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.

The revered vocal group VOCES8 release a new album, Infinity.

The 2021 American Pianists Awards winner Kenny Broberg discusses future plans and looks back to his first piano lessons.

For her new project for Leeds Opera Festival, Sarah Sayeed (composer/sound designer/musical director/writer) has created a new work which reimagines Holst’s epic opera, Savitri for 21st century audiences and society. In collaboration with writer Jaspreet Kaur, they offer a modern take on the epic Sanskrit tale, painting Savitri in an entirely new light. The work will receive its world premiere at Leeds Opera Festival this August. Ahead of this, we spoke with Sarah about her ambitions for the project, her take on Savitiri, and plans for the future.

New York-based violinist Curtis Stewart released his post-classical coming of age album “Of Power” on June 18. Inspired by Black Lives Matter and featuring songs of resistance and resilience for violin, voice, and electronics. “Of Power” features original compositions as well as reimagined works by Charlie Parker, J.S. Bach, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Childish Gambino, John Coltrane, Paganini, Elektra Kurtis, Ysaÿe, and Stevie Wonder. Created entirely during the COVID-19 lockdown releasing on the Bright Shiny Things label with five tracks mastered by Prince’s sound engineer Derek Linzy from Paisley Park.

Countertenor Randall Scotting is carving out a path that is uniquely exciting in the opera world. Singing to sold-out crowds at Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House and working on a newly filmed production at Seattle Opera, he’s operating at a level that has positive momentum, yet grounded in his roots as a “Colorado boy”. Listen to our interview with him on the Classical Post Podcast.

This podcast conversation highlights Elena Urioste’s vibrant energy from her multi-cultural background and how that infuses her everyday style. Plus, she shares how she built a thriving yoga community and garnered a loyal fan club from the depths of lockdown.

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.