What's Not There

This week, Stefano Flavoni sits down with Julia Bullock, the soprano who has taken the world by storm. Hailing from St. Louis, Julia has risen to extraordinary heights, originating the role of Dame Shirley John Adams' Girls of the Golden West with San Francisco Opera, serving as Artist-in-Residence of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as performing in a litany of top ensembles around the world, including the San Francisco Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra London, London Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and more. Julia's activism and advocacy for the betterment of BIPOC musicians extends beyond the music industry itself, and has served as a beacon for society as a whole.

This week, Stefano Flavoni sits down with Christian Reif, one of the leading young conductors. Hailing originally from Rosenheim, Germany, Maestro Reif's path took him to the Mozarteum, to Juilliard, to the New World Symphony in Miami, to the San Francisco Symphony as Resident Conductor and Music Director of the acclaimed San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. Now residing in Munich with his wife Julia Bullock, he has risen to international heights, and is a true pioneer in both the classics and contemporary music. Special thanks to Charlotte Lee, Tabitha Brandel, and the entire team at Primo Artists.

In this episode, Stefano Flavoni sits down with prolific Peruvian composer Jimmy López Bellido to discuss his compositional process, major successes, including his opera Bel Canto (premiered by Lyric Opera of Chicago) and oratorio Dreamers (commissioned by Cal Performances and premiered by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra), as well as the elevation of diverse voices in the arts, and whether or not we are alone in the universe.

Stefano Flavoni sits down with Manfred Honeck, music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony. With Grammy nominations every year, Maestro Honeck has brought the Pittsburgh Symphony to extraordinary heights. Hailing from a musical family in Austria, and after nearly a decade as a violist in the Vienna Philharmonic, Manfred Honeck has risen to become one of the most prominent conductors of our time. We take time to discuss his recent production of Beethoven's Fidelio, directed by two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz, not to mention a slew of other composers, including Schubert, Bruckner, Strauss, and more. We also discuss our role as musicians in a turbulent society, as the pandemic rages on, as well as the importance of continuing to make music with our loved ones.

This week, Stefano Flavoni sits down with Michael Morgan, music director of the Oakland Symphony for the past thirty years, to discuss his perspectives on the classical music industry, both as the protege of some of the greatest musicians of all time (including Georg Solti, Leonard Bernstein, and Seiji Ozawa) and as one of the most prominent living African-American musicians. Maestro Morgan has appeared with some of the most prominent music institutions, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, New York City Opera, San Francisco Symphony, Vienna State Opera, and more. He is also the face and brain behind San Francisco Symphony's "Currents" series, which examines the cultural diversity and artistic sound worlds of the Bay Area and United States at large.

This week, Stefano Flavoni sits down with Eugene Izotov, principal oboist of the San Francisco Symphony, as well as former principal oboe of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Metropolitan Opera. Eugene is widely hailed as one of the greatest living oboists, and offers deep insights into music-making, mentorship of young musicians, and tricky audition excerpts. Eugene has served on the faculty of San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Juilliard School, Music Academy of the West, Pacific Music Festival, Verbier Festival, and countless other festivals, masterclasses, and competition juries.

Stefano Flavoni chats with Ken Ueno to discuss composing under quarantine, breaking through the glass ceilings held up by tradition or comfort zones, and amplifying the unheard voices in music's history. (Not to mention chatting about Michelin-starred cuisine, Japanese and German cinema, and our favorite rock and jazz artists).

Stefano Flavoni is joined by prolific Australian Heldentenor Stuart Skelton in a discussion of Wagner, Beethoven, Bruckner, Mahler, Sibelius, and just how absurd 2020 has been, especially for artists. Stuart has appeared on the stages of The Met, La Scala, San Francisco Opera, and just about every other major opera company and symphony you could imagine. With signature roles including Peter Grimes and Siegmund, among many others, Stuart is a voice and human for the ages.

Stefano Flavoni chats with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, prolific French pianist, in a discussion of his recent Beethoven albums, Debussy, Wagner, Chopin, contemporary music, and being an artist in the age of the coronavirus.

What's Not There is a podcast hosted by Stefano Flavoni, joined by the top artists of our time, in a deep dive into the perilous individual journey of finding one's unique artistic voice.