From the Top Green Room

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Martin Dempsey meeting our performers

A few weeks ago we were in Grapevine, Texas, where we taped an especially unique episode of the radio show featuring young musicians who’ve grown up in military families. Our show was part of the Military Child Education Coalition’s annual seminar, and our audience was full of the people who teach and support military kids.

Among the performers featured was a fantastic young clarinetist whose dream of playing in a military band was realized when he joined a quintet from the United States Army Band to perform a military march. The quintet featured a flutist who was herself a former From the Topper. We also met a 17-year-old harpist who played Gabriel Pierne, a 16-year-old pianist who introduced us to his large military family, and an 18-year-old violist who turned the tables on the violinists of the world by playing one of the flashiest pieces in their repertory – Kreisler’s Praeludium and Allegro.

After the show I met a family of From the Top fans from the island of Borneo (on the South China Sea). It was incredibly cool to learn that they listened to our podcast halfway across the world!

My favorite moment of all had to be at our dress rehearsal when we had the honor of meeting the highest-ranking military officer in the United States (i.e. the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and principal military adviser to the President) General Martin Dempsey, who sat in on our rehearsal. But not only did he watch it, General Dempsey, who is known among his colleagues for his love of singing, treated us to his rendition of “My Kind of Town” – and believe me when I tell you that the General has some serious stage presence! Of course I made sure we videotaped it for you, and you can check out a snippet at the end of this week’s Sneak Peek video. When the show airs though (the week of October 1) look out, because we’ll likely post the whole thing!

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The Filarmónica Joven de Colombia

A few weeks ago we had the incredible experience of traveling to Colombia to make our international debut in Bogota. Our trip was profound in ways we could have never anticipated. Rather than giving you my usual play by play, I’m going to ask you to click here for a blog that tells the story wonderfully.

I do have for you a sneak peek video of the show. It’s a long one (as there was so much awesomeness to capture!) but make sure you watch until the end. The Filarmónica Joven de Colombia (Colombia’s national youth orchestra) have a tradition of closing concerts with the folk tune “Colombia Tierra Querida,” during which they joyfully dance as they play.  It’s like a big festive celebration, and we were all taken with it. Please excuse the shakiness of the camera – I was up there dancing with them!

This episode of From the Top is dedicated to the memory of Maestro Matthew Hazelwood, and will premiere the week of September 24, 2012.

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The Houston Youth Symphony

Greetings everyone! The whirlwind spring tour of 2012 continues with our most recent taping in Houston, Texas. We taped at the Wortham Center, the gigantic home of the Houston Ballet and Houston Grand Opera, and our show included plenty of outstanding Houston talent. The audience was packed, and, as a result of the Houston Public Radio’s fundraising drive’s From the Top Day, almost 200 Project GRAD students were able to attend our taping for free!

Kicking off the festivities was the Houston Youth Symphony, 82 members strong, performing Beethoven’s “Leonore” Overture No. 3. After they played, a few of the orchestra members were interviewed about inter-orchestra romance. One of the teenage members shared that he was a student ambassador for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, which works to ensure that gay students are not bullied, and it was heartening to see his orchestra colleagues and the audience applaud in support.

Later in the show, a fantastic 18-year-old baritone, Aaron Bigeleisen, sang Schubert and spoke about founding a Glee Club – although in this case, “GLEE” is a clever acronym for “Gun Lovers and Environmental Enthusiasts!” The audience got a kick out of that, and it struck me that here on From the Top we meet kids of all ages and backgrounds with all sorts of different viewpoints, who bond through their shared love of music and also tend to find a lot of common ground with each other. Now if only the rest of the world could work like that!

As always, for your viewing pleasure, enjoy this Sneak Peek of the upcoming broadcast, and make sure to tune in when this show airs in September.

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Spring is a notoriously busy time here in From the Top land, but this spring has been, without a doubt, the extra-crazy-busiest! In the last few weeks we’ve crisscrossed the country from northern New York to sunny Tennessee to way out west in Oregon, all the while as we prepared for our annual gala which took place last week in Boston. Needless to say, I am a wee bit behind on my blogging, so without further ado I present to you… “On the Road with Joanne Robinson: Triple Feature!”

Host Christopher O’Riley gives pianist Avery Gagliano pointers on her piece “Cat and Mouse”

Our extra special triple feature starts way up north almost on the border of Canada in the quaint university town of Potsdam, New York, where we taped a show at the Crane School of Music. It was a terrific show, full of incredible performances and stories and a true diversity of kids who really seemed to have a great time. I loved watching two of our performers – 10-year-old pianist Avery Gagliano and 18-year-old flutist Margaux Filet – playing the hand game “slide” backstage. I also got a kick out of the fact that performer Jieming Tang  played an 18^th century Gagliano violin, which meant that a 10-year-old Gagliano (Avery) and a nearly 300-year-old Gagliano shared the same stage!

The drive home from Potsdam to Boston was gorgeous; we found ourselves in a winter wonderland. As we wound around Lake Champlain and down through Vermont, I kept my flipcam out and at the ready, hoping for a “Champ” sighting (Champ is the mythical sea monster who allegedly makes his home in Lake Champlain). Alas, all I captured were rocks and sticks.

A mere four days later the From the Top crew landed in hot and sunny Chattanooga, Tennessee for a taping at the Tivoli Theatre. I just loved the Tivoli, and the people in Chattanooga were the epitome of Southern hospitality. The show featured two local performers – 16-year-old vocalist Thomas West and 17-year-old trumpeter John Burton – and there was enormous audience support for them. Something cool that didn’t make it onto the show is the fact that John Burton isn’t only an outstanding musician, he also happens to be an incredible juggler. He showed off some of his juggling tricks backstage, and I caught some of it on flipcam for you (check out “Sneak Peek Show 252″ below)!

Now on to Portland, Oregon! Portland is such a vibrant city, known for its forward-thinking people and great arts scene, but what I think I appreciated most of all was the abundance of great local coffee shops. We taped at the gorgeous Newmark Theatre to a full house. We were thrilled to once again feature violinist Simone Porter, now 15, who was on our show originally back when she was 11, and an incredible musician even then. When the show goes live we’ll be posting a video of Simone “through the ages” so make sure to look out for that! This taping had many great moments, but I especially loved the finale, which featured two piano-playing sisters performing Percy Grainger’s Fantasy on George Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess for Two Pianos. An exhilarating end to a whirlwind tour.

And now for your viewing pleasure, I have three, count ‘em three, video sneak peeks for you! Enjoy – and I’ll be in touch next week to tell you all about our Houston taping.

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Curtain call at Carnegie's Zankel Hall
photo by Julien Jourdes

We taped a show last week in the heart of the Big Apple at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall for a an audience packed with music teachers from all over the US. The teachers were in town for the Music Teacher’s National Association convention, and as you might expect, they made for a wonderfully enthusiastic audience!

Opening the show was 17-year-old violinist Madi Vest who played Franz Waxman’s “Carmen Fantasie.” She’s a serious violinist, wholeheartedly intent on pursuing a career in music, and her expressive style of playing really engaged the crowd.

Following Madi was a very young guitarist, 13-year-old Ashwin Krishna, who beautifully played “Sunburst” by Andrew York and talked with Christopher O’Riley about how he manages to balance school, music, Boy Scouts, and sports.

Next up was a phenomenal piano quartet from New York City who call themselves the Lapis Quartet. They passionately played the finale from Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 and talked about their history of having heated arguments in Chinese (the problem is, only three of the four quartet members speak Chinese)!

18-year-old Karen Baumgartner was up next playing a mesmerizing piece for solo flute called “Image” by Eugene Bozza. It’s always interesting to hear a musician play solo without accompaniment and Karen didn’t disappoint. She also was in for a surprise after the played when her twin sister, who could not be in the live audience that day, called in to the show to congratulate her.

For the grand finale, 18-year-old pianist Quinn Gomez took the stage to play a dynamic piece called “Butterflies and Bobcats” written by contemporary Canadian composer David McIntyre.

And now, for you viewing pleasure, enjoy this sneak peek of all of the performances taken the night before at our music rehearsal – and make sure to tune in when the show airs the week of April 30!

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The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts

Hello everyone! Sorry to be a bit behind with blogging – we’ve been in the middle of a whirlwind spring tour, and now that we’re back home and settled in Boston for a bit I’m ready to catch you up.

A little over a week ago we were in Carmel, Indiana to tape a show at the Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts. It’s a gorgeous new hall with fantastic acoustics.

The taping was terrific and featured an array of talented young musicians. Kicking things off was 11-year-old violinist Nathan Meltzer from nearby Bloomington. He played a piece by Hungarian violinist and composer Jenö Hubay.

Following Nathan was 18-year-old guitarist Tyler Rhodes from Texas who told a powerful story about his life and personal philosophy and then performed “Andaluza” by Enrique Granados.

15-year-old cellist Sydney Lee was up next. She expertly performed Chopin’s Introduction & Polonaise Brillante, Op. 3 and talked with Christopher O’Riley about her strong faith.

We then met the members of Quartet Tzigane, four teenagers from Minneapolis, who performed the fourth movement from Piano Quartet in D minor by William Walton. They played passionately and were totally in sync and exciting to watch.

The show closed with talented young pianist, 13-year-old Evelyn Mo who performed Debussy’s L’isle joyeuse.

This episode will air the week of April 16, but to tide you over until then, check out this sneak peek!

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