned in my recent conversation with the Austrian concert organist Lukas Hasler, we can trace the instrument's roots to ancient Egypt, thousands of years before the birth of Christ. And despite their prevalence in the church, organs have also played an important role in secular life. In the 19th century, for example, people in small villages or those who couldn't afford concert tickets could only hear new music when it was transcribed and performed by a local organist. 

And for Hasler, bringing the organ back to the mainstream and helping people from all walks of life discover its beauty and expressive range has become a central component of his career.

"Everyone thinks the organ is just in churches, which of course is a truth," Hasler says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "On the other side, every time you walk into concert halls or listen to film music, the organ plays a major part. I really want to create an awareness of this instrument — and sometimes it really helps to transcribe very famous scores for the organ."

Hasler's ability to showcase the organ's remarkable versatility has made him a star on the rise. In addition to building a community of more than 80,000 fans on social media, he's performed in the opening ceremony of the Salzburg Festival, was the first touring classical musician to perform in Ukraine after the start of the Russian invasion, and his transcriptions of everything from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to the Super Mario Brothers theme have thrilled audiences across Europe and the U.S.

In this episode, Hasler and I talk more about the organ's evolution over time and his latest digital release — an astounding reading of Franz Liszt's virtuosic Fantasy and Fugue on Bach. Plus, he shares what made him recently pack up his life in Austria and head to sunny southern California, how architecture and fashion inspire his creativity, and the importance of hearing protection when the instrument you play is very, very loud.

Listen to Hasler's recording of Liszt's Fantasy and Fugue on Bach on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you stream music.

— ⁠⁠⁠ Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Anyone who's had the pleasure of seeing violinist Rachel Barton Pine perform live knows this is a musician who gives every performance her all. What many people will likely not know is how much that mesmerizing stage presence is informed and inspired by her love of heavy metal music.

"[In heavy metal], there's this 150% commitment to feeling the music and sharing it with the person farthest away in the venue," Pine shares on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "That's something I try to do whether I'm playing things that are really bombastic or things that are perfectly calm. ... For me, sharing is what it all comes down to — knowing that I've done everything I can to share the most music with the most people."

Sharing a lot of music with a lot of people has been a throughline of Pine's career. Besides performing the standards of the violin repertoire, Pine has made it her mission for more than two decades to shine a light on music by underrepresented composers. Last year she released the 25th anniversary edition of her seminal album, Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries — a collection of works for violin and orchestra by Florence Price, Joseph Bologne, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and José White Lafitte. 

The overwhelming response to that album — produced long before classical music's concerted push for more diverse programming — inspired her to launch the Music by Black Composers initiative in 2001, which has not only collected more than 900 works by 450 composers of African descent, but also produced a variety of free educational resources so music lovers of all ages can access this incredible music.

In this episode, Pine and I talk more about the album and the impact of historical discrimination on the violin repertoire. Plus, she shares how finding a sense of purpose as a violinist fuels her energy and creativity, that time she heard authentic tango music in Uruguay, and her favorite place in New York City for vegan Italian food.

Listen to Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries on Spotify, Apple Music, Idagio, or wherever you stream music.

—

Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.

No matter what line of business you're in, building a new enterprise from the ground up isn't for the faint of heart. From defining your mission to marketing, payroll, and growth strategies, there's a lot to consider — and a lot of opportunities to give up when the challenges feel insurmountable.

Conductor Luke McEndarfer encountered many of those moments in his early days leading the National Children's Chorus, where he's served as artistic director and CEO for 20 years. As he looked to expand the choir's reach beyond a handful of participants in Los Angeles, he hit a low point: needing to borrow money from his mother to pay the venue rental fee for an upcoming concert.

But giving up on the organization — and its talented young singers — was never an option, as McEndarfer shares on a new episode of the Classical Post podcast.

"At the end of my life, in the last minute or two that I'm here on this earth looking back, I would rather know I did everything I could to make this vision come true and failed, than to think I held something back and would never know what would have happened if I really went for it. So I'd rather fail than not give it my all and then never know."

To say McEndarfer's vision for the group has come to life would be an understatement. Under his leadership, the National Children's Chorus has become one of the leading children's choirs in the world, with more than 1,200 students across eight chapter cities performing concerts at leading venues around the globe every season. The ensemble won a 2022 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance and just released its first album, Illumine, which they recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra at the iconic Abbey Road Studios.

In this episode, McEndarfer and I talk more about his 20 years with the chorus and what's on the horizon for the ensemble in 2024. Plus, he shares the ways human connection inspires him to make music, how getting up early helps him hone his creativity, and why the best investment you can make in your life is a really good bed.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.

A postmodern take on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Yorgos Lanthimos's new film, Poor Things, sees the director exploring ideas of life and liberty in his uniquely surrealist way.

The movie revolves around Bella, played by Emma Stone, a woman in Victorian Britain brought back to life by Dr. Godwin Baxter, played by Willem Dafoe. Eager to learn more about the world around her, Bella sets off on a fantastical, globe-hopping adventure.

That theme of reanimation was central to composer Jerskin Fendrix while developing the film's score. Although he's primarily known as a singer, pianist, and songwriter active in South London's indie music scene, Fendrix's ability to merge his classical training with experimental approaches to music-making was a perfect fit for the world of Poor Things. 

To match the imaginative tone of Lanthimos's film, Jerskin spent time digitally processing and manipulating the voice of each instrument, ultimately transforming even the most familiar musical sounds into an unfamiliar, almost eerie listening experience.

"I was really interested in wind instruments and breath as a musical idea," Jerskin explains on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "Breath and life are inextricably tied up, so giving the impression of something which isn't sentient or alive replicating anything that is alive sets off a really primal, fear-based instinct, something which is preternaturally horrifying."

In this episode, Fendrix and I talk more about the creative process behind his Poor Things score. Plus, he shares a piece of writing advice from Kurt Vonnegut that helps him focus his work, the importance of emotional resonance in his music, and the street food scene he craves whenever he's in New York City.
Poor Things and the film's official soundtrack will be released on December 8, 2023. The first two singles, "Bella" and "Lisbon," are available wherever you stream music.

— ⁠⁠ Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.

The architecture world lost a giant when the distinguished Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly died earlier this year at the age of 78. For four decades, Viñoly led his global architecture firm to international renown, bringing to life everything from airports to hospitals, sports stadiums, and performing arts centers — including one very close to my heart, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center.

Having lived in the Philly area for many years prior to moving to New York, I've attended countless performances at the Kimmel Center. I've always been inspired by how the sprawling public space invites people to come together for drinks, conversation, and community even if you're not there for a concert. According to Viñoly's son Román, director of Rafael Viñoly Architects, creating vibrant social spaces was always part of his father's mission.

"He looked at his work as something that invariably had a profoundly civic dimension," Román says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "He recognized that buildings are very capital intensive, so he always found ways to leverage those enormous investments into developing public amenities — grand, inspiring spaces that people want to spend time in. That ethical approach permeates his work throughout the world."

Outside of architecture, Rafael Viñoly had another passion: classical music. So it's fitting that a concert paying tribute to the architect's life and legacy is taking place next week at Carnegie Hall — where for decades Viñoly attended several concerts every week. 

On November 28, two ensembles that perform in Viñoly-designed spaces — the Philadelphia Orchestra, under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Jazz at Lincoln Center's Isaiah J. Thompson Trio — will share the stage at Stern Auditorium with violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Jonathan Biss for an evening of music honoring Viñoly.
In this episode, Román and I talk more about his father's life, the work the Viñoly Foundation is doing to extend Rafael's legacy in architecture and the arts, and how the Carnegie concert also marks the first U.S. appearance of the Maene-Viñoly Concert Grand Piano — an innovative, ergonomically designed piano Rafael helped create.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠ Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.

For conductor and baritone Malcolm J. Merriweather, artistic inspiration has largely sprung from asking questions related to his identity. What role does his work as a Black musician play within the larger tapestry of music history? Who are the artists of the past who contributed to the legacy he's inherited today?

As director of the New York Philharmonic Chorus and music director of the Dessoff Choirs, Merriweather spends his days bringing to life great choral works from the Renaissance through the 21st century. But two composers — who happened to live 400 years apart — have proved his primary focus over the past several years: Margaret Bonds, a contributor to the Harlem Renaissance; and Vicente Lusitano, an Afro-Portuguese musician who's considered the first published Black composer.

Merriweather has led the Dessoff Choirs in performances of both composers' music, oftentimes programming their work alongside that of their contemporaries. Which, in the case of Lusitano, includes Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, and Giovanni Palestrina — who also happens to be an important figure in the ensemble's early history.

"It's part of the Dessoff Choirs' mission to bring underperformed and underrepresented music and composers to the concert stage," Merriweather says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "That's been part of our mission since our founding in 1924 by Margarete Dessoff, a German Jewish immigrant. At that time, she was bringing the music of Palestrina to this country, which had never been heard here."

In this episode, Merriweather and I talk more about his relationship to Margaret Bonds's music, and how his critically acclaimed recordings of her songs led him to London to hear Lusitano's works for the first time. Plus, he shares how the act of baking nourishes his mind and body, why he has to make his bed first thing in the morning, and his favorite restaurant in Harlem for American-Senagalese fusion cuisine.

—

⁠⁠⁠ Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.

As busy as composer Anna Clyne is this season — fulfilling commissions for new works and serving as a resident artist with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, and the Symphony Orchestra of Castilla y León — music accounts for a fraction of her artistic inspiration.

That's because the Grammy-nominated British composer thrives on incorporating many creative disciplines outside of music into her work. Reviewing a roster of her recent engagements, you'll find critically acclaimed collaborations with visual artist Josh Dorman, filmmaker Jyll Bradley, and choreographers from London's Royal Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet.

Clyne's immersive approach to music-making offers audiences new entry points for experiencing new music and understanding classical music's relationship to other branches of the arts. "Success for me is about reaching audiences," she says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "My role as a composer is to create something as beautiful as I can and to share that. When people come back with a piece that's been very moving for them, I feel I've been successful in sharing something with the world. That's a very humbling feeling."

In this conversation, we discuss her ongoing partnership with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, how a Mark Rothko painting inspired her orchestral work Color Field, and the ways a lifelong love of literature is helping her to write an opera on the life of Emily Dickinson. Plus, Clyne discusses her wellness practices — from drawing and Japanese calligraphy to long walks with her adopted pup Penny — the joy of ending a long day with a Negroni, and her favorite place for classic steak frites in New York City.

— ⁠⁠ Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.

Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a leading New York marketing agency serving the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

When most orchestras commission a new work, they usually ask the composer to produce music that fits on a standard concert program, like a 10-minute overture or a 45-minute symphony.

But when BBC Earth approached composers Adam Lukas and James Everingham — along with the two-time Oscar winner Hans Zimmer — to compose the score for its latest nature documentary series, Frozen Planet II, the show's producers needed six hours of music. Even for this trio of seasoned composers, that's a tall order to fill.

Besides creating a sonic universe to accompany Frozen Planet II's icy, snow-capped visuals, these composers had to help fulfill the show's core mission: introducing viewers not only to the daily lives of polar bears, penguins, and snow monkeys — but also the ways climate change is compounding the difficulties they face surviving in the coldest regions of the world.

"The series is tackling the issue of the climate crisis," Lukas says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "We knew we wanted to tell the stories of the animals in their habitats in a way that helps people connect with them and care about them in a genuine way. That's something Hans has spent his career being the best at."

In this episode, I sit down with Lukas and Everingham to discuss the process of creating the series's score — which involved more than 100 people working for three years while navigating lockdown restrictions. They also share stories about collaborating with the legendary Zimmer, the magical time they spent in the studio with the Norwegian singer-songwriter Aurora, and how they define success.

Frozen Planet II is available to stream in the U.S. on Prime Video, Vudu, and Apple TV.

—

Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.

Composer Steven Mackey has come a long way since his teenage years studying physics at the University of California, Davis, and learning blues-rock riffs on his guitar.

Today Mackey stands as a celebrated composer and electric guitarist whose work is regularly performed by orchestras around the world — including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony, and the Boston Symphony. He's taught composition at Princeton University for nearly 40 years and has served as a composer in residence at the Curtis Institute of Music, Tanglewood, and the Aspen Music Festival.

On his latest album, Beautiful Passing, Mackey brings together two works inspired by personal experiences that deeply informed his views on memory, life, and death: Mnemosyne’s Pool, which Musical America called "the first great American symphony of the 21st century"; and Beautiful Passing, a violin concerto Mackey composed after watching his mother pass away from cancer.

Despite the presence of death woven throughout both works, Mackey made sure to find moments for levity and humor in his music. "Part of death is a farewell to this joyous life and the energetic people my parents were," Mackey says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "There's a depth of emotion that music is really uniquely suited for. Where words are a struggle to come by, music bypasses those language centers and gives you a direct emotional response."

In this episode, we talk more about the new album, and Mackey shares the profoundly moving story of his mother's death and how it influenced Beautiful Passing's title. Plus, he discusses the parallels he sees between filmmaking, cooking, and composition, and his go-to spot for Italian food on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Listen to Beautiful Passing on Spotify, Apple Music, Idagio, or wherever you stream and download music.

—

⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.

After years spent touring the world with pop and jazz legends like Julio Iglesias and Babik Reinhardt, pianist Chad Lawson was hungry to find a more intimate avenue for his curiosity and creativity. So he began composing short, ethereal works for solo piano, several of which made their way onto his debut album, 2009's Set on a Hill.

Although he began composing as a way to find quiet calm after years on the road, Lawson quickly saw the effect his music had on people all over the globe. He received countless emails from listeners who had found in Lawson's album the solace they needed to deal with hardships in their personal lives. And in the 15 years since that flood of emails began, Lawson has grown a devoted fan base. His music has received more than 500 million streams, and every week 60,000 people listen to his podcast, Calm It Down.

On his most recent album, breathe, it's clear Lawson has forged a career that's less concerned with his popularity as an artist and more about helping people improve their emotional and mental health.

"breathe is meant to invite people to be OK with what we've been through — be it the last two years, the last two hours, the last two decades — and to find that place where we can kind of exhale everything we've been carrying with us that we no longer need," he says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast.

"It's not about Chad Lawson. It's about creating a platform that allows healing for people and what they're going through."

In this episode we talk more about the new album, and Lawson shares profound insights into the creative process behind his music. He also talks more about the marriage of music and mental health, the ways Transcendental Meditation helps him quiet his racing mind, and his favorite Brooklyn pastry shop for what he calls "the best donuts on the planet."

Listen to breathe wherever you stream or download music.

—

Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.

I'm always curious how many frequent flier miles composers rack up in a year. That's because, to hear a new work performed live, they need to travel to where the concerts are happening. And often times that's major cultural hubs like New York City, London, Berlin, or Tokyo.

But an inventive project from harpist Emily Levin is bringing composers much closer to their home turf. GroundWork(s), which Levin founded in 2022, is commissioning 52 composers — one from each of the 50 states, plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico — to write new works for the harp. But what makes GroundWork(s) unique is that each piece receives its premiere in the composer's hometown, showcasing the artistry of the composers in the cities that first inspired and supported them.

For the third GroundWork(s) commission, Levin tapped Puerto Rico–born composer Angélica Negrón, currently the composer-in-residence with the Dallas Symphony, where Levin is also the principal harp. Negrón's new work for violin, cello, harp, and electronics, Ave del paraíso, takes its inspiration from the Bird of Paradise and even includes field recordings of birds native to Puerto Rico. 

For Negrón, the GroundWork(s) project represents the first time she's received a premiere in her hometown of San Juan. In addition to having family and friends be among the first to hear a work of hers performed, Negrón also saw the premiere earlier this year as a unique opportunity to dissolve the borders often placed between musicians and the audience.

In this episode, I talk more with Levin and Negrón about how the San Juan premiere came together and what's next for GroundWork(s) in the coming months. Plus, Levin shares her fascinating strategy for engaging audiences with new music by putting the focus not on the music — but on the people involved in the creative process.

-

Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.

Few classical musicians have an IMDb page as extensive as composer-pianist Volker Bertelmann.

In addition to the experimental piano music he composes and performs under the moniker Hauschka, Bertelmann is one of the most prolific film composers at work today. Over the past 15 years, he's scored nearly 60 films and television shows — including titles featuring megawatt stars like Nicole Kidman and Benedict Cumberbatch.

But even with those credits, Bertelmann knew it would be difficult composing the score for Netflix's new World War I epic All Quiet on the Western Front. He would need to establish a musical atmosphere that could take viewers from the optimistic enthusiasm felt at the start of the war to the bleak despair experienced by millions of soldiers trapped in trenches on the front lines. Bertelmann was up for the challenge.

"My life philosophy is that your lifetime is there for you to grow," he says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "And you can only grow if you're challenged — finding solutions, another path. I'm a big fan of that. It keeps you flexible."

Bertelmann's work has certainly paid off. Earlier this year, he won the BAFTA Film Award for his score to All Quiet ..., and just last month he took home an Oscar for best original score.

In this episode — recorded before his trophy wins — we talk more about the development of his award-winning score and the ways modern dance and architecture inspire his creativity. Plus, Bertelmann shares the facial toner he can't live without and his favorite Manhattan restaurant for, interestingly enough, Shaker-inspired early American cuisine.

—

⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Pianist Zsolt Bognár had a light-bulb moment while building his first artist website in 2012. What if, instead of short clips of his performances — something every pianist publishes on their website — he interviewed his musician friends about their craft and careers?

Inspired by Bognár's love for Bravo's Inside the Actor's Studio, the first iteration of the web series that would become Living the Classical Life was born. And more than a decade later, it has grown into an incredibly popular, award-winning show that's featured the best of the best in the classical music world.

With more than three million views on YouTube alone, Bognár's in-depth conversations with the likes of Daniil Trifonov, Yuja Wang, Joyce DiDonato, Lisa Batiashvilli, and Susanna Mällki illuminate the inner world of classical musicians — revealing the passions, fears, and rewards that fuel their lives in music.

To find success in today's content-saturated landscape, Bognár knew he would need to build a network of like-minded professionals who could support his vision for Living the Classical Life not only as a creative outlet, but as a business venture. That's a perspective he hopes to impart on anyone seeking advice on launching a new project.

"Seek out people who you are really on the same wavelength with," Bognár shares on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast, "or you may not have the same values that can connect you with others you'll resonate with. This is a world of business, as much as we don't like to think in those terms. Identify the people whose qualities you trust."

In this episode, Bognár and I talk more about the early days of Living the Classical Life — when it was simply called Zsolt Bognár and Friends — as well as the mix of hard work, luck, and opportunity that helped the show take off, and the importance of strategic introductions, no matter your industry.

Full disclosure: I have a very close relationship with Living the Classical Life. I'm a member of the Board of Directors and have regularly advised Bognár on the show's branding, outreach, and marketing over the past 10 years. It's been my absolute pleasure to see how Living the Classical Life has grown over the past decade, and I hope this deep dive into the show's evolution inspires you in your own creative journeys.

—

⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

After more than two decades as one of New York City's busiest freelance oboists, James Roe decided to pivot his career.

He packed up his oboe case, reed knife, and metronome to take on leadership positions at two of the ensembles he had regularly performed with. First he spent two years as president and CEO of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, before moving into his current role as president and executive director of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, where he's been since 2015.

How did 25 years of performing in symphony orchestras prepare him to lead one himself? For Roe, his seat in the oboe section gave him a strategic vantage point — one that allowed him to see thousands of concerts play out on the faces of audience members in real time.

"You could see when something was hitting, that look in someone's eye that meant the music was meaningful to them," Roe says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "I've taken that into my leadership role because it shows that, as musicians and musical organizations, our mission is not fulfilled on stage — that's only the beginning. The mission is fulfilled in the hearts, minds, ears, and spirits of people in the audience."

At the helm of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Roe oversees more than 70 concerts per season in 20 venues across New York City, as well as a host of education and community programs that help make classical music more accessible for every New Yorker. And through it all, Roe's guiding principle is to ensure "the audience is the focus of everything we do."

In this episode, we talk more about the Orchestra of St. Luke's current season — including the Carnegie Hall premiere of Florence Price's Piano Quintet with Marc-André Hamelin and the third year of the ensemble's DeGaetano Composition Institute, where three emerging composers work with composer-mentor Anna Clyne on new pieces to be premiered by OSL.

Plus, Roe shares how reading during his daily commute supports his well-being, the inspiration he gets from the "wonderful crackle of anticipation" before a concert begins, and his favorite Manhattan restaurant when he's craving Basque cuisine.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

In business, marketing strategies often revolve around defining your ideal customer. What specific interests and demographics do they represent? The more specific you are in your targeting, the better.

But Time for Three proves just how wrong that approach to building an audience can be. Performing their unique blend of Americana, modern pop, and classical music, the acclaimed string trio has grown a large fan base that defies demographics — people who are just as likely to listen to Brahms as bluegrass and the Beatles.

And now the members of Time for Three — violinists Charles Yang and Nick Kendall and bassist Ranaan Meyer — are celebrating their latest achievement: a Grammy Award for Letters for the Future, the Deutsche Grammophon album they recorded last year with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

For Yang, the nominations carry a comforting sense of validation. "As a group as eclectic, and unique, and weird as we are, we've had to swim upstream at times in this industry. So this was a nice way of saying, finally: What we're doing is right, and we went with our heart."

In this episode of the Classical Post podcast, the members of Time for Three and I talk more about the album and the Olympic training mindset that helped them thrive while recording Letters for the Future in Philly. Plus, they share how therapy sessions can often serve as creative sessions and their picks for the best Thai and Japanese food in Manhattan.

Listen to Letters for the Future on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream and download music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

When British saxophonist Jess Gillam refers to her Carnegie Hall debut as "a real dream come true," she's being literal. Since the age of 12, she's dreamt of taking to New York City's fabled stage and sharing her passion for the saxophone with the audience.

Gillam's dream became reality in October, when she and pianist Thomas Weaver performed a wide-ranging program of music — from Telemann and John Dowland to Meredith Monk and Barbara Thompson — at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall. For Gillam, it was important that her program not only reflected the capabilities of her instrument, but also allowed her to forge meaningful connections with the audience.

"It's important for me to play music that I really resonate with, music that really speaks to me so that I can tell the story well and share that story with the audience," Gillam says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "That was my main aim last night — to create an atmosphere and a place for the audience to exist."

That insatiable drive to share her excitement about classical music has led to a bevy of remarkable opportunities and honors. At just 24 years old, Gillam remains the youngest presenter to host a BBC Radio 3 program — the wildly popular This Classical Life — and in 2018 she was a soloist at the Last Night of the Proms, perhaps the biggest and most prestigious event in British classical music. She was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her service to British music and was the first saxophonist to be signed to Decca Classics. And her debut album, Rise, hit the top spot on the UK Classical chart in 2019.

In this episode, Gillam and I talk more about her Carnegie debut and the projects she has lined up for 2023 — including the premiere of a new concerto written for her by Anna Clyne, which she'll perform with the Detroit Symphony. Plus, she shares how film, fashion, and nature fuel her creativity, her fanatical love of Nairn's oatcakes, and why there's nothing more important to her than "being as kind as possible."

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Few careers in classical music read as illustriously as that of pianist Wu Han. For more than 50 years, her life has centered around the concert stage, delivering performances of the highest caliber in nearly every corner of the globe.

She once viewed that jet-setting lifestyle as a symbol of success earlier in her career. But these days, in her work as artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Music@Menlo, La Musica Chamber Music Festival, and the Society of the Four Arts, Wu Han's mission is to develop the next generation of classical musicians.

"Every time I hear young people with a new idea they're trying to explore, it reminds me of myself when I was their age," Wu Han says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "It really makes me feel the responsibility and the inspiration to want to move this art form forward. The next generation, their devotion and love for classical music, is where I find a lot of inspiration."

That drive to create incredible performance opportunities for young musicians is clear when looking at the artist roster for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Winter Festival. Over the course of five concerts exploring the music and profound legacy of Franz Schubert, a mix of seasoned performers and rising stars will share the stage — including pianist Gilbert Kalish, violist Paul Neubauer, singers Joélle Harvey and Nikolay Borchev, and the Escher String Quartet.

In this episode, Wu Han and I talk more about the Winter Festival and her unique approach to programming and artist curation. Plus, she shares how ballet and the art of Renaissance Italy inspire her creativity, her favorite place in New York City's Chinatown for Cantonese fried crab, and the very important role bacon plays in her household.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠⁠⁠Gold Sound Media⁠⁠⁠® LLC, a leading New York marketing agency serving the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠⁠⁠grow your audience⁠⁠⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

1983 proved a pivotal year in violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky's life. That was the year the Azerbaijan-born musician became a U.S. citizen, married his wife, and bought the Stradivarius violin he still plays to this day. It was also the year he discovered Glenn Gould's final recording of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations.

That album inspired Sitkovetsky to arrange the Baroque keyboard masterpiece for string orchestra — a project that would forever change the trajectory of his career as a musical artist.

"My transcription gave me a whole other life parallel to my performing career," Sitkovetsky says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "I'm the fourth generation of professional musicians [in my family], so it was pretty much determined I should play violin and become a concert artist. But that year changed that a great deal. I diversified."

Now, 40 years later, Sitkovetsky has become a multi-hyphenate to the nth degree. In addition to his work as a solo violinist and transcriber, he's a sought-after conductor, music director, and educator; founder of the New European Strings Chamber Orchestra; and host of Medici.tv's interview series It Ain't Necessarily So — where he's sat down with some of the greatest musicians of our time, including Yefim Bronfman, Barbara Hendricks, and Sir Neville Marriner.

In this episode, we discuss how being a student of history informs Sitkovetsky's music-making and what's in store for his final season as music director of the Greensboro Symphony, an ensemble he's led for 20 years. Plus, he shares the earphones he can't live without while traveling, his favorite New York City restaurant for feasting on sturgeon and caviar, and how he sees his career as being "a keeper of the flame" for classical music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

From dinosaurs dancing to The Rite of Spring in Disney's Fantasia to a tuxedoed Bugs Bunny performing Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody, classic cartoons have long been a delightful entry point for kids of all ages to get to know classical music.

That's a tradition composer and jazz pianist Joel Pierson is breathing new life into as artistic director of The Queen's Cartoonists. Working at the crossroads of classical music, jazz, and the golden age of animation, The Queen's Cartoonists perform the scores of classic animated films from around the world, perfectly synchronizing their brilliant jazz-band arrangements with the films projected on stage.

Winning audiences over with their madcap humor and a musical palette that mixes Rossini and Strauss with Carl Stalling and Raymond Scott, the ensemble has sold out venues from the Blue Note Jazz Club to the Konzerthaus Berlin. For Pierson, the group's mission is simply to show that anyone can discover a love for classical music and jazz, given the right introduction.

"I always say we're essentially tricking people into liking classical music and jazz," Pierson says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "Of course we're playing a lot of [that] music, but that's not really how you get people in. The hook is that this is a bunch of animated films with a highly synchronized live performance by some excellent New York musicians, and people really like that."

In this episode, we talk more about Pierson's process for arranging the wide variety of music The Queen's Cartoonists performs, and he gives us a sneak peek at the group's latest project — a wildly inventive reimagining of Mozart's Requiem. Plus, he shares how travel fuels his creativity, his favorite basement beer bar in New York City, and why a bidet attachment is truly, in his words, "a life-changer."

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

The Spanish pianist Javier Perianes is racking up quite a lot of frequent flyer miles these days.

This season alone, his concert schedule has him zigzagging the globe to perform with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Dallas Symphony here in the States, Europe's Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic, and a whirlwind trip to Australia for concerts with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, among many other engagements.

And while the thrill of making music with friends and colleagues around the world is a key driver for Perianes's career, his extensive travels also provide a key element that fuels his creativity: new life experiences.

"When you're with a piece, you have big emotional landscapes — death, pain, suffering, hope, joy," Perianes shares on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "Where can you get all those feelings to convey? You can't get that from others' lives. You can't imitate them. You have to have them deep inside you."

That authentic approach to performance has served Perianes well. A prolific recording artist, he's released 20 critically acclaimed albums on the Harmonia Mundi label — and he's performed with many of today's leading conductors, including Gustavo Dudamel, Klaus Mäkelä, Daniel Barenboim, and Vladimir Jurowski.

Next up for Perianes are three performances of Saint-Saëns's Fifth Piano Concerto — also known as "The Egyptian" — with the LA Phil and conductor Gustavo Gimeno. In this episode, we talk more about how he's preparing the Saint-Saëns concerto and what he hopes audiences in Los Angeles will enjoy about this seldom-heard work.

Plus, Perianes shares how short siestas and long walks to work are part of his wellness routine, the Manhattan restaurants he seeks out whenever he's performing in New York, and how defining success for him is simply to "Do what you love."

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

In early 2012, the coloratura soprano Marie-Eve Munger received an offer every opera singer dreams of — a lead role in a Mozart opera.

But there was a catch. It wasn't a role in Don Giovanni, or The Marriage of Figaro, or any of the popular Mozart operas performed every season across the globe. The opera was Il sogno di Scipione, which Mozart wrote when he was just 16 years old.

Munger had never heard of the opera before, but learning and performing it that year piqued her curiosity. How could Mozart write a compelling theatrical work like this at such a young age? And why was no one performing this music?

Now, a decade later, that interest in exploring Mozart's early operas has blossomed into a new album from the French-Canadian soprano, Maestrino Mozart — a program of rarely heard arias Mozart composed between the ages of 10 and 16, which Munger performs with Les Boréades de Montréal under the baton of Philippe Bourque.

"What I discovered in Il sogno di Scipione were incredible moments of musical depth and dramatic sense, an incredible mastery of the bel canto," Munger says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "Even at that early age, he was able to really capture the essence of what it is to be human."

Over the course of the 12 arias featured on Maestrino Mozart, Munger shows us how the popular assumption that Mozart's earliest works are too simple or juvenile is just not the case. In these teenage works, one can clearly hear the maturity the composer would develop over the next 20 years.

"[This music] sheds an interesting light on his later works as well. You can hear the seeds of Giovanni. You can hear the seeds of the Queen of the Night and Pamina. All of that is really in there already, and you can hear it. It's a very interesting way to rediscover a composer we think we know."

In this discussion, we talk more about the new album and the parallels Munger sees between performing classical music and gastronomy. Plus, she shares how her yoga practice helps her cultivate her voice, the iPad app that's transformed her life as a traveling musician, and her pick for the best burger joint in New York City.

Listen to Maestrino Mozart on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you download or stream music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

For violinist Hilary Hahn, finding success as an international soloist has never been about sticking to the same menu of concertos by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Sibelius. Now in the fourth decade of her storied career, the three-time Grammy Award winner has consistently worked to expand the scope of the violin canon — commissioning a slate of new works from composers like Edgar Meyer, Jennifer Higdon, and Lera Auerbach.

But on Eclipse, her latest release on Deutsche Grammophon, the centerpiece of the album isn't a work written for her. In fact, it's not even by a living composer. It's the violin concerto of Alberto Ginastera — a work that's seldom performed, and one Hahn immediately fell in love with when she first heard it years ago. Ever since then, she knew she had to record it.

"It felt like one of those pieces I needed to take on for my own reasons, but also that it wasn't played very much," Hahn says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "I was enamored with the work, felt like it was written for me, even though I never met the composer. It's exactly what I like to dive into emotionally in music, and it requires a very specific relationship to the instrument that I feel is a strength of mine."

Part of the reason Hahn was eager to record the work was not only the chance to add to the concerto's story with her performance — but also to allow everyone who listens to contribute their personal perspective to the work.

"Music is a way to connect you with your own experience. As a listener, you are part of the interpretation of that music's history. When you listen to a piece, you add to the diversity of stories that it tells, just by being present in its space."

In this discussion, we talk more about Eclipse and why another work on the album, Dvořák's Violin Concerto, deserves much more time in the spotlight as well. Plus, she shares how her wellness routine is all about tuning into the daily ebb and flow of her body, and the facial massage stone that helps her undo the neck and jaw tension that comes with years of playing the violin.

Listen to Eclipse on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream and download music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Conductor Gary Thor Wedow has often found inspiration for his music-making in the visual arts. But a recent visit to an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art gave Wedow, a specialist in Baroque opera, an altogether new view of ancient Greek and Roman art — and early music.

"We used to think all Classical Greek and Roman statues were all virginally white marble," Wedow says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "But [historians] have learned that most of them were painted with a bright array of colors, which made me think so much about early music. We used to think of it as something remote, restrained, but now I feel as performers we have to find more colors and more variety."

Wedow will soon have ample opportunity to find colors and chiaroscuro — strong contrasts between light and dark — in Handel's seldom-performed opera Atalanta. Beginning on November 9, Wedow leads singers from the Juilliard Opera and the school's period-instrument ensemble, Juilliard415, in three performances of this delightful but seldom-performed work. A mythological opera written in 1736 to celebrate the wedding of England's Prince of Wales, Wedow likens Atalanta's plot to that of Hallmark Channel rom-coms, filled with comical misunderstandings, love at first sight — and a whole lot of sunny, exuberant music.

In this episode, Wedow talks more about the joy of working with young artists at Juilliard, where he serves on the Vocal Arts faculty, and how he sees the role of a conductor as "bringing the ship safely into harbor through a storm."

Plus, he shares a slew of recommendations for exploring the Queens borough of New York City — from his favorite spots for Mexican, Japanese, and eastern European food, to drinks at the Museum of the Moving Image and a trip to the grave of Mozart's notorious librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Many classical music ensembles have only recently begun to prioritize programming works by underrepresented composers who've been unjustly lost to the sands of time. But for 20 years and counting, that's been the sole focus and mission of the ARC Ensemble and its artistic director, Simon Wynberg.

The ensemble-in-residence at Toronto's Royal Conservatory, the ARC Ensemble is among Canada's most distinguished cultural ambassadors. And since day one, its musicians and leadership have been dedicated to presenting the work of composers suppressed and marginalized under the 20th century's repressive regimes — an overwhelming mountain of music still waiting to be rediscovered.

"The thing I've taken back from all the work we've done is how much music there is to explore," Wynberg says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "All of these chamber works are there, waiting for someone with a bit of imagination — and some financial backing, too — to put these things together. There's really just a huge amount of unknown music which deserves to be incorporated."

The Grammy-nominated ARC Ensemble's latest album in its acclaimed Music in Exile series on Chandos Records shines a light on the chamber music of Alberto Hemsi, a composer and ethnomusicologist whose "whole identity was one of exile," Wynberg shares. A Sephardic Jew born in the Ottoman Empire and musically trained in Italy, Hemsi was forced into political exile multiple times throughout his lifetime. And according to Wynberg, that regular immersion in new cultures — albeit not by choice — forced Hemsi to reinvent himself as an artist, resulting in music of incredible depth and variety.

"He operated entirely outside of the European tradition. As a Sephardic Jew, he was inspired by the traditional Jewish melodies he collected, and then he infused his works with that music. So you get this astonishing new sound in a way. It's extraordinary."

In this episode, we talk more about the ARC Ensemble's unique mission and take a deeper dive into the lives of Hemsi as well as two composers recently profiled in the group's Music in Exile series: the Ukrainian nationalist Dmitri Klebanov, and Walter Kaufmann, who became a celebrated scholar of Indian classic music after fleeing to modern-day Mumbai from Nazi Germany.

Listen to Music in Exile, Vol. 5: Works by Alberto Hemsi on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream or download music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

French-Canadian baritone Etienne Dupuis is a big fan of television, especially Ted Lasso. So much so that he's adapted a key phrase from the comedy-meets-philosophy series — "Football is life!" — as a mantra to stoke people's interest in opera.

"Now I always say, 'Opera is life!'" Dupuis shares on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "Bohème, Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro, they just feel so close to life sometimes. Opera allows us to emotionally connect together."

For Dupuis, building a larger fan base for opera means showing people that a night at the opera isn't about wearing the fanciest dress or worrying about clapping at a "wrong" moment — it's about taking part in a shared emotional experience.

"If you're so sad that you're in tears or so happy and elated that you want to stand up and clap and yell bravo, it's noble to feel that way, it's part of the experience. I always say opera should be as close to the human experience as it can be."

In this discussion, Dupuis talks more about how opera can return to its 17th-century roots as a relaxed social event everyone could enjoy, and what's on tap for him this season — including singing the title role in John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer with the composer himself on the podium. Plus, he shares the ways brainstorming and synergy can lead to creative breakthroughs, why Fisherman's Friend lozenges are in fact a singer's best friend, and where to find the best pork buns in New York City.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

The life of composer Robot Koch is a study in contrasts.

Raised in the same area of Germany as the Brothers Grimm — with its foggy forests and medieval castles — he now lives among the sunny splendor of Los Angeles. And although Koch leads a monk-like spiritual practice of yoga, meditation, and pranayama breathwork, he relies on digital technologies to produce the lush, atmospheric sounds of his electronic music.

That unique perspective — balancing ancient tradition with modern innovation, spirituality with science — lies at the heart of Koch's new album, The Next Billion Years (Foam and Sand Reworks). An ambient reimagining of the orchestral songs Koch originally released in 2020, the album is a testament to Koch's evolution as an artist and the many ways we can engage with music.

"I like to experience all aspects of how sound can be portrayed and presented, and let the audience experience it in different ways," he says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "Be it with eyes closed listening to a Dolby Atmos mix on headphones, or at a planetarium show, or in a philharmonic venue, I think there's not just one way music can be or should be experienced."

Koch's approach to making music is clearly resonating with listeners across the globe. His music has been streamed more than 75 million times and can be heard on numerous films and television shows — including Netflix's hit series You, ABC's How to Get Away With Murder, and Amazon's We Children from Bahnhof Zoo.

In this discussion, we talk more about the new album, and how discovering a speech by the French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau on a second-hand cassette tape inspired him to create an album exploring the long-term future of humanity. Plus, Koch shares how his daily meditation practice makes him feel like he gets to live two days in one, his fascination with quantum physics and cosmic consciousness, and his favorite breakfast spot in New York City's East Village.

Listen to The Next Billion Years (Foam and Sand Reworks) on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream and download music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Icelandic composer Gabríel Ólafs has become a poster child for the German term wunderkind. At age 14, he wrote the song that landed him his first record deal. At 19, he released his debut album, Absent Minded, which has been streamed millions of times.

Now 23, Ólafs is celebrating two massive achievements. Earlier this year, he co-founded the Reykjavík Recording Orchestra, Iceland's first dedicated studio orchestra, which has recorded music for Netflix, Apple TV, and Deutsche Grammophon. And this summer he released Solon Islandus, his major-label U.S. debut on Decca Records.

With its visual aesthetic inspired by film, fashion, and photography, Solon Islandus brings to mind another German term: Gesamtkunstwerk, or "total work of art." For Ólafs, every project has to consider musical and visual aesthetics in equal measure.

"I take a directorial approach, so as I begin a new project I like to have the visuals from the get-go," Ólafs says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "The visual side, for me personally, is an essential part of the whole project. I don't look at it as, 'I have this music and now I need to take a couple of photos.' It's 50-50."

From the fascinating variety of instrumental colors Ólafs creates, to the album's film-noir cover and the stunning music video for its title track — featuring members of the Iceland Dance Company and fashion from Iris Van Herpen — Solon Islandus is an incredible release that positions Ólafs as one of the most important musicians to watch today.

In this discussion, we talk more about the new album and how his first job in a recording studio sparked his obsession with the recording process. Plus, he shares how daily soaks in a geothermal hot tub stimulate his creativity, and why a perfect day in Reykjavík should involve soup, a soak, lots of licorice, and late-night house music.

Listen to Solon Islandus on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream or download music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠⁠Gold Sound Media⁠⁠® LLC, a leading New York marketing agency serving the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠⁠grow your audience⁠⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

The idea of preservation is on tenor Timothy Fallon's mind a lot lately. He recently bought a house in New England that dates to 1740 — which, he's quick to point out, means Bach was still alive when the house was built.

And away from the renovations he's managing to preserve the charm of his new abode, Fallon — who will spend the next two seasons as a house singer with Vienna's Volksoper — has been thinking about the role of preservation in music-making. This summer he released Crepuscolo, a new album of art songs by Ottorino Respighi that Fallon recorded with Ammiel Bushakevitz, his longtime recital partner.

Although the Italian composer is popular for big orchestral works like Pines of Rome, performances of his songs are extremely rare. Connecting new listeners with the array of colors and emotions these songs convey appealed greatly to Fallon and Bushakevitz.

"Does the market need another Schubert album from someone who's not so well known?" Fallon says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "We thought this could be a preservation project, because Respighi's songs aren't widely recorded. I found it very inspiring to try to make an album that could be a reference for other people in the future, to go and listen to this music in one place."

In this discussion, we talk more about the new album, the recording process, and how the project served as a musical lifeline for Fallon at the height of the pandemic. Plus, he shares how being a nosy person is a good thing for musicians, why his house always needs a box of Malden sea salt on hand, and his go-to spots for martinis, dumplings, and sesame pancake sandwiches in New York City.

Listen to Crepuscolo on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream and download music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

When most musicians join me to record the Classical Post podcast, they need a few minutes to settle in. This makes sense — whether they're an instrumentalist, singer, or composer, they're used to communicating through a medium outside of their speaking voice. So it can take some time to shake off the nerves.

But the moment I sat down with pianist Klaudia Kudełko to discuss her stunning debut album, Time, she was fired up and ready to dive into her personal artistic mission: to connect people with classical music.

"It's made such a huge impact on my life, and I would love to share it with more and more people," Kudełko shares at the top of the podcast's latest episode. "Even if they don't know classical music but they're open to it — I'm very happy to introduce them."

In many ways, that desire to connect and make introductions positions Los Angeles as the perfect home for this emerging star of the piano world. It's a cultural powerhouse of a city that thrives on networking and knowing the right people. But Kudełko doesn't want to just introduce people to the likes of Schubert, Chopin, and Grazyna Bacewicz — the three composers she performs on Time — she wants to show people how relevant their music is to the lives we lead today.

Take Chopin's "Revolutionary" Etude, which Kudełko recorded as a dramatic music video that's received more than 514,000 views since its release on May 31. Written in 1831 after the bombing of Warsaw by Russian military forces, the blisteringly intense work held many parallels to the conflict in Ukraine when Kudełko filmed the video weeks after the invasion began.

"I felt like it was very important to release that and record it in that moment. Given the circumstances of the new times, we can really interpret it in a relevant way — in this case, very painfully relevant. Even though it's a very popular piece, it still means a lot."

In this discussion, Kudełko and I talk more about the creation of her debut album, the ways ballet and fashion inspire her work, and how yoga has helped her overcome post-performance insomnia. Plus, she shares her favorite spot in Beverly Hills for truffle ravioli and the Tom Ford perfume that can immediately transport her to Italy's Amalfi Coast.

Listen to Time wherever you stream or download music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

With composition titles like In the Cause of the Free, Ellis Island: The Dream of America, and Balance of Power, it's easy to tell Peter Boyer has more than a casual interest in American history. In fact, it's something that's inspired him throughout his career.

But the Grammy Award-nominated composer-conductor isn't merely looking to memorialize America's past — he wants his music to connect with people today, and make a meaningful contribution to the musical legacy of the United States.

"There is an American sound in an orchestra that a composer who is American can attempt to deliver," Boyer says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast.

"There is a tradition or a legacy that one can hear in the music of composers who preceded me that I think is evident in [my] music. Hopefully there's a tangible connection to that American symphonic tradition that comes through when one hears this music. That is the hope."

Although Boyer speaks with bashful humility about his work, it's clear his desire to connect with today's listeners has become a reality. One of the most frequently performed American orchestral composers, Boyer's music has been performed more than 600 times by 200-plus orchestras around the world. Ellis Island alone has received 250 performances, including a filmed concert broadcast nationwide on PBS's Great Performances series.

And his latest album for Naxos American Classics, Peter Boyer: Balance of Power, represents a new contribution to the American symphonic tradition. Featuring Boyer on the podium leading the London Symphony Orchestra, the album showcases eight of his most recent orchestral works, including Fanfare for Tomorrow, which was commissioned for President Biden's 2021 inauguration.

In this episode, we talk more about the new Naxos album and what it takes for Boyer to put self-criticism aside and send a new work into the world. Plus, he shares his lifelong love for English Breakfast tea, the best place in LA for classic Italian food, and what it was like writing a "humorous symphony" for Henry Kissinger.

Listen to Peter Boyer: Balance of Power wherever you stream or download music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

The cover art for most classical albums usually relies on a glamorous studio shot of the artist or a generically tranquil landscape that hardly relates to the music we're about to experience.

But that's not at all the case on the cover of The Strange Highway, the debut album from composer Gity Razaz. A pencil and ink drawing depicting a cloaked figure with an arrow through the heart, whose head is a series of celestial orbs and auras, this artwork from Daniel Martin Diaz not only draws us in — it perfectly captures Razaz's sound world, one inspired by the Surrealism art movement of the early 20th century.

"I am a visual person, and my music has a tendency to be visual," Razaz says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "My current obsession is Remedios Varo — her works unfold over broader, mystical, and metaphysical realms."

And like Varo and her fellow Surrealists, who balanced rational takes on everyday life with fantastical elements rooted in the dreams and nightmares of the subconscious mind, Razaz's compositions find her translating her intellectual and metaphysical curiosities into vivid, incredibly gripping music.

"I usually write visceral music that's dramatically supercharged and energetic, but I also try to balance that with some lyricism and mystery. I feel it's a byproduct of living in our time, where there's this sense of being disconnected from reality. I feel like my music attempts to bring some peace and connection to reality, to the present."

In this conversation, we discuss more about her BIS Records album, which brings together a wide variety of work she's composed over 15 years. Plus, she shares the prebiotic/probiotic powder that helps her jumpstart her mornings, how finding inspiration is as simple as watching her three-year-old daughter at play, and her go-to place for incredible oysters and martinis in New York City.

Listen to The Strange Highway wherever you stream or download music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

The savviest arts administrators know that putting a concert season together is more than programming popular repertoire or bringing big-name soloists to town. For Jeremy Geffen, executive and artistic director of Cal Performances at UC Berkeley, bringing to life all of the organization's artistic and educational activities — about 80 events per season — centers around ideas of building and serving communities across the Bay Area.

Since arriving on the Berkeley campus in 2019 — and during his 12-year tenure as senior director and artistic adviser of Carnegie Hall — Geffen has worked tirelessly to transform the people he serves through the power of the performing arts. That means, first and foremost, making introductions to emerging artists whose new ideas can spark meaningful conversations.

"Who you choose to present is what defines you as a presenter," Geffen says in the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "The bigger risk [for presenters], and where one demonstrates the level of connection to one's community, is determining which artists to introduce — artists who are at the beginnings of their careers or may not have had exposure in the Bay Area."

As Geffen points out, even the biggest artists with the longest relationships with Cal Performances — including Yo-Yo Ma, Jordi Savall, and the Mark Morris Dance Group — weren't always stars. When they were just starting out, it was Cal Performances that helped to give them a toehold. And Geffen sees fostering growth in the artistic powerhouses of tomorrow as one of the most gratifying aspects of his role.

"If you demonstrate confidence in someone, more often than not that confidence will be reciprocated and expectations will be exceeded. It gives me great gratification to watch artists I saw something in early on grow into their full potential."

In this conversation, we discuss Cal Performances' upcoming season and how its marquee Illuminations series will explore technology's many roles in creative expression and human communication. Plus, he opens up about why he sees classical music as "a type of regenerative spiritual health," how therapy has helped him tap into the creativity of the subconscious mind, and why he heads to Manhattan's East Village when it's time to celebrate with sake in New York City.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Some classical musicians choose to follow a specific lane throughout their career, either as an orchestral musician, a chamber player, or a concert soloist. But Stewart Goodyear can't confine his career to one lane — he demands an entire highway.

As a concert pianist, composer, arranger, and improviser, Goodyear has built one of the most multifaceted careers of any musician today. His recitals thoughtfully place works of Debussy and Liszt next to his own compositions and new pieces from Jennifer Higdon and Anthony Davis. And his ever-expanding discography shows incredible depth — from the complete concertos of Beethoven to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Goodyear's transcription of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker.

This eclectic approach to music-making is the result of an artist who finds inspiration in everything life has to offer. "The more I'm not boxed in, the more there's room to create and think outside that box," Goodyear says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast.

In this conversation, we discuss the many exciting projects on the horizon this season — including his second year as the inaugural Artist in Residence at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music, the world premiere of his Piano Concerto with the Grammy Award-winning Albany Symphony Orchestra, and the Toronto premiere of Callaloo, Goodyear's suite for piano and orchestra that pays homage to his Trinidadian background.

Plus, he shares more about the ways positivity and optimism fuel his wellness routines, the similarities he sees between cooking and orchestration, and how finding a great restaurant in New York City can be as simple as "letting your feet take you where you want to go."

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Among the countless projects classical music presenters have had to delay over the past two years, perhaps none has been more eagerly anticipated than that of Omar, a new opera from Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels.

Originally slated to premiere in May 2020, Omar finally received its long-awaited opening this summer at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina. Based on the life and 1831 autobiography of Omar ibn Said, a Muslim scholar stolen from his homeland of Senegal and twice sold into slavery in the Carolinas, Giddens and Abels' new opera probes largely unexplored truths in modern American discussions of slavery.

For Abels, Omar's history — one of strength, resistance, and religious conviction — is not only timely, given the U.S.'s continued reckoning with its history of slavery, but it also makes for compelling storytelling on the operatic stage.

"This story is great fodder for opera, which tackles social issues, satire, commentary, and irony so well," he says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast.

"It's really a piece about the power of faith to transcend one's physical circumstances and to provide hope in a situation that's otherwise hopeless. How faith can connect people who otherwise would not even see eye to eye ... Whereas we often think of differences in faith as causing friction, it can actually provide a source of commonality and healing."

Abels, who has received incredible accolades for his genre-defying film work — most notably his scores for Jordan Peele's Get Out and Us — brings that same sense of wide musical exploration to Omar, which The New York Times hailed as "an unforced ideal of American sound: expansive and ever-changing."

In this conversation, we discuss more about Omar and Abels' collaboration with Giddens, and take a deep dive into his creative process, in which he strives to be "both a channel and a recipient of ideas." Plus, he shares how architecture inspires his composing, the ways a daily bike ride can be good for the soul and the body, and his favorite restaurant in Los Angeles for traditional Italian cuisine.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

So much of the way classical musicians perform or even think about music is informed by the work of past generations. But what happens when history books omit certain musicians, often due to their gender, race, or sexuality? How can those gaps in music history — and our shared musical legacy — be restored?

These questions form the foundation of a new album from classical guitarist Berta Rojas, Legado, which means "legacy" in Spanish. On the album, Rojas — one of the world's most acclaimed classical guitarists and professor at Boston's Berklee College of Music — honors the music of two trailblazing women of the guitar who have been long overlooked.

"Legado came out of a question I had," Rojas says in the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "Why is it that when you talk about the history of the guitar, you rarely mention the women who also made the history of the instrument?"

Although the names Ida Presti and María Luisa Anido are unfamiliar to most, their incredible talent and unforgettable performances made them some of the premier figures of 20th-century classical guitar, alongside Andrés Segovia and Julian Bream. However, the fame and recognition they enjoyed evaporated soon after their deaths.

But with her breakthrough recordings, Rojas is working to restore these remarkable women guitarists to their illustrious and influential place in history.

"A way to bring them into the conversation is to play their music, and also the music that was dedicated to them, that they inspired with their artistry. I would love for people to research them, and more women who are part of the history of the guitar."

In this conversation, we discuss more about Rojas's album and why she believes being a great musician means "bathing in the fountains of culture." Plus, she shares how taking long walks with no destination has brought a greater sense of freedom to her life, the ways Paraguayan culture inspires her creativity, and her favorite place to get a carne empanada in New York City.

Listen to Legado on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you get your music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Many classical musicians turn to art, architecture, or literature to inspire their creativity and inform their performances. But for others, it's all about the music. Grammy Award-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux falls into that second category — especially when it comes to J.S. Bach.

"A Bach score has everything I need or want," Vieaux says in the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "He's the greatest. You could argue that there really hasn't been another composer who has surpassed him."

The bigwig of the German Baroque is the focus of Vieaux's new album, Bach Volume 2: Works for Violin. Released 13 years after his first volume, which explored Bach's music for solo lute, the new album gave the Cleveland-based guitarist plenty of opportunities to share with listeners everything he loves about the composer's work and legacy:

"The greatness, the all-knowingness, the comfort ... It can be so many things to so many people."

In this conversation, we discuss the new album, why meditation and scheduling rest have been so important throughout his career, and the drink special he craves when he visits his favorite New York City jazz club.

Listen to Bach Volume 2 on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream your music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Classical musicians are incredibly passionate about their work. But that doesn't mean they can't make room in their hectic lives for other passion projects. For harpist Yolanda Kondonassis — one of the world's greatest soloists and head of the harp departments at the Cleveland Institute and Oberlin Conservatory — earth conservation has been the focus of her activism for more than 20 years. And it's led her down some fascinating roads both inside and outside the music world.

In 2012 she published her first children's book, My Earth, My Home: A Kid's Book About Why Protecting Our Earth Matters. She also founded Earth at Heart — a nonprofit organization that serves to increase earth conservation awareness and action through the arts.

Yolanda's latest album, Five Minutes for Earth, is a perfect example of the way she connects her many passions. A collection of 15 five-minute works for solo harp she commissioned from some of today's most dynamic compositional voices, Five Minutes for Earth is more than an album, she explains in the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast: "It's a project with some long-reaching goals."

"Once all of these pieces are released and premiered, they'll be available to harpists all over the world. And for each verified performance — by any harpist, anywhere in the world — an automatic donation will be made to one of a list of really worthy, vetted earth conservation organizations through Earth at Heart."

In addition to prompting awareness and action about the climate crisis, Yolanda's project also looks to empower musicians to play a part in the earth's future, given that the financial constraints of an artist's life often make it difficult to donate monetarily.

"I wanted to explore the idea of giving musicians a way to contribute through their performance, through their service, when discretionary income may not permit them to write a check to a worthy organization for a very dire cause."

In this conversation, we learn more about Yolanda's album and activism, and hear why she defines success not only by what she's done but by how she's done it. Plus, she shares the homeopathic anti-inflammatory she can't live without, the ways visual arts inspire her music-making, as well as the New York City eateries she turns to when she's craving steak frites or the best lobster roll outside of Maine.

Listen to Five Minutes for Earth on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you get your music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a leading New York marketing agency serving the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

For classical musicians, the process of exploring and learning new repertoire never ends. That's especially true for pianists, who have a titanic amount of literature available to them — from seminal keyboard works of the Baroque to the freshly inked compositions of today.

Climbing that mountain of music can be intimidating — but not for Orion Weiss.

Although his student days at Juilliard, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Pianofest in the Hamptons are well behind him, it's the piano's incredible wealth of literature that fuels his inspiration to create music.

"I have an insatiable hunger for discovering the musical literature," Weiss says in the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "It's endlessly enriching to have this repertoire to work through and try to understand and grow with ... I won't ever feel like I'm not a student anymore — I'm striving to achieve something I haven't yet."

Weiss's endless curiosity has served him well throughout his career, and it's the foundation for his latest album, Arc I. The first installment of an ambitious trilogy — what Weiss playfully refers to as his "Lord of the Rings of the piano" — the new album features piano works by Granados, Janacek, and Scriabin written during the frantic build-up to World War I, an unsettling time that sees many parallels to today.

"When I was recording the album, I was trying to understand feelings and the world today. It's hard to know what the future is, but connecting to periods where people were more stressed than normal and had reason to be, somehow makes me feel like the music can explain something to me — how to proceed, how to deal with it, how to understand emotionally what's going on."

In this conversation, we discuss future installments of the Arc trilogy, the ways Weiss sees music as a form of time travel, and how a career in classical music is a lot like climbing an endless Stairmaster. Plus, he shares more about his personal wellness and fitness routines, his favorite spots for the spiciest Szechuan food in New York City, and the power of dark chocolate when he can't muster the energy to practice.

Listen to Arc I on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream or download music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

How does a storied summer music festival thrive in the 21st century? Especially one located in a town best known for its 19th-century gilded glamor and magnificent mansions?

For Newport Classical's executive director, Gillian Friedman Fox, it's all about finding ways to respect history and tradition while forging new paths for access and inclusion. "For Newport Classical, people are looking for a classical music and arts experience that you just can't find anywhere else," Friedman Fox says in the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast.

"On one hand, [Newport's] charm and glamor is a one-of-a-kind experience and is so glamorous. We feed into that, right? But on the other hand, I really want classical music to be welcoming and I want it to be accessible. We don't want people to feel deterred by what can feel like a really formal experience."

Beginning July 1, the 2022 edition of Newport Classical will showcase 32 artists and ensembles in 24 performances across 11 of the town's most beautiful venues, including the iconic Breakers, the "summer cottage" of the Gilded Age's famous Vanderbilt family.

But under Friedman Fox's leadership, Newport Classical isn't just about fabulous locations and big-name performers. It's about shining a light on underrepresented artists who deserve a wider audience. This summer's programming offers a strong focus on women and BIPOC composers, including works by more than 40 women and the world premiere of a new solo piano work from critically acclaimed composer Shawn Okpebholo, commissioned by Newport Classical.

According to Okpebholo, his new work looks to explore the long history of Black music not only in America, but in Newport specifically: "Black classical music matters, and it's not a new thing. It's been going on since this nation was created. We are part of the musical heritage of America."

In this conversation, we speak with both Friedman Fox and Okpebholo about what's in store for Newport audiences this summer. Gillian talks about what inspires her artistic leadership, how Newport's history and architecture inform the festival's programming, and she offers her recommendations for the best places to eat and drink in New York City and Newport. Then, we talk to Shawn about how he approached his Newport Classical commission and what he hopes audiences take away from the new work.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

Longevity and chamber music don't often go together. For every Emerson String Quartet that spends decades performing together, there are scores of chamber ensembles calling it quits every year. So when a group like the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet reaches its 40th anniversary, it's a cause for celebration.

So what's the secret to their continued longevity? For founding member William Kanengiser, it all comes down to a foundation of friendship and gratitude.

"It's really interesting that we were friends first, and then bandmates," Kanengiser says in the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "Like any group, we've had our trials and tribulations ... but we've left a legacy that we're proud of. We've had fun doing it and we've hopefully given people a little bit of joy and solace as we've gone along. We have a lot to be thankful for."

That sense of celebration and gratitude is at the heart of LAGQ's new album, Opalescent. The Grammy Award–winning ensemble's 14th album finds the quartet exploring ideas of light, color, and sound through a wide range of works by composers they've worked with throughout the years.

In this conversation, we discuss the new album, how the joys of human connection inspire William's music-making, and the important role wellness plays in his personal and professional life as a co-founder of the Thornton Musicians Wellness Committee at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music.

Plus, Bill muses on his favorite espresso and the central role coffee plays in the LAGQ, his passion for cooking as a creative outlet, and how New York City's restaurants served as his gateway to the world while growing up in suburban New Jersey.

Listen to Opalescent wherever you stream or download music.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.

In the social media age, the life of a classical musician can appear glamorous — a steady stream of concerts across the globe, album releases, residencies, and black-tie receptions.

But what are the ups and downs we don't see once the cameras are gone? And what roles can wellness and community play in the life of a performing artist today?

Author Rebecca Fischer — who for 18 years performed as first violinist in the Chiara String Quartet — explores those questions and more in her new book, The Sound of Memory: Themes from a Violinist's Life.

"I'm hoping to share a really honest account of what a musician's life is like from the inside," Rebecca explains on the latest episode of the Classical Post Podcast. "I really wanted to expose my own vulnerabilities — as a human, as a mother, as a woman — and invite others to celebrate their own vulnerabilities."

A collection of essays written over two and a half years, The Sound of Memory sees Rebecca meditating on the life of a performing artist in the 21st century, growing up in a musical family, and how she balances wellness with the anxieties — and joys — that go into maintaining a classical performance career.

In this conversation, we discuss Rebecca's book, why her definition of "success" is always evolving, and get a host of great recommendations for places to eat, drink, and enjoy life in New York City.

She shares why she heads to the Bronx when it's time to enjoy a beer but stays in her Manhattan neighborhood for the perfect Negroni, as well as the German chocolate her family can't live without — and the importance of spontaneous living-room dance parties.

Grab your copy of Rebecca's book on Bookshop.org.

—

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Classical Post® is created and produced by ⁠Gold Sound Media⁠® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can ⁠grow your audience⁠ to make a lasting impact in your community.