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Few faces in classical music are more recognizable right now than that of Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä — not because of his sculptural good looks and piercing blue eyes, but because he's quickly become one of today's most popular conductors.
At just 28 years old, Mäkelä has already racked up an impressive résumé, including his current roles as music director of the Orchestre de Paris, chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic, and chief-conductor designate of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. But despite his face adorning posters plastered on concert hall facades across Europe, Mäkelä doesn't want to be the center of attention. When he's on the podium, he'd much rather you focus on the composers whose works he brings to life.
Music lovers in North America will have several opportunities to hear Mäkelä's prodigious talents this month, when he and the Orchestre de Paris embark on a tour of Montreal, Boston, Ann Arbor, and New York, where the young conductor will make his highly anticipated Carnegie Hall debut conducting Stravinsky's Firebird ballet and the volcanic Rite of Spring — two works Mäkelä and the orchestra recorded and released to critical acclaim on Decca Classics in 2023.
In this episode, Mäkelä and I talk more about the upcoming tour and what he's most looking forward to when he steps onto the stage of Carnegie Hall. Plus, he shares how the visual arts inspire his artistry, the 18th-century composer he'd love to play chamber music with, and the importance of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's music during his childhood.
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Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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When Justin Austin isn't singing at the Metropolitan Opera, Kennedy Center, or Lincoln Center Theater, you're likely to find him shooting hoops on the basketball court. Sports have been a lifelong passion for the young baritone, but it's more than the game's physical benefits that keep him reaching for a basketball. To Austin, cultivating the mindset of an athlete has consistently helped him reach new heights as an artist.
"A basketball coach once told me that discipline means doing all the things that are hard and that you don't like to do, but doing them as if you love it," he says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast.
"That's helped me in my work ethic and my discipline within my musical career. When I encounter any kind of discomfort or difficulty learning my music or translating or memorizing, I just try to fall in love with the process, the repetition, dancing the words and the music. I find different creative ways to get the score in my body, so that it lives within me and comes out of me organically."
That approach to practice and role preparation has helped Austin land repeat engagements on some of classical music's biggest stages — including Carnegie Hall, where, on March 5, he's presenting a recital with pianist Howard Watkins. Part of Carnegie Hall's ongoing festival, Fall of the Weimar Republic: Dancing on the Precipice, this recital — titled "Don't Be Angry!" — presents music by five composers written over the course of a century, from selections from Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera to the New York premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's Marvin Gaye Songs, which Gordon composed for Austin.
In this episode, Austin and I talk more about his upcoming recital and how he hopes the program helps audience members become more comfortable with feelings of anger and hopelessness during turbulent times. Plus, he shares what it was like to return to the Metropolitan Opera stage after pandemic lockdowns, why opera singers should spend time honing their acting skills, and the OutKast album he would need with him if stranded on a desert island.
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Classical Post®is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Classical music so often feels divorced from pop culture, but we don't need to dive too deep into the history books to see how much composers of the past embraced the cultural traditions of their homelands. Béla Bartók traveled across Hungary documenting folk songs, Gustav Mahler wove popular tunes into his First Symphony, and even Mozart composed background music for playing the popular card games of his day.
Is it possible for today's composers to once again marry concert music with aspects of popular culture? Juan Pablo Contreras thinks so.
The Mexican composer-conductor thrives on combining Western classical and Mexican folk music into a single soundscape that's all his own. And in his dazzling 2022 orchestral work Lucha Libre!, he's also incorporating one of his country's most beloved traditions: the choreographed wrestling spectacles that emerged in the 1950s, in which wrestlers act as superheroes waging battles between good and evil.
Commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Lucha Libre! transforms the stage into a live wrestling match, with six of the orchestral musicians wearing the iconic luchador masks. For Contreras, the work is not only an example of his artistic mission to bring people into the concert hall with music that feels relevant and exciting, but also a way for him to pay homage to the virtuosity of classical musicians.
"For me, classical musicians are like superheroes," Contreras says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "They do something almost impossible with their instrument. They are very gifted, and they have to do things in collaboration with other musicians so the magic happens. The same thing happens in lucha libre — everything is choreographed, so even if the teams are rivals, they have to work together to give the people a good spectacle."
In this episode, recorded just before the work's LA premiere, we talk more about the genesis of the piece, how Contreras collaborated with local communities to shape the work, and how he hopes Lucha Libre! inspires people to consider their own superhero persona. Plus, he shares how film and architecture inspire his creativity, the importance of daily meditation, and his favorite West Hollywood spot for Peruvian paella.
Stream Lucha Libre!, performed by the Orquestra Latino Mexicana — a group Contreras founded in his hometown of Guadalajara — on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen to music.
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Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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For more than a year now, I've been obsessed with TÁR, the 2022 Todd Field film starring Cate Blanchett as an orchestral conductor whose power plays lead to her devastating downfall. Yes, the story is gripping and suspenseful, but it's the music interlaced throughout the film that keeps me coming back.
Aside from the two works performed in the film — Mahler's Fifth Symphony and Elgar's Cello Concerto — which were baked into Field's script, the music you hear throughout TÁR is the result of months of work by the film's music supervisor, Lucy Bright. A specialist in the arenas of film and television scoring, Bright has worked with some of today's biggest composers — including Nico Muhly, Michael Nyman, and Volker Bertelmann — on projects ranging from Assassin's Creed to Aftersun and The Iron Claw.
But what exactly does a music supervisor do on a film of this scale? Turns out, it's a lot.
From working with a team of on-set sound engineers who specialize in recording symphony orchestras to developing the film's Deutsche Grammophon concept album and recreating Urbie Green's 1967 recording of "Twenty-one Trombones," Bright was kept busy managing countless aspects of the film's musical atmosphere across three countries.
In this episode of the Classical Post podcast, I speak with Bright about the expert levels of coordination and collaboration vital to her work, working with the Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir to realize Lydia Tár's compositions, and what it was like seeing Cate Blanchett raise a baton to conduct Mahler. Plus, she shares her fascinating history with modern architecture, her go-to burger place in New York City, and the therapeutic benefits of swimming in the natural springs of London's Hampstead Heath.
Stream TÁR (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture) on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or wherever you stream music.-
Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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Poetry has long served as a point of inspiration for classical composers. Just think of Beethoven's magnificent setting of Schiller's "Ode to Joy," Schubert's cinematic take on Goethe's "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel," or Ned Rorem's soulful songs based on the words of Frank O'Hara.
And now there's a new work to add to this storied tradition from composer Brian Raphael Nabors. In Upon Daybreak, premiered by the Berkeley Symphony in late 2022, Nabors turns to a poignant poem by the late Maya Angelou, "A Brave, Startling Truth." Rather than set the poem's text to music, however, Nabors distills Angelou's visionary call for a great "day of peacemaking" into a powerful orchestral work that imagines a utopian world without hatred or malice.
"In the poem, [Angelou] talks about all the chaos, war, and dystopia that come about from us being humans and destructive," Nabors says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "But also all the beauty that comes from humanity and what we're able to offer. It talks about this day when all this war mongering ends finally and we realize that the true wonders of the world are ourselves and life itself."
Commissioned by New Music USA as part of its Amplifying Voices program, Upon Daybreak has been performed by the Detroit Symphony, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra since its Berkeley premiere, and the work will make its way to the Seattle Symphony in 2024.
In this episode, Nabors and I talk more about composing Upon Daybreak and what it was like working with the Berkeley Symphony's music director, Joseph Young, on a host of community engagement projects leading up to the premiere. Plus, he shares the important part his spiritual life plays in maintaining the energy to compose, how video games help him overcome creative blocks, and why skin care is always a top priority in his wellness routine.
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Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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There's an interesting dichotomy baked into the act of composing. Although the music that composers write reflects their own thoughts, emotions, and perspectives, they need to hand that music over to other people to bring it to life.
But for Andrew Bennett, a Canadian composer of experimental electronic music who records under the moniker Factor Eight, his own voice is the driving force behind his 2022 album, II. Although that was never Bennett's plan for the album — it proved to be a creative breakthrough.
"Throughout the creation of that record, I was also trying to create a sound that was entirely my own, something that felt more authentically me," Bennett says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "I didn't really set out to create music using only my voice, but when I look back it's sort of serendipitous that these things happened in tandem. There's a parallel in the album between my artistic sound and my personal story behind the record."
By manipulating the vocals using a raft of technologies, he created a vast, mystical soundscape that's profoundly personal to Bennett. The new album became an avenue for revealing his struggles with mental illness and raising awareness of the stigma around bipolar disorder. Mental health advocacy has always been part of Bennett's mission as an artist, and he is donating proceeds from digital sales of II to the Canadian Mental Health Association Saskatoon.
In this episode, Bennett and I talk more about the creation of the album, and how the process inspired him to continue using his voice as the primary canvas for his music. Plus, he shares how the act of collaboration fuels his creativity, why a Vitamix blender is the most important gadget in his kitchen, and the importance of the visual arts in his sound-based work.
Listen to II on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, or wherever you stream or download music.—Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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When most people think of the pipe organ, they imagine its massive, majestic sound filling a large church during a wedding, funeral, or other Christian ceremonies.
But as I learned in my recent conversation with the Austrian concert organist Lukas Hasler, we can trace the instrument's roots to ancient Egypt, thousands of years before the birth of Christ. And despite their prevalence in the church, organs have also played an important role in secular life. In the 19th century, for example, people in small villages or those who couldn't afford concert tickets could only hear new music when it was transcribed and performed by a local organist.
And for Hasler, bringing the organ back to the mainstream and helping people from all walks of life discover its beauty and expressive range has become a central component of his career.
"Everyone thinks the organ is just in churches, which of course is a truth," Hasler says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "On the other side, every time you walk into concert halls or listen to film music, the organ plays a major part. I really want to create an awareness of this instrument — and sometimes it really helps to transcribe very famous scores for the organ."
Hasler's ability to showcase the organ's remarkable versatility has made him a star on the rise. In addition to building a community of more than 80,000 fans on social media, he's performed in the opening ceremony of the Salzburg Festival, was the first touring classical musician to perform in Ukraine after the start of the Russian invasion, and his transcriptions of everything from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to the Super Mario Brothers theme have thrilled audiences across Europe and the U.S.
In this episode, Hasler and I talk more about the organ's evolution over time and his latest digital release — an astounding reading of Franz Liszt's virtuosic Fantasy and Fugue on Bach. Plus, he shares what made him recently pack up his life in Austria and head to sunny southern California, how architecture and fashion inspire his creativity, and the importance of hearing protection when the instrument you play is very, very loud.
Listen to Hasler's recording of Liszt's Fantasy and Fugue on Bach on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you stream music.—Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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Anyone who's had the pleasure of seeing violinist Rachel Barton Pine perform live knows this is a musician who gives every performance her all. What many people will likely not know is how much that mesmerizing stage presence is informed and inspired by her love of heavy metal music.
"[In heavy metal], there's this 150% commitment to feeling the music and sharing it with the person farthest away in the venue," Pine shares on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "That's something I try to do whether I'm playing things that are really bombastic or things that are perfectly calm. ... For me, sharing is what it all comes down to — knowing that I've done everything I can to share the most music with the most people."
Sharing a lot of music with a lot of people has been a throughline of Pine's career. Besides performing the standards of the violin repertoire, Pine has made it her mission for more than two decades to shine a light on music by underrepresented composers. Last year she released the 25th anniversary edition of her seminal album, Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries — a collection of works for violin and orchestra by Florence Price, Joseph Bologne, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and José White Lafitte.
The overwhelming response to that album — produced long before classical music's concerted push for more diverse programming — inspired her to launch the Music by Black Composers initiative in 2001, which has not only collected more than 900 works by 450 composers of African descent, but also produced a variety of free educational resources so music lovers of all ages can access this incredible music.
In this episode, Pine and I talk more about the album and the impact of historical discrimination on the violin repertoire. Plus, she shares how finding a sense of purpose as a violinist fuels her energy and creativity, that time she heard authentic tango music in Uruguay, and her favorite place in New York City for vegan Italian food.
Listen to Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries on Spotify, Apple Music, Idagio, or wherever you stream music.—
Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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No matter what line of business you're in, building a new enterprise from the ground up isn't for the faint of heart. From defining your mission to marketing, payroll, and growth strategies, there's a lot to consider — and a lot of opportunities to give up when the challenges feel insurmountable.
Conductor Luke McEndarfer encountered many of those moments in his early days leading the National Children's Chorus, where he's served as artistic director and CEO for 20 years. As he looked to expand the choir's reach beyond a handful of participants in Los Angeles, he hit a low point: needing to borrow money from his mother to pay the venue rental fee for an upcoming concert.
But giving up on the organization — and its talented young singers — was never an option, as McEndarfer shares on a new episode of the Classical Post podcast.
"At the end of my life, in the last minute or two that I'm here on this earth looking back, I would rather know I did everything I could to make this vision come true and failed, than to think I held something back and would never know what would have happened if I really went for it. So I'd rather fail than not give it my all and then never know."
To say McEndarfer's vision for the group has come to life would be an understatement. Under his leadership, the National Children's Chorus has become one of the leading children's choirs in the world, with more than 1,200 students across eight chapter cities performing concerts at leading venues around the globe every season. The ensemble won a 2022 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance and just released its first album, Illumine, which they recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra at the iconic Abbey Road Studios.
In this episode, McEndarfer and I talk more about his 20 years with the chorus and what's on the horizon for the ensemble in 2024. Plus, he shares the ways human connection inspires him to make music, how getting up early helps him hone his creativity, and why the best investment you can make in your life is a really good bed.
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Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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A postmodern take on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Yorgos Lanthimos's new film, Poor Things, sees the director exploring ideas of life and liberty in his uniquely surrealist way.
The movie revolves around Bella, played by Emma Stone, a woman in Victorian Britain brought back to life by Dr. Godwin Baxter, played by Willem Dafoe. Eager to learn more about the world around her, Bella sets off on a fantastical, globe-hopping adventure.
That theme of reanimation was central to composer Jerskin Fendrix while developing the film's score. Although he's primarily known as a singer, pianist, and songwriter active in South London's indie music scene, Fendrix's ability to merge his classical training with experimental approaches to music-making was a perfect fit for the world of Poor Things.
To match the imaginative tone of Lanthimos's film, Jerskin spent time digitally processing and manipulating the voice of each instrument, ultimately transforming even the most familiar musical sounds into an unfamiliar, almost eerie listening experience.
"I was really interested in wind instruments and breath as a musical idea," Jerskin explains on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "Breath and life are inextricably tied up, so giving the impression of something which isn't sentient or alive replicating anything that is alive sets off a really primal, fear-based instinct, something which is preternaturally horrifying."
In this episode, Fendrix and I talk more about the creative process behind his Poor Things score. Plus, he shares a piece of writing advice from Kurt Vonnegut that helps him focus his work, the importance of emotional resonance in his music, and the street food scene he craves whenever he's in New York City.
Poor Things and the film's official soundtrack will be released on December 8, 2023. The first two singles, "Bella" and "Lisbon," are available wherever you stream music.—Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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The architecture world lost a giant when the distinguished Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly died earlier this year at the age of 78. For four decades, Viñoly led his global architecture firm to international renown, bringing to life everything from airports to hospitals, sports stadiums, and performing arts centers — including one very close to my heart, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center.
Having lived in the Philly area for many years prior to moving to New York, I've attended countless performances at the Kimmel Center. I've always been inspired by how the sprawling public space invites people to come together for drinks, conversation, and community even if you're not there for a concert. According to Viñoly's son Román, director of Rafael Viñoly Architects, creating vibrant social spaces was always part of his father's mission.
"He looked at his work as something that invariably had a profoundly civic dimension," Román says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "He recognized that buildings are very capital intensive, so he always found ways to leverage those enormous investments into developing public amenities — grand, inspiring spaces that people want to spend time in. That ethical approach permeates his work throughout the world."
Outside of architecture, Rafael Viñoly had another passion: classical music. So it's fitting that a concert paying tribute to the architect's life and legacy is taking place next week at Carnegie Hall — where for decades Viñoly attended several concerts every week.
On November 28, two ensembles that perform in Viñoly-designed spaces — the Philadelphia Orchestra, under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Jazz at Lincoln Center's Isaiah J. Thompson Trio — will share the stage at Stern Auditorium with violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Jonathan Biss for an evening of music honoring Viñoly.
In this episode, Román and I talk more about his father's life, the work the Viñoly Foundation is doing to extend Rafael's legacy in architecture and the arts, and how the Carnegie concert also marks the first U.S. appearance of the Maene-Viñoly Concert Grand Piano — an innovative, ergonomically designed piano Rafael helped create.—
Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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For conductor and baritone Malcolm J. Merriweather, artistic inspiration has largely sprung from asking questions related to his identity. What role does his work as a Black musician play within the larger tapestry of music history? Who are the artists of the past who contributed to the legacy he's inherited today?
As director of the New York Philharmonic Chorus and music director of the Dessoff Choirs, Merriweather spends his days bringing to life great choral works from the Renaissance through the 21st century. But two composers — who happened to live 400 years apart — have proved his primary focus over the past several years: Margaret Bonds, a contributor to the Harlem Renaissance; and Vicente Lusitano, an Afro-Portuguese musician who's considered the first published Black composer.
Merriweather has led the Dessoff Choirs in performances of both composers' music, oftentimes programming their work alongside that of their contemporaries. Which, in the case of Lusitano, includes Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, and Giovanni Palestrina — who also happens to be an important figure in the ensemble's early history.
"It's part of the Dessoff Choirs' mission to bring underperformed and underrepresented music and composers to the concert stage," Merriweather says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "That's been part of our mission since our founding in 1924 by Margarete Dessoff, a German Jewish immigrant. At that time, she was bringing the music of Palestrina to this country, which had never been heard here."
In this episode, Merriweather and I talk more about his relationship to Margaret Bonds's music, and how his critically acclaimed recordings of her songs led him to London to hear Lusitano's works for the first time. Plus, he shares how the act of baking nourishes his mind and body, why he has to make his bed first thing in the morning, and his favorite restaurant in Harlem for American-Senagalese fusion cuisine.
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Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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As busy as composer Anna Clyne is this season — fulfilling commissions for new works and serving as a resident artist with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, and the Symphony Orchestra of Castilla y León — music accounts for a fraction of her artistic inspiration.
That's because the Grammy-nominated British composer thrives on incorporating many creative disciplines outside of music into her work. Reviewing a roster of her recent engagements, you'll find critically acclaimed collaborations with visual artist Josh Dorman, filmmaker Jyll Bradley, and choreographers from London's Royal Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet.
Clyne's immersive approach to music-making offers audiences new entry points for experiencing new music and understanding classical music's relationship to other branches of the arts. "Success for me is about reaching audiences," she says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "My role as a composer is to create something as beautiful as I can and to share that. When people come back with a piece that's been very moving for them, I feel I've been successful in sharing something with the world. That's a very humbling feeling."
In this conversation, we discuss her ongoing partnership with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, how a Mark Rothko painting inspired her orchestral work Color Field, and the ways a lifelong love of literature is helping her to write an opera on the life of Emily Dickinson. Plus, Clyne discusses her wellness practices — from drawing and Japanese calligraphy to long walks with her adopted pup Penny — the joy of ending a long day with a Negroni, and her favorite place for classic steak frites in New York City.
—Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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When most orchestras commission a new work, they usually ask the composer to produce music that fits on a standard concert program, like a 10-minute overture or a 45-minute symphony.
But when BBC Earth approached composers Adam Lukas and James Everingham — along with the two-time Oscar winner Hans Zimmer — to compose the score for its latest nature documentary series, Frozen Planet II, the show's producers needed six hours of music. Even for this trio of seasoned composers, that's a tall order to fill.
Besides creating a sonic universe to accompany Frozen Planet II's icy, snow-capped visuals, these composers had to help fulfill the show's core mission: introducing viewers not only to the daily lives of polar bears, penguins, and snow monkeys — but also the ways climate change is compounding the difficulties they face surviving in the coldest regions of the world.
"The series is tackling the issue of the climate crisis," Lukas says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "We knew we wanted to tell the stories of the animals in their habitats in a way that helps people connect with them and care about them in a genuine way. That's something Hans has spent his career being the best at."
In this episode, I sit down with Lukas and Everingham to discuss the process of creating the series's score — which involved more than 100 people working for three years while navigating lockdown restrictions. They also share stories about collaborating with the legendary Zimmer, the magical time they spent in the studio with the Norwegian singer-songwriter Aurora, and how they define success.
Frozen Planet II is available to stream in the U.S. on Prime Video, Vudu, and Apple TV.
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Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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Composer Steven Mackey has come a long way since his teenage years studying physics at the University of California, Davis, and learning blues-rock riffs on his guitar.
Today Mackey stands as a celebrated composer and electric guitarist whose work is regularly performed by orchestras around the world — including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony, and the Boston Symphony. He's taught composition at Princeton University for nearly 40 years and has served as a composer in residence at the Curtis Institute of Music, Tanglewood, and the Aspen Music Festival.
On his latest album, Beautiful Passing, Mackey brings together two works inspired by personal experiences that deeply informed his views on memory, life, and death: Mnemosyne’s Pool, which Musical America called "the first great American symphony of the 21st century"; and Beautiful Passing, a violin concerto Mackey composed after watching his mother pass away from cancer.
Despite the presence of death woven throughout both works, Mackey made sure to find moments for levity and humor in his music. "Part of death is a farewell to this joyous life and the energetic people my parents were," Mackey says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "There's a depth of emotion that music is really uniquely suited for. Where words are a struggle to come by, music bypasses those language centers and gives you a direct emotional response."
In this episode, we talk more about the new album, and Mackey shares the profoundly moving story of his mother's death and how it influenced Beautiful Passing's title. Plus, he discusses the parallels he sees between filmmaking, cooking, and composition, and his go-to spot for Italian food on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Listen to Beautiful Passing on Spotify, Apple Music, Idagio, or wherever you stream and download music.
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Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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After years spent touring the world with pop and jazz legends like Julio Iglesias and Babik Reinhardt, pianist Chad Lawson was hungry to find a more intimate avenue for his curiosity and creativity. So he began composing short, ethereal works for solo piano, several of which made their way onto his debut album, 2009's Set on a Hill.
Although he began composing as a way to find quiet calm after years on the road, Lawson quickly saw the effect his music had on people all over the globe. He received countless emails from listeners who had found in Lawson's album the solace they needed to deal with hardships in their personal lives. And in the 15 years since that flood of emails began, Lawson has grown a devoted fan base. His music has received more than 500 million streams, and every week 60,000 people listen to his podcast, Calm It Down.
On his most recent album, breathe, it's clear Lawson has forged a career that's less concerned with his popularity as an artist and more about helping people improve their emotional and mental health.
"breathe is meant to invite people to be OK with what we've been through — be it the last two years, the last two hours, the last two decades — and to find that place where we can kind of exhale everything we've been carrying with us that we no longer need," he says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast.
"It's not about Chad Lawson. It's about creating a platform that allows healing for people and what they're going through."
In this episode we talk more about the new album, and Lawson shares profound insights into the creative process behind his music. He also talks more about the marriage of music and mental health, the ways Transcendental Meditation helps him quiet his racing mind, and his favorite Brooklyn pastry shop for what he calls "the best donuts on the planet."
Listen to breathe wherever you stream or download music.
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Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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I'm always curious how many frequent flier miles composers rack up in a year. That's because, to hear a new work performed live, they need to travel to where the concerts are happening. And often times that's major cultural hubs like New York City, London, Berlin, or Tokyo.
But an inventive project from harpist Emily Levin is bringing composers much closer to their home turf. GroundWork(s), which Levin founded in 2022, is commissioning 52 composers — one from each of the 50 states, plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico — to write new works for the harp. But what makes GroundWork(s) unique is that each piece receives its premiere in the composer's hometown, showcasing the artistry of the composers in the cities that first inspired and supported them.
For the third GroundWork(s) commission, Levin tapped Puerto Rico–born composer Angélica Negrón, currently the composer-in-residence with the Dallas Symphony, where Levin is also the principal harp. Negrón's new work for violin, cello, harp, and electronics, Ave del paraíso, takes its inspiration from the Bird of Paradise and even includes field recordings of birds native to Puerto Rico.
For Negrón, the GroundWork(s) project represents the first time she's received a premiere in her hometown of San Juan. In addition to having family and friends be among the first to hear a work of hers performed, Negrón also saw the premiere earlier this year as a unique opportunity to dissolve the borders often placed between musicians and the audience.
In this episode, I talk more with Levin and Negrón about how the San Juan premiere came together and what's next for GroundWork(s) in the coming months. Plus, Levin shares her fascinating strategy for engaging audiences with new music by putting the focus not on the music — but on the people involved in the creative process.
-Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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Few classical musicians have an IMDb page as extensive as composer-pianist Volker Bertelmann.
In addition to the experimental piano music he composes and performs under the moniker Hauschka, Bertelmann is one of the most prolific film composers at work today. Over the past 15 years, he's scored nearly 60 films and television shows — including titles featuring megawatt stars like Nicole Kidman and Benedict Cumberbatch.
But even with those credits, Bertelmann knew it would be difficult composing the score for Netflix's new World War I epic All Quiet on the Western Front. He would need to establish a musical atmosphere that could take viewers from the optimistic enthusiasm felt at the start of the war to the bleak despair experienced by millions of soldiers trapped in trenches on the front lines. Bertelmann was up for the challenge.
"My life philosophy is that your lifetime is there for you to grow," he says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "And you can only grow if you're challenged — finding solutions, another path. I'm a big fan of that. It keeps you flexible."
Bertelmann's work has certainly paid off. Earlier this year, he won the BAFTA Film Award for his score to All Quiet ..., and just last month he took home an Oscar for best original score.
In this episode — recorded before his trophy wins — we talk more about the development of his award-winning score and the ways modern dance and architecture inspire his creativity. Plus, Bertelmann shares the facial toner he can't live without and his favorite Manhattan restaurant for, interestingly enough, Shaker-inspired early American cuisine.
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Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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Pianist Zsolt Bognár had a light-bulb moment while building his first artist website in 2012. What if, instead of short clips of his performances — something every pianist publishes on their website — he interviewed his musician friends about their craft and careers?
Inspired by Bognár's love for Bravo's Inside the Actor's Studio, the first iteration of the web series that would become Living the Classical Life was born. And more than a decade later, it has grown into an incredibly popular, award-winning show that's featured the best of the best in the classical music world.
With more than three million views on YouTube alone, Bognár's in-depth conversations with the likes of Daniil Trifonov, Yuja Wang, Joyce DiDonato, Lisa Batiashvilli, and Susanna Mällki illuminate the inner world of classical musicians — revealing the passions, fears, and rewards that fuel their lives in music.
To find success in today's content-saturated landscape, Bognár knew he would need to build a network of like-minded professionals who could support his vision for Living the Classical Life not only as a creative outlet, but as a business venture. That's a perspective he hopes to impart on anyone seeking advice on launching a new project.
"Seek out people who you are really on the same wavelength with," Bognár shares on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast, "or you may not have the same values that can connect you with others you'll resonate with. This is a world of business, as much as we don't like to think in those terms. Identify the people whose qualities you trust."
In this episode, Bognár and I talk more about the early days of Living the Classical Life — when it was simply called Zsolt Bognár and Friends — as well as the mix of hard work, luck, and opportunity that helped the show take off, and the importance of strategic introductions, no matter your industry.
Full disclosure: I have a very close relationship with Living the Classical Life. I'm a member of the Board of Directors and have regularly advised Bognár on the show's branding, outreach, and marketing over the past 10 years. It's been my absolute pleasure to see how Living the Classical Life has grown over the past decade, and I hope this deep dive into the show's evolution inspires you in your own creative journeys.
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Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
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After more than two decades as one of New York City's busiest freelance oboists, James Roe decided to pivot his career.
He packed up his oboe case, reed knife, and metronome to take on leadership positions at two of the ensembles he had regularly performed with. First he spent two years as president and CEO of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, before moving into his current role as president and executive director of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, where he's been since 2015.
How did 25 years of performing in symphony orchestras prepare him to lead one himself? For Roe, his seat in the oboe section gave him a strategic vantage point — one that allowed him to see thousands of concerts play out on the faces of audience members in real time.
"You could see when something was hitting, that look in someone's eye that meant the music was meaningful to them," Roe says on the latest episode of the Classical Post podcast. "I've taken that into my leadership role because it shows that, as musicians and musical organizations, our mission is not fulfilled on stage — that's only the beginning. The mission is fulfilled in the hearts, minds, ears, and spirits of people in the audience."
At the helm of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Roe oversees more than 70 concerts per season in 20 venues across New York City, as well as a host of education and community programs that help make classical music more accessible for every New Yorker. And through it all, Roe's guiding principle is to ensure "the audience is the focus of everything we do."
In this episode, we talk more about the Orchestra of St. Luke's current season — including the Carnegie Hall premiere of Florence Price's Piano Quintet with Marc-André Hamelin and the third year of the ensemble's DeGaetano Composition Institute, where three emerging composers work with composer-mentor Anna Clyne on new pieces to be premiered by OSL.
Plus, Roe shares how reading during his daily commute supports his well-being, the inspiration he gets from the "wonderful crackle of anticipation" before a concert begins, and his favorite Manhattan restaurant when he's craving Basque cuisine.
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Classical Post® is created and produced by Gold Sound Media® LLC, a New York-based marketing agency for the performing arts industry. Explore how we can grow your audience to make a lasting impact in your community.
- Visa fler
