Composer and conductor Vince Mendoza discusses his new album Freedom Over Everything featuring a new song cycle “To the Edge of Longing” written for Julia Bullock. The recording also features the commissioned “Concerto for Orchestra” from the Czech National Symphony Orchestra with whom Mendoza has worked with for the last several years.

The 19th century Russian composer and piano virtuoso Nikolai Medtner was horrible at marketing himself. While his good friend and admirer, Sergei Rachmaninoff, was being acclaimed around the world, Medtner could never quite achieve commercial success. Although he was greatly respected by his musical peers, Medtner spent the end of his life in relative obscurity, teaching and only occasionally concertizing.

A musician can make the world a better place just by playing the standard repertoire beautifully. But pianist Lara Downes goes farther. By introducing audiences to diverse composers who have been overlooked and disenfranchised, she not only gives ravishing performances of beautiful music, but widens artistic horizons and enriches our cultural life.

Lise de la Salle’s tenth album for Naïve Classiques was released worldwide on June 4, 2021. When Do We Dance? is the pianist’s personal tribute to the art of dance in a dynamic program of repertoire from around the world written between 1850-1950 by George Gershwin, Art Tatum, William Bolcom, Fats Waller, Astor Piazzolla, Manuel de Falla, Alberto Ginastera, Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saëns, Bela Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Alexander Scriabin, and Sergei Rachmaninov.

My guest today is Simon Goff. You've probably heard his work on the film, Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix. Simon was a recording engineer working alongside the composer Hildur Guðnadóttir. The film ended up winning the Oscar for Best Original Score. You've also heard his work on the HBO miniseries, Chernobyl, where he won a Grammy as a recording engineer.

The life of maestro Keitaro Harada has been marked by fate. From his fairy tale marriage to the time he was asked to conduct the final opera performance at Tanglewood, it seems like destiny has always been guiding Harada, music and artistic director for the Savannah Philharmonic.

On Saturday, May 8, the world’s first piece of programmable classical music “Betty’s Notebook” by the Dallas, Texas choral ensemble Verdigris Ensemble went to auction at Async Art and shattered expectations of $150,000, bringing in over $375,000 in total sales for Verdigris Ensemble and breaking the Async Art monetary record for single NFT sale. Sam Brukhman, Founder and Artistic Director of Verdigris Ensemble, talks to Classical Post about “Betty’s Notebook” and the crypto-future of classical music.

When I studied with Philippe Leroux in Paris, he said to me once that he knows three Israeli young composers (who have been in his class), and he finds it weird that we do not have a common musical language. At this time his observation sounded very weird to me - why should we have a common musical language just because we are Israelis? Leroux’s question makes a lot of sense when one is looking at a French composer (or maybe any European composer), since the long tradition of the French culture can be easily observed in different schools throughout history and even with younger composers today. Since Israel is a new country, with immigrants coming from everywhere (mainly Europe and north Africa), the musical identity of composers is definitely less clear, and was completely obscure to me at the point Leroux mentioned his observation.

Having recently performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel, pianist David Fung joins us on the Classical Post Podcast for an intriguing conversation highlighting his design and style aesthetics. He speaks on the wabi-sabi approach to minimalism and a dream house of raw material. Plus, hear if he prefers to spend a day in Biden or Rhianna’s shoes.

American baritone Jarrett Logan Porter joins us on the Classical Post Podcast for a candid look at his inspiration from the worlds of design, interiors, fashion, and global travel. Speaking with a level of poignant depth beyond his years, he shares how minimalism, sentimentality, form, light, and a major nod to Japanese and Danish aesthetics influence him. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms.

iSing Silicon Valley, an elite and award-winning choir of 250 Bay Area girls ages 7-12 years old, announces its upcoming concert Choosing Harmony, premiering on YouTube on May 22 at 4:30 p.m. PT.

Decir—“to say”—is the debut seven-piece song cycle from Francisco del Pino, an award-winning Argentine composer who journeys the folds between classical and vernacular traditions. Imagined as the staging of a long poem, Decir was scored for voice, electric guitar, viola, and percussion, with lyrics by Argentine poet Victoria Cóccaro; Spanish to English translations were aided by Rebekah Smith. Cecilia Pastorino, a classically trained soprano—an acclaimed figure in South America’s folk scene—sings Cóccaro’s haunting lyrics of migration, displacement, and the rise of historically silenced voices.

More than the elite musicianship its contestants have already attained, more than note-perfect performance of difficult repertoire, a first-rate piano competition aims to deliver something a bit grittier than that capacity alone.

Since winning the BBC Young Musician Brass Final in 2016, Ben Goldscheider has become a leading proponent of the instrument. His new project continues this legacy and marks the centennial of the legendary horn player Dennis Brain.

Bass-baritone Dashon Burton joins us on the Classical Post Podcast to discuss style, wellness, and his successful career that won him Grammy Awards. Surprisingly, we actually recorded this interview two days before he won the second Grammy for his work on Smyth: The Prison.

In Tune with the Times: For the first time in its 19-year history, the Concours Musical International de Montréal (CMIM) moves its competition online in performances to be made available for streaming worldwide.

Brooklyn-based artist Nealy Hauschildt joins us on the Classical Post Podcast. We discuss how she finds inspiration from designers like Miles Redd and Mark Sikes, plus spending time on Nantucket. We also explore her keen sense of nature and how it’s integrated within her artwork.

Scott Wheeler composed the music for the opera Naga, setting a libretto by Cerise Lim Jacobs, and David Salsbery Fry sang one of the roles. On the occasion of the release of the recording of Naga by New World Records, Classical Post invited Wheeler and Fry to muse on the opera industry to which they hope to return. Their conversation includes spoilers for WandaVision.

Swedish composer Jacob Mühlrad joins us on the Classical Post Podcast as our first guest. He’s just released a major album on the Deutsche Grammophon label called Time, exploring themes of mortality, the supernatural, and creating a “sound for god” — if god could be contained to music. Jacob is a serious artist who’s making a big splash in the music world that’s underscored by the complexity of this new album, encompassing about 10 years worth of his compositional work.

Classical Post is launching a podcast! We’re thrilled to branch out in this new direction that compliments and augments the existing editorial direction of the platform. The Classical Post Podcast explores the intersection of classical music, style, and wellness, diving into meaningful conversations with leading artists from an array of different backgrounds. Based in New York City, Classical Post is a touchpoint for tastemakers.