Classical Classroom

Holy 150th episode, Batman! Because we are so stoked to have reached this milestone, we bring you not one, but two treats: A new Classical Classroom show intro, and the comedic stylings of violinist Jennifer Koh. Jennifer was Musical America’s Instrumentalist of 2016 and recently put out an album of Tchaikovsky’s complete works for violin and orchestra. Some of Tchaikovsky’s pieces are commonly referred to as, “…the most daunting works in the violin repertoire.” Jennifer explains why a composer would write something that musicians consider intimidating to play, and why musicians like her have fun feeling the fear and doing it anyway. Also in this episode, bear witness to astonishingly inept sports talk, and the best story about a violinist playing softball ever. All music in this episode from Jennifer Koh’s CD, Tchaikovsky’s Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra. Audio production by Todd “Birthday Boy” Hulslander with assistance from Mark DiClaudio and parkour by Dacia Clay. Many thanks to our listeners for