Isabel Leonard is a heralded regular at The Metropolitan Opera, one of the most in-demand opera singers with a string of accolades and awards. Here’s how she prepares for her leading roles at the world’s great opera houses.

My guest today on the Classical Post podcast is singer, cellist, and composer Ayanna Witter-Johnson who makes her debut at Madison Square Garden as part of Andrea Bocelli's US tour this December. I'm sure you realize the significance of someone debuting in front of a crowd that could be upwards of 20,000 people. It's an incredible feat.

“The flute is the true magical rod that changes all it touches in the inward world; an enchanter's wand at which the secret depths of the soul open,” so wrote the German Romantic author Jean Paul. As a child, Beomjae Kim fell under the flute’s spell, and like one of the children of Hamelin, he followed the instrument’s charming sound where it would lead. From his homeland of Korea to the United States, Kim has pursued his love of the flute, and, along the way, discovered another talent, painting. Now he is devoting more of his time to the visual arts, while keeping up a successful and rewarding career in music.

Geoffrey John Davies, the visionary and charismatic founder of The Violin Channel, talks candidly about the origins of his company, how the internet has changed the experience of classical music, and what he sees for the future of the genre.

I know many of you have seen Breaking Bad, the globally popular show. Today's guest has some tracks that are featured on it. He's also got music on Netflix's reboot of the anime series Cowboy Bebop that was just released. From the beautiful European city of Copenhagen, composer, pianist, and producer Asger Baden joins us on the Classical Post podcast. Also with us in the same virtual studio, the famous Danish Illustrator, John Kenn Mortensen. The two artists actually collaborated on a recent album of Asger's music, released on the Neue Meister label. John did the cover art illustration.

Carnegie Hall opened in New York City on May 5, 1891 with a gala concert conducted by none other than Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. For more than 100 years it has lived up that auspicious beginning, hosting the world’s finest classical artists. Its rich legacy continues in 2022 with a series of concerts featuring great American and international orchestras, as well as stellar chamber groups, vocalists and instrumentalists.

We all remember the royal wedding of Prince Harry to the American actress, Meghan Markle, in 2018. I remember getting up early to watch it streamed live as I know many Americans did. Serendipitously, a classical cellist performed in the ceremony that day to a global audience of 2 billion people, in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. He now makes his New York Philharmonic debut and releases a new album called Muse on Decca Classics.

Mark Ainley has become quite an authority in historic recordings of classical pianists. His highly-regarded Facebook page, The Piano Files with Mark Ainley, delves into how pianists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries played the instrument. Concurrently, he is a consultant in the Chinese art of Feng Shui and has been helping people integrate principles of nature to create a sense of balance in their homes and businesses.

In the second week of March 2020, just days before he was slated to perform a recital in Salt Lake City, nearly two years after winning the gold medal in the International Artists Competition of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation, Changyong Shin was visiting local schools as part of Bachauer’s educational outreach program. The day before the recital, with abrupt notice, Salt Lake County shuttered all of the performing arts facilities due to the pandemic.

Designed as a living and growing database that will strengthen as more compositions and recordings are submitted and discovered, African Diaspora Music Project (ADMP) supports Dr. Louise Toppin’s ongoing mission to help bring classical works in various languages and from across the globe to concert halls worldwide.

Grammy Award-winning baritone Lucas Meachem just released his first-ever solo album called Shall We Gather. It's a collection of American art songs that celebrate resilience and togetherness. His wife, Irina, the dynamic collaborative pianist, joins him on this album.

On the approach of Halloween, that time of released spirits, Jenny Lin unveiled new work by William Bolcom in a concert for the ages. The pianist on Oct. 2 at Hudson Hall performed the Pulitzer-winning composer’s ‘Suite of Preludes’, composed during the pandemic. The evening doubled as a celebration of the work of Philip Glass, a seminal influence on Lin’s repertoire and career. The result is a remarkable tribute to two American composing legends, both of whom Lin has worked with extensively.

On Friday, August 20, Tonality & Alexander Lloyd Blake released their second album of socially conscious new choral works: America Will Be. Following their debut Sing About It, released February 2019, the new album expands the award-winning Los Angeles choral group’s mission to “to unify our community through social outreach and serve as a beacon of peace, empathy and justice.” Engineered by Jeff Galindo and produced by Joseph Trapanese for Aerocade Music, the album’s 11 tracks sing of America, in all of its flaws, glory, and, most importantly, possibility.

Berlin-based composer-producer-pianist Meredi joins me on the Classical Post podcast to discuss the musical fusion of German nightclubs with a classical music backbone. In essence, this is her new album called Trance, released on the label Modern Recordings. As an artist who has garnered millions of streams online between all of the various digital services, ELLE magazine declares, "Meredi composes music which shines like stars."

Cellist and composer Peter Gregson joins us on the Classical Post Podcast, whose music you've most likely heard on Netflix's crazy-popular Bridgerton, and HBO's The New Pope starring Jude Law and John Malkovich. His output even reaches the heights of haute couture in campaigns for Balenciaga, Burberry, and Dior. He’s just released a new album on the Deutsche Grammophon label called Patina.

Washington Arts Ensemble, a newly formed nonprofit presenting classical music concerts in Washington, DC, is slated to run a series of dynamic chamber music events at the historic Arts Club of Washington over the next year.

Concert violinist Alexi Kenney joins us on the Classical Post Podcast. He just released a visual album earlier this year that was filmed in wine country at a fabulous estate in Sonoma, California. The resulting series of videos from this album — that you can watch on YouTube — features Alexi playing amidst this dynamic landscape of Vineyard-bliss and contemporary sculptures.

Michelle Cann’s journey from Florida to the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music is a remarkable story of perseverance and incredible talent. Cann was born into a family that nurtured her musical aspirations, but, as a person of color, finding her way in the overwhelmingly white world of classical music presented special challenges.

Our podcast guest today is Danielle Eva Schwob. The New Yorker hails her as a “notable cross-genre composer”, who writes concert works, experimental electro-rock, and film scores. Many listeners should care about her work because she is redefining what it means to be a "serious composer". Notable presenters have featured her work, like Lincoln Center and Le Poisson Rouge, and she has received commissions from the American Composers Forum and New Music USA. But unlike many composers who run in these circles, she has her finger on the pulse of music for big name Hollywood movies. She's worked on the music team for Manhattan Night starring Adrien Brody, and the film Mother! starring Jennifer Lawrence. We discuss her work and more, including her new album, Out of the Tunnel, featuring PUBLIQuartet.