The Forte Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, as a member of the all-star SFJAZZ Collective, pianist Edward Simon has been a Guggenheim Fellow along with being awarded multiple composition grants  as part of the Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works initiative. Simon,  a Yamaha artist, has recorded 16 albums as a leader or co-leader; his  latest is 25 Years, released via Ridgeway Records in October  2020. This follows Simon’s 2016 album Latin American Songbook, with the  four-and-a-half-star DownBeat review praising its “grand and  sophisticated” sound. Latin American Songbook also won Simon an NAACP  Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album. The New York Times has praised  Simon’s “light, warm touch” as a pianist, while Jazz Journal  International singled out “his deep emotional statements” as a composer  and improviser.

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Trombonist Phillip Williams is a student at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studies Classical Trombone Performance. 

David Whitehill currently serves as the Executive Director of the Asheville Symphony Orchestra and the chair of division five orchestras in the League of American Orchestras. During his time with the Asheville Symphony, Whitehill started the Biennial Asheville Amadeus Festival, bringing in world-renowned pianists Emmanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, and violinist Midori. Under his leadership,  the Asheville Symphony has also recorded with the Grammy Award-winning Steep Canyon Rangers, Boyz II Men, and Secret Agent 23 Skidoo. 

I am so fortunate to call Maestro Ken Lam a mentor and teacher of mine, where I played under him at the Brevard Music Center for two summers. Maestro Lam is currently the Music Director of the Charleston Symphony, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Resident Conductor of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, and Artistic Director of Hong Kong Voices. Lam has conducted all over the U.S. and Asia, leading performances with the symphony orchestras of Cincinnati, Baltimore, Detroit, Buffalo, Hawaii, Memphis, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. Previous positions have included posts as Associate Conductor for Education of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra. Maestro Lam studied at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and was the recipient of the 2015 Johns Hopkins University Global Achievement Award.

Listen to the full episode here: https://anchor.fm/fortebyclarinetandfriends/episodes/GRAMMY-Nominated-Imani-Winds-members-Monica-Ellis-and-Mark-Dover-discuss-pushing-the-boundaries-of-innovation-and-the-changing-artistic-and-social-world-we-live-in-egla9f/a-a2me11r

Listen to the full episode here: https://anchor.fm/fortebyclarinetandfriends/episodes/Raymond-McLain-on-his-international-music-tours--the-origins-of-The-McLain-Family-Band--and-things-hes-learned-during-the-pandemic-efnmru/a-a2h6m1j

Listen to the full episode here: 

https://anchor.fm/fortebyclarinetandfriends/episodes/Veronica-Leahy-on-the-dangers-of-social-media--overcoming-jazz-stereotypes--and-the-voice-of-protest-coming-through-in-music-egbbkr/a-a2kl6ai

The GRAMMY-Nominated woodwind quintet, Imani Winds, has been at the forefront of a creative revolution in the performing arts. The ensemble frequently commissions new works from a diverse body of composers to reflect historical events and the times in which we currently live. Imani Winds regularly performs in top concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Their touring schedule has taken them throughout the Asian continent, Brazil, Australia, England, New Zealand, and across Europe.

Saxophonist Veronica Leahy is currently a sophomore enrolled in a double major program at Harvard University and the Berklee College of Music. She has played at the legendary Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York City, with pianist Jon Batiste on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and has founded two musical organizations: Melodic Minors and MusicGrams. In this episode, Veronica talks about why we should take everything we see on social media with a grain of salt, the difficulties of being a female jazz musician, and how young artists can use this period of quarantine to benefit the artistic community as a whole.

Bass Trombonist Ehren Valmé is currently a senior at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. He is the Bass Trombonist of the Montclair Orchestra, and has performed with the Philadelphia Wind Symphony, The American Brass Quintet, and the United Nations Chamber Music Society. In this episode, Ehren talks about his ideas on bringing diversity and open-mindedness to the arts, designing a new instrument, and the challenge of refreshing the orchestral establishment.