Phillip Gainsley's Podcast

In the words of The New Yorker, Charles Neidich “is an artist  of  uncommon merit -- a master of his instrument and, beyond that, an  interpreter  who keeps listeners hanging on each phrase.”        Charles is the artistic  director of the Wa Concert Series at  the Tenri Cultural Institute in New  York, which he founded with his wife, clarinetist Ayako Oshima, in September 2017. This concert series is inspired by the  Japanese concept “wa”—  meaning circle, but also harmony and completeness; each  performance is  thus paired with visual arts and offers a variety of culinary delicacies prepared by Ayako Oshima. In recent seasons, Charles has added conducting to his musical accomplishments. He has led the Cobb Symphony Orchestra and Georgia Symphony in performances of the Franck Symphony in D Minor and Mozart's Clarinet Concerto (also playing the solo clarinet part). Charles commands a repertoire of over 200 solo works, including pieces commissioned or inspired by him, as well as his own transcriptions of vocal and instrumental works. With a growing discography to his credit, he can be heard on the Chandos, Sony Classical, Sony Vivarte, Deutsche Grammophon, Musicmasters, Pantheon, and Bridge labels. His recorded repertoire ranges from familiar works by Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, and Brahms, to lesser-known compositions by Danzi, Reicha, Rossini, and Hummel, as well as music by Elliott Carter, Gyorgy Kurtag, and other contemporary masters. Although Charles became quite active in music at an early age, he opted against attending a music conservatory in favor of academic studies at Yale University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in Anthropology. In 1975 he became the first American to receive a Fulbright grant for study in the former Soviet Union, and he attended the Moscow Conservatory for three years where his teachers were Boris Dikov and Kirill Vinogradov. Charles Neidich has achieved recognition as a teacher in addition to his activities as a performer, and currently is a member of the artist faculties of The Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, the Mannes College of Music. During the 1994-95 academic year he was a Visiting Professor at the Sibelius Academy in Finland where he taught, performed and conducted. Mr. Neidich is a long-time member of the renowned chamber ensemble Orpheus.

Having grown up in Atlanta, with a long lineage of preachers and connections to gospel music to inspire him, GRAMMY-nominated Carlos Simon's music ranges from concert music for large and small ensembles, to film scores with influences of jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism.Carlos is the current composer-in-residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and he frequently composes for its National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera.This past season featured the premiere of his Gospel Mass, with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a work reimagining the traditional mass with gospel soloists and choir, with visual creations from Melina Matsoukas.Carlos frequently curates concert programs, which often highlight his own music as well as that of close collaborators. Curation concerts have recently been programmed by Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Boston Chamber Players, Tanglewood Festival for Contemporary Music, and the Kennedy Center.Carlos also released the live premiere recording of brea(d)th, a landmark work commissioned by Minnesota Orchestra and written in collaboration with Marc Bamuthi Joseph, conducted by Jonathan Taylor Rush. “Arguably the most important commission of Simon's career so far” (The New York Times), brea(d)th was written following George Floyd's murder as a direct response to America's unfulfilled promises and history of systemic oppression against Black Americans.  I'm especially proud to have discussed the piece with Carlos in this episode.

Kathleen MarshallKathleen began her Broadway career as an assistant to her brother Rob, the choreographer of Kiss of the Spider Woman, in 1993. The two also collaborated on She Loves Me, Damn Yankees , Victor/Victoria and Seussical. She was the artistic director for the Encores! series of staged musical revivals from 1996 through 2000. During that time, she choreographed The Boys from Syracuse, Li'l Abner and Call Me Madam and she directed and choreographed Babes in Arms and Wonderful Town.She also directed and choreographed the Broadway revival of Grease.  I was fortunate enough to catch the Encores! production of Wonderful Town when it transferred to Broadway.Kathleen was also the director and choreographer of the Broadway revival of Pajama Game which opened in February 2006 and which was the Broadway acting debut of Harry Connick Jr.  I'm happy to report I was there too!More pertinent, Kathleen directed and choreographed a Broadway revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes in 2011, with Sutton Foster as Reno Sweeney.  The show ran at London's Barbican Centre in 2021 and was recorded for television (BBC) by Ross MacGibbon, later picked up by PBS in America.  Kathleen's production is as close to perfect as can be. In fact, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer. Stephen RidleyIn 2021 Steve joined Kathleen as music supervisor and music director of Anything Goes at the Barbican.  He was also music supervisor of Oklahoma! at Wyndham's Theatre.  Steve conducted the highly-acclaimed Broadway transfers of The King and I at The London Palladium and the Dominion Theatre and An American in Paris at the Dominion Theatre, and he was the music director of the Olivier Award winning revival of Ken Ludwig's Crazy for You at the Novello Theatre.  He later was music supervisor of Kiss me, Kate at the Barbican, now being shown on PBS throughout the U.S.Steve is a music director, conductor and pianist based in London. He was born in Middlesbrough and is a graduate of the Royal College of Music. I'm thrilled that he joined us for this exciting episode!

Daniela Candillari grew up in Serbia and Slovenia.  She holds a Doctorate in Musicology from the Universität für Musik in Vienna, a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and a Master of Music and Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance from the Universität für Musik in Graz. She is also a Fulbright Scholarship recipient.Daniela is in her fourth season as principal conductor at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. In celebration of its 50th anniversary season, she is conducting the company's 44th world premiere, This House, with music by Ricky Ian Gordon and libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage and her daughter, Ruby Aiyo Gerber.Daniela made her New York Philharmonic debut in its inaugural season in the new David Geffen Hall, conducting cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Elgar's Cello Concerto.  And she made her “Carnegie Hall Presents” debut leading the American Composers Orchestra in a program of premieres.  Other engagements include debuts with the Metropolitan Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin, and productions with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Minnesota Opera, Detroit Opera, Orchestre Métropolitan Montreal, and Classical Tahoe Festival.Finally, Daniela has been commissioned by established artists including instrumentalists from the Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh Symphonies, as well as the three resident orchestras of Lincoln Center: the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the New York City Ballet. She is deeply involved with Music Academy of the West's programming for young artists and she recently participated in master classes and discussions at DePaul University, Chicago Humanities Festival, and Valissima Institute.It's a pleasure to have her with me on this episode.

Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo began performing professionally at the age of 11 and has since appeared in opera, concert, recital, film, and on Broadway. He has performed in the world's great opera houses and symphony halls.In June 2024, he began his tenure as the general director and president of Opera Philadelphia.His most recent album, Anthony Roth Costanzo & Justin Vivian Bond: Only an Octave Apart was released in January 2022. His first solo album, ARC was released in September 2018 and nominated for the 2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. He also stars on the Metropolitan Opera's recording and DVD of Akhnaten which won the 2022 GRAMMY award for best opera recording.Anthony was the recipient of the 2020 Beverly Sills Award from the Metropolitan Opera, a winner of the 2020 Opera News Award, and the 2019 Musical America vocalist of the year.He graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University where he was awarded the Lewis Sudler Prize for extraordinary achievement in the arts, and where he has returned to teach.

Freya's music is characterized by contrasts between earthy rhythmic play and fragility, luminous spaces, and a sense of the otherworldly. She has been commissioned by numerous institutions and ensemblesHer current season includes Mother Tongue, a new four movement work for the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Ed Gardner; a new work for the Archipelago Collective's 10th anniversary festival on San Juan Island WA; and a new work for classical orchestra for the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in response to Fanny Mendelssohn's Das Jahr. Also upcoming is the release on NMC of Waley-Cohen's Debut Disc, Spell Book, with performances from the Manchester Collective as well as Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Ann Beilby, Nathaniel Boyd, Hèloïse Werner, Fleur Barron and Katie Bray.Other recent successes include the world premiere of Pocket Cosmos, premiered in June 2022 by commissioners London Chamber Orchestra and directed by Pekka Kuusisto, and staging of Freys's contemporary dramatic song cycle Spell Book at Longborough Festival Opera and Waley-Cohen's first opera WITCH, commissioned in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Royal Academy of Music.Freya was the 2019/20 Associate Composer at Wigmore Hall, which held a day of concerts in March 2023 focused on her music. She was also Associate Composer of St. David's Hall's contemporary music series, ‘Nightmusic', from 2018 – 2021. Winner of a 2017 Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, Freya Waley-Cohen held an Open Space Residency at Snape Maltings from 2015 – 2017 and was 2016 – 2018 Associate Composer of Nonclassical.I spoke to Freya from her home in London.

Peter Boyer is one of the most frequently performed American orchestral composers of his generation. His works have received over 800 public performances by more than 300 orchestras, and tens of thousands of broadcasts by classical radio stations around the world/Listen, as we discuss Peter's major work Ellis Island: The Dream of America, for actors and orchestra. It has become one of the most-performed American orchestral works composed in the last 25 years, with over 300 performances by 125 orchestras since its 2002 premiere. Peter has received commissions from several of the most prestigious American institutions and ensembles, including the United States Marine Band, which commissioned and premiered his Fanfare for Tomorrow for the inauguration of President Joe Biden.In 2010, Peter was chosen for the Boston Pops 125th anniversary commission, honoring the legacy of John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy.  His The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers was narrated by actors including Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, and Alec Baldwin, and was conducted by Keith Lockhart.In 2019, Boyer received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, which is officially recognized by Congress as one of the most prestigious American awards, and has been presented to seven U.S. Presidents, as well as U.S. Secretaries of State, Supreme Court Justices, members of Congress, military leaders, and prominent Americans from many fields. Past medalists in the arts have included Renée Fleming, Quincy Jones, Rita Moreno, Gregory Peck, Itzhak Perlman, Chita Rivera, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Simon.  In addition to his work for the concert stage, Peter's career has included work in the film and television music industry. He has orchestrated more than 35 feature film scores from all the major movie studios, for leading Hollywood composers.

Peter Boyer is one of the most frequently performed American orchestral composers of his generation. His works have received over 800 public performances by more than 300 orchestras, and tens of thousands of broadcasts by classical radio stations around the world.Listen, as we discuss Peter's major work Ellis Island: The Dream of America, for actors and orchestra. It has become one of the most-performed American orchestral works composed in the last 25 years, with over 300 performances by 125 orchestras since its 2002 premiere. Peter has received commissions from several of the most prestigious American institutions and ensembles, including the United States Marine Band, which commissioned and premiered his Fanfare for Tomorrow for the inauguration of President Joe Biden.In 2010, Peter was chosen for the Boston Pops 125th anniversary commission, honoring the legacy of John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy.  His The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers was narrated by actors including Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, and Alec Baldwin, and was conducted by Keith Lockhart.In 2019, Boyer received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, which is officially recognized by Congress as one of the most prestigious American awards, and has been presented to seven U.S. Presidents, as well as U.S. Secretaries of State, Supreme Court Justices, members of Congress, military leaders, and prominent Americans from many fields. Past medalists in the arts have included Renée Fleming, Quincy Jones, Rita Moreno, Gregory Peck, Itzhak Perlman, Chita Rivera, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Simon.  In addition to his work for the concert stage, Peter's career has included work in the film and television music industry. He has orchestrated more than 35 feature film scores from all the major movie studios, for leading Hollywood composers.

Brent Assink served as executive director of the San Francisco Symphony for 18 years, a term during which the symphony significantly grew its artistic profile and community engagement.  His creative partnership with then-Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas produced celebrated projects such as the American Mavericks festivals, the Keeping Score multi-media series and SFS Media, the first orchestra-run record label in the U.S.Brent joined the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra's artistic operations department in 1981. Six years later, he became the SPCO manager, and in 1995, its president.  He is currently the interim president of the Minnesota Orchestra, while it searches for a permanent president/CEO.

The King's Singers have represented the gold standard in a cappella singing on the world's greatest stages for over fifty years. They are renowned for their unrivalled technique, versatility and skill in performance, and for their consummate musicianship, drawing both on the group's rich heritage and its pioneering spirit to create an extraordinary wealth of original works and unique collaborations.

Kathleen van Bergen is in her 14th season as CEO and president of Artis—Naples.  In that time, she has been recognized throughout Southwest Florida and the greater arts community as an example of leadership geared toward prudent growth and relationship building. Named one of Musical America's “Top 30 Professionals of the Year” in 2019, she is described as “a woman with a mission, a vision and a board to support both.” In 2022, she was named among Gulfshore Life magazine's “Forces of Philanthropy,” a select few leaders of Southwest Florida who “propel the philanthropic community into the future through mentorship, collaboration and camaraderie.”From the beginning of her tenure, she has made balanced budgets and operational surpluses a priority: The balance sheet has more than doubled over the last decade, and, as of 2021, the organization is debt free.  On her watch, its endowment has surpassed $150 million. Kathleen's vision for multidisciplinary thematic planning has allowed Artis—Naples to leverage its unique resources in order to enhance patron experiences with the visual and performing arts.The diversity of artistic excellence and world-class programming is one reason The Wall Street Journal said Artis—Naples has ushered in “an impressive new phase” for classical music in Southwest Florida.In 2022, Kathleen was a recipient of the Eastman School of Music's Centennial Award, given in honor of its 100th year to 100 individuals who exemplify the school's mission and legacy through their artistry, scholarship, leadership, community engagement and philanthropy

Music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, Gianandrea Noseda is also one of the world's most sought-after conductors, recognized equally for his artistry in  the concert hall and the opera house.Gianandrea's award-winning recordings are distributed by LSO Live, for whom he also records as principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.  His discography spans over 80 recordings.He became general music director of the Zurich Opera House in September 2021 and he reached an important milestone in May 2024, conducting two highly praised complete Ring Cycles.In the summer of 2024, he led an international festival tour with European Union Youth Orchestra which took them to the Edinburgh Festival and the Lucerne Festival. In 2019, he was appointed the founding music director of the Tsinandali Festival and Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra in the village of Tsinandali, Georgia.A native of Milan, Gianandrea is Commendatore al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, marking his contribution to the artistic life of Italy. He has been honored as Musical America's Conductor of the Year (2015) and International Opera Awards Conductor of the Year (2016). In 2023, he received the Puccini Award, joining the likes of Maria Callas, Birgit Nilsson, and Luciano Pavarotti.

Over the course of 34 years, Thomas W. Morris worked at the top levels of the symphony orchestra world, running two of the biggest and most famous, the Boston Symphony and The Cleveland Orchestra.Throughout, though, he developed a sense of institutional malaise, on how classical music is presented these days.He capped his career becoming artistic director of California's Ojai Music Festival. There, Thomas reimagined music experiences by challenging all aspects of making music and producing concerts.Thomas's book, Always The Music is the story of his growth through the highest levels of the world of classical music, his learning and insights into how storied musical institutions function, how great artists create, and how audiences engage. The book's final chapter offers a thoughtful prescription for the American orchestra. Mostly, though, this is the story of one man's lifelong love affair with great music and the people who make it.Like the book, this is an instructive and entertaining episode!

Daniele Rustioni is a major presence at leading opera houses and symphony halls. In 2022, the International Opera Awards named him “Best Conductor.” His opera repertoire numbers over 70 works spanning over centuries and ranging from Italian to French, German to Russian, and more. This coming season he concludes his eight-year tenure as music director of Opéra National de Lyon.   He was principal guest conductor of the Bavarian State Opera until October 2023.Daniele has led performances at the nearly all of the most important international opera houses and festivals, including Aix-en-Provence Festival, BBC Proms, Berlin State Opera, Dutch National Opera, Paris Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival, Teatro Real, Zurich Opera House and the Teatro alla Scala. In Italy, his homeland, he has also conducted at Opera di Roma, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Florence), Teatro La Fenice (Venice), Rossini Opera Festival (Pesaro) and Teatro San Carlo (Naples).He was recently named principal guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, and as we spoke, he was preparing his debut concerts with the New York Philharmonic.  

Jan Vogler's distinguished career has brought him together with renowned conductors and internationally acclaimed orchestras around the world.In addition to his classical concert activities as a soloist, Jan is constantly looking for new ways to combine music with other arts. In February 2024, he gave a highly acclaimed concert with inaugural-poet Amanda Gorman, performing her contemporary poems with cello suites by J. S. Bach in the Isaac Stern Auditorium in Carnegie Hall. They appeared on the  ‘Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert' in March 2024. He has also collaborated with actor Bill Murray for their joint musical-literary project “Bill Murray, Jan Vogler & Friends – New Worlds”. Under the artistic direction of Jan Vogler and conductor Kent Nagano, Wagner's “Ring Tetralogy” will be performed in the artistic context of the period in which it was composed, based on the latest findings of research into Wagner and performance practice, and integrated into an extensive supporting program as part of the multi-year project “The Wagner Cycles” of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele from 2023 to 2026.“Die Walküre,” the second work in the epochal narrative will follow in 2024.Jan has recorded 20 Sony CDs. The most recent releases were with the cello concertos of Edouard Lalo and Enrique Casals in March 2023, The Dvorak Album in July 2022.Jan has been Intendant of the renowned Dresden Music Festival since October 2008 as well as Artistic Director of the Moritzburg Festival since 2001. In 2017 the Moritzburg Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary as one of the most established chamber music festivals internationally.In 2006, he received the European Award for Culture and in 2011 the Erich-Kästner Award for tolerance, humanity and international understanding. In June 2018 he received the European Award for Culture TAURUS as Director of the Dresden Music Festival. 2021 Jan Vogler was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Sharon Isbin was named Musical America Worldwide's 2020 Instrumentalist of the Year, the first guitarist ever to receive the honor in its 59-year award history. She was inducted into the 2023 Guitar Foundation of America Hall of Fame and received its Artistic Achievement Award.   She is “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time”, the winner of Guitar Player magazine's Best Classical Guitarist award, and numerous other awards. Sharon has appeared as soloist with over 200 orchestras and has given sold-out performances in many of the world's finest halls across 40 countries, including New York's Carnegie and Geffen Halls, Boston's Symphony Hall, Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, London's Barbican and Wigmore Halls, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Paris' Châtelet, Vienna's Musikverein, Munich's Herkulessaal, Argentina's Teatro Colón, and Madrid's Teatro Real.  She has been acclaimed for expanding the guitar repertoire with some of the finest new works of our time, and has premiered over 80 works written for her by world-renowned composers, including more concerti than any other guitarist, as well as numerous solo and chamber works. Public television's acclaimed one-hour documentary Sharon Isbin: Troubadour has been seen by millions on over 200 PBS stations across the U.S. and abroad.  Other recent national performances on PBS include the Billy Joel Gershwin Prize with Josh Groban, and Tavis Smiley.  And, she has a significant discography.   Sharon Isbin has been practicing Transcendental Meditation since age 17 and donates her time to perform benefits for the David Lynch Foundation, along with Katy Perry, Sting, Hugh Jackman, Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno, to bring TM to at-risk communities. We'll talk about that and more in this inspiring conversation.

 “If I ever stop finding music challenging and life-altering, I'll quit and become an accountant.”  Not to worry.  Pianist Jonathan Biss, a world-renowned educator and critically-acclaimed author, cannot stop finding music challenging and life-altering.  Listening to him speak about Beethoven — or even Verdi, one gleans an obsession with greatness.  At the age of 17, Jonathan attended the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Leon Fleisher, which proved a phenomenal learning experience.  While his life in music provides him with tremendous satisfaction, playing music remains ever a struggle. He regards it as a pleasure and privilege to live this struggle, and to share its results with other people.  As he puts it, “Doing justice to great music is an unattainable goal.”His audio book, Unquiet, My Life With Beethoven is a must-hear.Our conversation is as enlightening as it is entertaining.  Listen for yourself! 

Andreas Landin, Swedish baritone has worked, since his graduation from the Opera Academy at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen, as an opera singer in Scandinavia and in other theaters in Europe.  He has specialized in contemporary opera repertoire and has had more than 20 contemporary opera roles written for him, mostly by scandinavian composers and performed in the opera houses in Copenhagen, Malmö Opera and Gothenburg Opera among others. He has also appeared in modern classic parts such as the count in Luce mie Traditrici by Sciarrino, The Emperor in Der Kaiser von Atlantis and the baritone in The four note opera. Within the classic opera repertoire Andreas has sung parts as varied as Don Giovanni, Papageno, Marcello, and Silvio. He has also had great success within the oratory repertoire and regularly perform the bass parts in most of the classic oratories by Bach, Handel, Brahms and Mozart. In recent years Landin has partly moved into a heavier fach and sung parts like Scarpia in Tosca and the title role in Macbeth.

The musical Kristina is based on a series of four novels by Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg detailing a family's poverty-driven migration from Sweden to America in the mid-19th century.  On October 12, 1996, a concert version with the original cast was presented, in Swedish, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as an opening event of the Plymouth Music Series  (now Vocal Essence) 1996–1997 season in Orchestra Hall, and the next day in Chisago Lakes High School in Lindstrom, Minnesota – the area where much of the events in Moberg's books took place and where the statue of the books' two main characters stands on the main street of the town.  In this episode, Philip discusses this milestone in the history of VocalEssence

Jeremy Denk is one of America's foremost pianists.  He is also the recipient of both the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize, and he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.Jeremy is known for his interpretations of the music of American composer Charles Ives.He is also known for his original and insightful writing on music. His New York Times best-selling memoir, Every Good Boy Does Fine was published to universal acclaim by Random House in 2022.  His latest album of Mozart piano concertos was deemed “urgent and essential” by BBC Radio 3, while his recording of the Goldberg Variations reached No. 1 on the Billboard classical charts.

Sarah Hicks is the in-demand conductor across an array of genres, and as an educator, arranger, producer, writer and speaker committed to creating connections through music.Sarah has worked extensively with all the major orchestras in the US and abroad. She is a specialist in film music and the film in concert genre.  Sarah has acted as advisor on numerous projects for Disney Music Group and is a consultant and frequent collaborator at Disney Concerts. Since 2020, she has been the primary host and writer of “This is Minnesota Orchestra”, broadcast on Twin Cities PBS and streamed globally. She is a frequent guest lecturer and panelist, and was on faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music from 2000 to 2005 and staff conductor until 2012. Her presentation, “The Art of Conducting”, has illustrated collaborative leadership to numerous organizations, civic groups and corporations. Her interest in mental health and music led to the production of a 2019 concert titled “Music and the Mind.”  Her most recent project, "Music and Healing", is a collaboration with the Minnesota Orchestra. Available digitally, the project includes a concert, commissioned works, interviews, and conversations with neuroscientists, wellness experts and musicians.  

The Winchendon Music Festival is a non-profit concert series held in Winchendon, Massachusetts. The Festival showcases performances by international artists from a variety of genres including classical, folk, jazz, historical performance, and world music. Concerts are free to the public, thanks to support from several local cultural councils, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Robinson Broadhurst Foundation, the Winchendon History & Cultural Center, and the First Congregational Church of Winchendon. The Winchendon Music Festival presents solo, small ensemble, and chamber orchestral programs.  The festival was founded in 2016 by multi-instrumentalist, scholar, and composer Andrew Arceci who was our guest on Episode 106, and who now joins us with guitarist Colin Davin, a performer in this season's (2024) program. As you will hear, performances for the Winchendon Music Festival take place at several venues around Winchendon.

Cello playing is at the center of Matthew Barley's career, while his musical world has virtually no geographical, social or stylistic boundaries. His passions include improvisation, education, multi-genre music-making, electronics, and pioneering community programs.Matthew is a world-renowned cellist who has performed in over 50 countries.Matthew's new music group, Between The Notes undertook over 60 creative community projects with young people and orchestra players around the world.Matthew has given premieres by Pascal Dusapin, Dai Fujikura, Detlev Glanert, Thomas Larcher, James MacMillan, Roxana Panufnik, and recently a concerto by Misha Mullov-Abbado with a cello part that is more than half improvised, at the London Jazz Festival for the BBC.His current project, Light Stories, is a new program for cello, electronics and visuals from Yeast Culture with much of the music written by him. He is also launching a new charity to run workshops using creative music and theatre to help university students with their mental health.

The 2023/24 season marked Chad Goodman's inaugural year as music director of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra—only the fifth leader in the orchestra's prestigious seven-decade history. Chad also serves as artistic director of IlluminArts, Miami's art song and chamber music concert series.  He curates site-specific classical music programs in collaboration with the leading museums, art galleries, and historic venues of Miami. From 2019 to 2023, he was the Conducting Fellow of the New World Symphony, where he was the assistant conductor to Michael Tilson Thomas. In addition to leading the orchestra in more than fifty performances, Chad created the educational program “SPARK: How Composers Find Inspiration,” which blended engaging audience participation with captivating light design and videography.He has served as an assistant conductor to the San Francisco Symphony, working alongside Michael Tilson Thomas, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Manfred Honeck, Daniel Harding, Elim Chan, Simone Young, and James Gaffigan, among others.As you will hear, Chad also leads workshops that teach young musicians the business skills needed to navigate successfully the music world. Forbes praised his bold strides both on and off stage and hailed him as “An entrepreneur bringing innovation to classical music.” Last year, he published the book, You Earned a Music Degree. Now What?

Peter works extensively as a director of theater, musical theater, opera and new work development. He is the producing artistic director at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. We recorded this conversation in January 2023, as he assumed that position.Peter and I spoke on Episode 27 when he was artistic director of Theater Latté Da, a Twin Cities-based company.  Since the Theater Latté Da's inception in 1992, Peter directed 92 main-stage productions, including 14 world premieres and 14 area premieres. In 2012, the company launched NEXT, a major new works initiative for the development of new music-theater.  Peter was also prominent on our Merrily We Roll Along panel, Episode 73, as Theater Latté Da produced its highly successful rendering of Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece.He has also directed shows for other theater companies nationwide.Peter has served  on the board of directors for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. He has been as a panelist and evaluator for the Playwrights' Center, the McKnight Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board and the National Alliance for Musical Theater's Festival of New Musicals.

Teddy Abrams, Musical America's 2022 Conductor of the Year, starts his tenth season as music director of the Louisville Orchestra in the fall of 2024.  Teddy has been the galvanizing force behind the orchestra's extraordinary artistic renewal and commitment to innovative community engagement since his appointment in September 2014. Teddy is also a prolific and award-winning composer.  We'll hear an excerpt from his piano concerto written for his regular collaborator Yuja Wang, with whom he and the Louisville Orchestra made their Deutsche Grammophon debuts on the virtuoso pianist's March 2023 release, The American Project. He is now at work on ALI, a new Broadway musical about boxing legend and activist Muhammad Ali, which is scheduled to receive its fall 2024 world premiere in Louisville, the boxer's birthplace, before opening on Broadway in spring 2025. Teddy Abrams remains in high demand as a guest conductor, which is how I met him.

Monet Sabel was born and reared in Redondo Beach, California. She grew up heavily participating in her local community theater, The Norris Theatre, to which she attributes all of her success. Monet moved to New York to attend NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned her BFA in Drama from the New Studio on Broadway. After college, Monet was cast in the Off-Broadway Barrow St. revival of Sweeney Todd, as the standby for Johanna, the Beggar Woman, and, notably, the male role, Adolfo Pirelli. She then joined the National Tour of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Later, Sabel Monet flew off on a Japanese tour of Disney on Classic, a concert series featuring Disney movies with a full symphony orchestra.

Ben West is a musical theatre artist and historian. His book, The American Musical, chronicles a detailed and comprehensive history of the art form's artistic evolution. Ben also created 20 “Timeline Wall” exhibits for the Museum of Broadway, that trace the history of the Broadway stage from 1732 to 2021, and spotlight more than 500 productions and 100 artists.He has worked in various capacities on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally, and created and directed Unsung Carolyn Leigh for Lincoln Center's American Songbook series. Ben has spoken at several institutions including Yale University, University of Michigan, the Dramatists Guild, and the Shubert Organization. He is a recipient of Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award.

Simon Woods brings more than 30 years of experience working with orchestras to his leadership role as president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras.Simon is known throughout the world of classical music as a highly trusted mentor and advisor to orchestra management professionals.His leadership includes regular columns in professional periodicals about the future of orchestras, as well as lectures and speaking engagements at conferences and orchestra boardrooms around the country.  I was fortunate enough recently to host a panel discussion with him on the subject of the presentation of classical music.Prior to joining the League in 2020, Woods served as CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; he was interim executive director of the Grand Teton Music Festival, president and CEO of the Seattle Symphony, chief executive of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, as well as serving the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Born in London, England, Woods earned a degree in music from Cambridge University and a diploma in conducting from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He currently serves on the boards of Astral Artists and the Performing Arts Alliance.

Marc A. Scorca joined OPERA America as president and CEO in 1990. Under his leadership, OPERA America has become one of the most respected arts service organizations in North America. Its membership has grown from 120 opera companies to nearly 4,000 organizations and individuals, and its reach extends to 80,000 annual visitors at the National Opera Center and over 83,000 subscribers across digital channels worldwide.Marc has administered over $20 million in grants and prizes to opera companies and artists for audience building, business innovation, civic practice, co-productions, and the development of new work. Due in large part to his contributions to the organization, OPERA America was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2013.Marc has served as a member of the U.S. delegation to UNESCO, an officer of the Performing Arts Alliance, and on the Music Advisory Boards of Hunter College (CUNY) and the Curtis Institute of Music.

Philippe Quint, violinist, was born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg today) and trained in the United States at the The Juilliard School, earning both a Bachelor's and Master's degree.  He made his solo debut at age nine while studying at Moscow's Special Music school for the Gifted.  He earned top prizes in music competitions around the world, and his recording of Korngold's Violin Concerto ranked in the top 20 on Billboard's Classical Chart in its first week of sales. He benefited from coaching sessions over time by the famed violin teacher, Dorothy Delay and Itzhak Perlman.  His recordings range from the works of Charlie Chaplan to Felix Mendelssohn.  

Ann Morrison was Mary Flynn in the original 1981 production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along, directed by Harold Prince, for which she won the 1982 Theatre World Award.  More than 40 years later she remains remembered for that role, but she has done so much more since then, including her one-person show she is currently revising, to take on the road.

Stephen Hamilton, the “concert touring organist,” has been prominent on the American organ scene for over 40 years. The New York Times wrote of Hamilton's performance of the Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor: “Hamilton, as organist at the Church of the Holy Trinity (Episcopal) obviously knew the instrument's sonorous capabilities and brought them powerfully to bear in a rousing account.” Throughout his distinguished career, such consistent critical reviews have earned Hamilton acclaim as a thoroughly engaging and popular personality and has firmly established his reputation as a leading and much sought-after virtuoso.  An avid educator, Stephen was Professor of Organ and Chairman of the Fine Arts Division at Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Virginia, from 1972 to 1986. In New York City he served on the artist faculties of Hunter College, Manhattan School of Music, and Queens College.  On Sunday, April 28, and 4:00 p.m. Stephen will perform on the Mander organ at St. Ignatius Church on Park Avenue, New York City.

GRAMMY® Award winning Classical Producer of the Year, Michael Fine is one of the top classical recording producers in the world.  But he also has been active in artistic planning for major orchestras world-wide. He formerly was vice president of artists and repertoire at Deutsche Grammophon, the first American to hold the post of artistic director of the 100 year-old label.  Michael remains active as clarinetist with engagements at Festival Mozaic in California and the Tongyeong Music Festival in South Korea.  And, he is an active composer, with his compositions premiering in the United States, France, Spain, and Cuba where he served as composer-in-residence for the first Habana Clasica Festival. Michael has produced hundreds of recordings for numerous prominent labels and he'd probably be the first to tell you that he  could not have done it all without the contribution of his wife, Tamara.  

The Met: Live in HD is a series of live opera performances transmitted to selected venues, primarily movie theaters around the world, in high-definition video, via satellite from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The first transmission was the Julie Taymor production of a condensed English-language version of Mozart's The Magic Flute, on December 30, 2006.Veteran TV director Gary Halvorson, an accomplished classical pianist, has been the primary director of these telecasts from the beginning.  Gary had directed episodes of popular TV series Friends, Everyone Loves Raymond, The Drew Carey Show, and Two and a Half Men, plus a telecast of which he is most proud, an episode for television of the popular radio program, From the Top.

Michael Stephen Brown has been hailed by The New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” His artistry is shaped by his creative voice as a pianist and composer, praised for his “fearless performances” (The New York Times) and “exceptionally beautiful” compositions (The Washington Post). He was the winner of the 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant. He regularly performs recitals with his longtime duo partner, cellist Nicholas Canellakis. As a composer, he recently toured his own Concerto for Piano and Strings around the US and Poland with several orchestras. Michael is now embarking on a multi-year project to record the complete piano music by Felix Mendelssohn including world premiere recordings of music by one of Mendelssohn's muses, Delphine von Schauroth.

Robert Neu is known for his highly theatrical and musically sensitive work  He has directed over 100 productions of operas, musicals and plays throughout the country. Bob's productions include everything from The Music Man to St. John Passion, plus Bernstein's Mass, Peer Gynt (for which he also did the adaptation), La Traviata, The Magic Flute and Carousel, Hansel and Gretel, Don Giovanni and La Bohème, Bob Neu teaches masterclasses in audition techniques for the University of Minnesota's opera department.  He is a former resident director at Lyric Arts Theater, and former artistic director of Skylark Opera Theatre.   He is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

Richard Kogan has a distinguished career as a psychiatrist and  a concert pianist. Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and Artistic Director of the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Program, he has been praised for his “exquisite playing” by The New York Times, and the Boston Globe wrote, “Kogan has somehow managed to excel at the world's two most demanding professions.”Dr. Kogan has gained renown for his lecture/concerts that explore the role of music in healing and the influence of psychological forces and psychiatric illness on the creative output of the great composers. He has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards in both psychiatry and the arts.Dr. Kogan is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College, Harvard College, and Harvard Medical School. 

Justin Lucero is artistic director of Theater Latté Da, in Minneapolis. In addition to nearly a dozen works directed for El Paso Opera,  Justin enjoys a robust freelance directing career for professional and academic stages, including past work with Abingdon Theatre Company, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, City Theatre (Pittsburgh), Creede Repertory Theatre, University of Texas El Paso, UTEP Dinner Theatre, the University of Houston, and Scaffolding Theatre, of which he was also Co-Founding Artistic Director.  As an assistant and associate director, he has worked with such major institutions as Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Rep, and Asolo Repertory Theatre under the mentorship of industry leaders including artistic director-producer Bill Rauch, director-playwright Lisa Peterson, director-choreographer Art Manke, artistic director Michael Donald Edwards, director-choreographer Peter Amster, Olivier-winning artistic director Timothy Sheader, Tony-winning playwright-director Mark Medoff, and Tony®-winning director-playwright Frank Galati.  Justin succeeded Theater Latté Da's founding artistic Director Peter Rothstein, who departed the organization at the end of June after 25 years of leadership, to assume a new role as producing artistic director of Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota.

Conductor John DeMain is noted for his dynamic performances on concert and opera stages throughout the world. In January 2023, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Opera Association, the association's highest award. During his three decades as the Madison Symphony Orchestra music director, John has consistently raised the quality of the orchestra by introducing blind auditions and continuously expanding the repertoire to encompass ever more challenging and virtuosic works. His active conducting schedule has taken him to the stages of the National Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the symphonies of Seattle, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Columbus, Houston, San Antonio, Long Beach, and Jacksonville, along with the Pacific Symphony, Boston Pops, Aspen Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Orchestra of Seville, the Leipzig MDR Sinfonieorchester, and Mexico's Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional. In 2019, he conducted the world premiere of Tazewell Thompson's Blue at the Glimmerglass Festival to critical acclaim.  He “drew a vibrant performance from an orchestra of nearly 50 players; the cast was superb,” said The New York Times.

 Andrew Arceci has developed a varied career as performer, composer/arranger, and scholar. He performs regularly on the viola da gamba (viol), violone, and double bass throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.  As viol soloist with orchestra, Andrew has performed historical and/or contemporary works with Oxford Baroque (UK), and numerous ensembles throughout the United States. Recent recording projects include the upcoming Love & Lust with Elizabeth Hungerford, soundtrack work for the BBC-One drama series Silent Witness, Españoletas (2014) with Harmonious Blacksmith, Musique sacrée (2013) with Oxford Baroque, Time (2012) for unaccompanied viola da gamba, and The New Four Seasons (2012) with Musica Sequenza.  Andrew Arceci currently serves as principal bassist with Boston's L'Académie Baroque Orchestra and Chicago's Baroque Band. As a composer, Arceci often includes original works for unaccompanied viola da gamba on solo recitals.  Suite in D Minor: for Viola da Gamba and Chamber Orchestra was premiered in 2007 by the Peabody Camerata, and subsequently performed by the Peabody Sinfonietta. Suite II in G Minor: for Viola da Gamba, String Orchestra & Percussion was premiered in 2008 (Baltimore, MD), with subsequent performances by Boston's L'Académie in February 2012, the Oxford University String Ensemble in June 2012 at the Holywell Music Room (UK), and Boston's Juventas New Music Ensemble in September 2014.

Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård is in his first season as music director of the Minnesota Orchestra and has held that title with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra since 2018.   Between 2012 and 2018, he served as Principal Conductor of BBC National Orchestra of Wales after stepping down as Principal Conductor and Musical Advisor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.He has appeared with all the major orchestras in Europe.He is also a familiar figure in Scandinavia, with such orchestras as Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Danish National Symphony, Royal Danish Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony and Helsinki Philharmonic.For the Royal Danish Opera, he has led Die Walküre, Le nozze di Figaro, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Bohème, Cunning little vixen and Rossini's Viaggio a Reims.

D. T. Max first contributed to the New Yorker in 1997 and has been a staff writer since 2010. He is the author of “The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery,” a cultural and scientific study of fatal familial insomnia disease; “Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace,” and the topic of our conversation, “Finale: Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim.” He has been the books editor of the New York Observer, a writer for the Times Magazine, and a pseudonymous food reviewer for Paper. He contributed the afterword to the New York Review Books Classics reissue of William McPherson's 1984 novel, “Testing the Current.”

Singer, rapper, and writer, Dessa has made a career of bucking genres and defying expectations—her résumé as a musician includes performances at Lollapalooza and Glastonbury, co-compositions for 100-voice choir, performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, and top-200 entries on the Billboard charts.  Dessa has delivered keynote speeches and presentations on art, science, and entrepreneurship; guest lectures at universities and colleges across the US; and a TED Talk about her science experiment on how to fall out of love.  The Los Angeles Times says she “sounds like no one else.” NPR's All Songs Considered calls her “a national treasure.” On the stage and on the page, Dessa's style is defined by ferocity, wit, tenderness, and candor.  I feel fortunate to have her as a guest on this episode.

Lee Mills is internationally recognized as a passionate, multifaceted and energetic conductor. In naming Mills as the ‘New Artist of the Month' for March 2022, Musical America praised his ‘omnivorous musical temperament eager to try out highly contrasting musical styles and approaches.'As you'll hear, Lee left his mark wit the Seattle Symphony during the COVID pandemic, stepping in at crucial times. The League of American Orchestras selected Lee Mills for the 2018 Bruno Walter National Conductors Preview where he conducted the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. In 2017 he was selected as a semi-finalist in both the Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition and the Opera Royal de Wallonie-Liege International Opera Conducting Competition. In addition, he conducted alongside David Robertson in the highly acclaimed U.S. Premiere of John Cage's Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras with the Saint Louis Symphony.    At the invitation of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Music Director Marin Alsop, he received the prestigious BSO-Peabody Institute Conducting Fellowship in 2011. Under the tutelage of Gustav Meier and Marin Alsop, Mills received his Graduate Performance Diploma and Artist's Diploma in Orchestral Conducting at the Peabody Institute. He was a conducting fellow at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen during the summers of 2012 and 2013, working closely with Larry Rachleff, Robert Spano and Hugh Wolff. Lee Mills graduated cum laude from Whitman College, where he studied with Robert Bode.

Since 2015, the Beo String Quartet has created a niche for itself as a daring, genre-defying ensemble.  Trained in the classical tradition, violinists Jason Neukom and Andrew Giordano, violist Sean Neukom, and cellist Ryan Ash also know their way around contemporary expression, including the use of electronics, live sound processing, and spatial audio manipulation. Their performances of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, or Shostakovich have been compared to those of the best among 21st century international string quartets. With 65 world premieres to its credit and 145 concert works played throughout the United States, South America, and Europe, the Beo String Quartet does what it loves best: playing classical repertoire, contemporary, rock, and experimental music. Beo started out as a lark. Two Mexican-American brothers, Jason Neukom and Sean Neukom, decided to record a song entitled “Happy, Happy,” composed by Sean, but for that they would need two more players.  The rest is history.  Beo founded Beo Publishing, built a recording studio, and started its own recording label, NeuKraft Records.Quite a history!

With “a prodigious clarity of diction” (Scherzo) and “a moving tendresse” (BBC Music Magazine), Esther Yoo has been described as “the model of a violin soloist in the modern age.” (The Strad). In 2010, she became the youngest prizewinner of the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, and of the Queen Elisabeth Competition two years later. She talks about both. In 2014, she became a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist and in 2018 she was selected as one of Classic FM's Top 30 Artists under 30. In 2020, she was named one of WQXR's ‘20 For 20' artists to watch.  We talk about the value of competitions, the physical and mental health of performing musicians and lots more on this delightful episode.

Now-retired opera stage director Sonja Frisell capped her astounding career in 2017, when at age 80 in Muscat, Oman,  with the touring Rossini Opera Festival of Pesaro, she restaged Jean Pierre-Ponnelle's 1987 production of a little known one-act opera, L'Occasione fa il Ladro (“Opportunity makes the thief”).  She had been a protégé of Ponnelle, so who better?But it was in 1989 when the Metropolitan Opera debuted her production of Verdi's Aida with its hieroglyphics and torchlight temples designed by Gianni Quar-an-ta, that she left her mark.   It was a production that lasted 34 years, having been retired in the 2023 season.  I attended one of the final performances and can testify to its lasting durability.  It never lost its originality.  Nor did it appear like a postcard from Cairo.  It was like nothing ever presented on the Met's stage.  It wasn't just the glorious triumphal scene celebrating the Egyptian victory over the Ethiopians, but every scene, where every movement had meaning.  This was not just a spectacular opera; it was an opera produced by a director who from her youth studied Egypt, despite her mother's admonition that such was not suitable for a young girl.

Paul Jacobs is chair of the organ department at Juilliard School.  An extraordinarily expressive performer and an intensely intelligent musician, Grammy Award-winning organist, he is helping the “King of Instruments” retake its rightful place in classical music.  Charming to speak with and passionate about the instrument, this hour with Paul is sheer delight. 

Described by The New York Times as “one of America's finest artists and singers,” Frederica von Stade continues to be extolled as one of the music world's most beloved figures. She has enriched the world of classical music for three decades.  Her career has taken her to the stages of the world's great opera houses and concert halls. She began at the top, when she received a contract from Rudolf Bing during the Metropolitan Opera auditions, and since her debut in 1970 she has sung nearly all of her great roles with the Met.  We talked about her signature role, Mozart's Cherubino, her love of Broadway, her respect for Placido Domingo and their Merry Widow performances, and her recent recording, with Thomas Hampson, Richard Danielpour's Elegies, a tribute to her father whom she never met.

Ira Siff is a native New Yorker, who grew up on the standing room line of the old Metropolitan Opera, worshiping the famous singers of the 60s.  A graduate of the Cooper Union, with a degree in Fine Arts, Ira studied voice, and made his debut as a tenor in 1970. For the next decade, he performed roles in opera, operetta and musicals in New York, at The New York Shakespeare Festival, Circle in the Square, Playwrights Horizons, and other venues. Turning to cabaret, Ira created an act using vocal parody of opera, jazz, and other styles of music, gaining critical acclaim, and a loyal following.  He has also given master classes in bel canto and verismo for the Metropolitan Opera Guild since 2008, and has presented sold-out lectures for the Met Guild  on a variety of opera topics.  Since 2007 he has served as commentator on the Met's Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts.