Classical Classroom

Astor Piazzolla was a bandoneon player and a composer in Argentina who lived during the 20th century. He changed both classical music and tango music by bringing the two together. The Neave Trio, who recently came out with an album of Piazzolla's work, teaches all about who he was and how his genre-hopping changed music.  Music list:   Special thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

We love it when Classroom alums get recognized for their awesomeness. Such is the case for soprano Sonya Yoncheva. In addition to receiving the Opera Award by the Chilean Art Critics Circle, Sonya is on the cover of the Metropolitan Opera's wall calendar this year. We thought this was a great occasion to rerun her episode of Classical Classroom and to say, "You go, gworl." -------------------- In our first MusicWorks episode (that's our storytelling-centered subseries), soprano Sonya Yoncheva tells the story of how she happened upon her passion – singing opera – by being true to herself (and listening to her mother) and by practicing her buns off. This put her in a position to be ready when she got that call from the Met to fill in at the last moment. And the rest, as they say, is in the podcast. Audio production by Todd “Totally” Hulslander with awesomeness by Dacia Clay. Music in this episode: Giacomo Puccini: La Boheme – Donde lieta usci Charles Lecocq: Les Cent Vierges, Act III, No. 10 Je soupire et maud

String quartet Brooklyn Rider has a new project called Healing Modes which they're currently touring. While they were in Seattle, we coaxed them into the KING FM studio with the promise of snacks. Just kidding! They came in willingly like most of our guests. In this episode, they talk about Beethoven's Opus 132, the piece at the center of this project, and about the 5 new pieces they commissioned to play alongside it. They also talk about why music is healing, and why we need it to do its magic now. Music in this episode:    Special thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

Third Coast Percussion makes amazing music by hitting stuff. Okay - it's a little more complicated than that. But the Grammy-winning ensemble does spend a lot of time, both at Home Depot and with percussion mentors from other countries, searching for things to hit, bash, tap and so on. Their latest project, Paddle to the Sea, is a beautiful and moving distillation of all of that searching and bashing - one that has a rich history, dating back to a children's book of the same name from 1941. In this episode, Third Coast's Sean Connors and Peter Martin talk about Paddle to the Sea and what exactly a percussion ensemble is. Music in this episode:   Special thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.   

What do Max Bruch and Edward Elgar have in common? Violinist Rachel Barton Pine! In this episode, RBP talks about the two composers and their very different violin concertos. Discussed herein: Did Edward Elgar invent Post It Notes? How is Max Bruch like Milli Vanilli and Iron Maiden? And, who was the mystery woman to whom Elgar dedicated his violin concerto (hint: it wasn’t his wife!)? And so much more. Music in this episode:     Special thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

It's Christmas Eve. Chances are, you've heard a lot of beautiful music. If you're looking for more of that, you've come to the wrong place. Welcome to Jingle Hell, where bad songs are born, and good songs come to die. Alecia Lawyer, founder, artistic director, and principal oboist of River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) talks about the worst musical offerings of the season, and what makes them so bad. Songs that include entire scales? Check. Songs with completely bizarre lyrics that we sing along with anyway? Check. Wookiees? Yeah. This episode has all of that and oh so much more. Listen if you dare! And, uh, merry Christmas. You're welcome. Music in this episode:   “Dominick the Donkey.” Ray Allen, Sam Saltzberg and Wandra Merrell. “I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas.” John Rox. Performed by Gayla Peevey. “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” Randy Brooks. Performed by Elmo and Patsy. “White Winter Hymnal.” Written and performed by Fleet Foxes. From their self-titled album. “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.”

We know what you're thinking: Another episode about Bach?! That's what we said! In fact, in this episode we ask Grammy-winning violist Kim Kashkashian to explain why classical musicians play and record the same music repeatedly, and specifically, why it's often the music of Bach. Her answer is totally fascinating! We also address the elephant in the room, i.e., whether or not it would have been okay with Bach that she played his Cello Suites on viola on her new album. Music in this episode:   Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

Marc-André Hamelin is many things: a renowned pianist, a composer, an Officer of the Order of Canada, and a record collector of major proportions. The hands-on, no robots or algorithms, no safety net, digging in dusty bins in record shops variety. In fact, hunting for classical music diamonds in the rough is part of his creative process, and he loves bringing lesser-known works that he finds out into the light before audiences. In this episode, Hamelin talks about how (and why) he finds music that's new to him, about a few pieces he's found that he loves, and gives advice on how you, too, can go a-(record)hunting. Music in this episode:  https://youtu.be/ZlrHX8muIYA  https://youtu.be/qnzjGbhPpfI Aurea Carmina Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/  Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.   

Violinist Hilary Hahn has achieved more at just 39 years old than most of us will in a couple of lifetimes: multiple Grammy awards, 1594 concerts (so far), 20+ albums, 2 episodes of the Classical Classroom podcast, 2 kids, and a talking violin case. In this episode, Hahn talks about how much practice it actually takes to be her, her #100daysofpractice challenge on Instagram, and about how much work went in to her latest album, Hilary Hahn Plays Bach: Sonatas 1 and 2 Partita 1.  Music in this episode:   Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough. 

If you've ever wondered how playing bowls of water is related to traditional classical music, this is the episode for you. Cellist Ashley Bathgate (of Bang on a Can All-Stars fame) was classically trained at Yale University School of Music, educated in the structured musical worlds of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. But today, she moves in a tangent universe of the classical music world, filled with effects pedals, prepared instruments, living composers, and sometimes members of indie rock bands. In this episode, she talks about what took her on this path, and in doing so, gives a legit primer on contemporary classical music [

Sometimes composers just make stuff up. That is the lesson that Grammy-winning, super duper famous violinist Joshua Bell teaches in this episode of Classical Classroom. He also talks about how this is not just okay - it can be great, as it is in the piece "Scottish Fantasy" by composer Max Bruch. Learn about who Bruch was and where this piece came from (spoiler alert: not Scotland). Music in this episode:  Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.  

Composer, conductor, and librettist Daron Hagen recently created a new magic trick: An opera that's not an opera about the director Orson Welles (Citizen Kane) but not necessarily about Orson Welles which may be performed in a different way every time it's performed and, according the website, "may, in fact, not exist at all, except as a set of options."  Hagen's opera Orson Rehearsed has a lot to teach us about the use and usefulness of operatic structure and about the creative process. Welles, who was an actual magician, loved the process of creating. Hagen makes that process part of the performance of Orson Rehearsed by placing each performance in the hands of an appointed person (the opera's "Magician") who makes decisions about the opera from a set of sound collages that they can dictate the order and placement of as it's happening. And it all takes place in the last hour of Orson Welles' life, as Hagen has envisioned it.  Honestly, you're just gonna have to listen, people. Music in this episode: Live re

Cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir is from the once-isolated island country of Iceland, a land of ice and snow and geothermal power and awesome music. In this episode, Sæunn tells the unique history of Icelandic classical music (or "music," as they call it there), including how the long-term relative isolation of the country lent to its unique approach to music, and tells what Bjork's favorite food is. Just kidding! But she does talk about Iceland's important composers and musical luminaries and says a lot of really cool-sounding Icelandic words.  Music in this episode:  Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.  

Life isn't always puppies and kittens (she stated sagely). Sometimes, it can be downright tough - maybe your family is falling apart and you're a famous composer and you're going deaf. We've all been there, amiright? In this episode, John Largess and Joshua Gindele, members of the Miro Quartet, talk about Beethoven's Opus 131 string quartet and that it's one example of how composers use the string quartet to tell their own stories. They also talk about what was going on in Beethoven's life that he may have been working out in this piece. Music in this episode: Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.  

Arguably, Anne Akiko Meyers is darn admirable herself. The violinist has scads of fans. She's been Billboard's #1 classical artist. I mean, she's been on Morning Edition AND All Things Considered. But in this episode, Meyers is the fan rather than the star. She tells stories about getting to work with composers she idolizes, and what happened when she did - and didn't - dare to ask them to do things differently. Valuable life lessons, people. Music in this episode:   Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

  Hold on to your hats, people: This episode with multi-Grammy Award winning classical guitarist Sharon Isbin covers a lot. Because how often do you get to talk to Sharon Isbin?? Learn about everything from the David Lynch Foundation and Transcendental Meditation, to Spanish art song, to astronauts, and how Isbin got started playing guitar at the age of 9. It's a veritable cornucopia of information. (Side note: Are any cornucopias not "veritable"? Do fake, poser cornucopias exist?) Music in this episode:     Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

Composer Jono Hill was given a unique task: to compose the score for a film about a classical musician. The movie As Far as the Eye Can See (directed by David Franklin and written by Paden Fallis) follows Jack Ridge, a now 40-year-old former Van Cliburn Competition winner who is more or less hiding out on his family's land in Texas. In this episode of Classical Classroom, Hill talks about the unique process of composing for film, and about the special challenges of composing for a movie with classical music at its center. Music in this episode: Tubaluba presents "Tubaluba Tidal Wave" featuring Janet Schwab Brahms Six Piano Pieces, Op. 118 Intermezzo in A Minor Murray Perahia, piano Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.  

Pianist Angela Draghicescu never meant to become a classical music investigator. But a simple desire to play good music led her to an unavoidable conclusion: some very important composers were grossly underrepresented in classical music repertoire. But...why?, she wondered. Authorities seemed stumped and inquiries into the whereabouts of these composers' work turned up only dead ends. And thus began Angela's emotional journey to find answers. That search resulted in the creation of her project, Women Who Score. It also took Classical Classroom down a terrifying rabbit hole full of twists, turns, and questions as we, too, tried to find out what happened to the music of women composers throughout history. Music in this episode: Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

Anne Midgette, chief classical music critic at the Washington Post, recently wrote an article that caught our attention called, "A beginner’s guide to enjoying classical music. No snobs allowed." We figured that she must have been listening to Classical Classroom, so we invited her on to chat. In this episode, Midgette discusses the pointers in her article (gems such as, "Classical music can do things no other music can"), talks about her own circuitous path to classical music critic stardom, and recommends some pieces of music to get you on your way to learning to love classical music more. Music in this episode:   Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.    

The Classical Classroom is back! But from where?? Hear host Dacia Clay recount the epic, harrowing tale behind the show's hiatus in this teaser episode. New full, real episodes will be out any day now. Dacia will be asking even more, even dumber questions about classical music. Come learn with us. Again.