Living the Classical Life

“Are you feeling emotion, or are you just showing it?”

A renowned composer whose music is performed throughout the world, Bruce Adolphe isn't just the author of several books on music, an innovative educator, and a versatile performer. He's also resident lecturer and director of family concerts for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; composer-in-residence at the Brain and Creativity Institute; founding creative director of The Learning Maestros; artistic director of Off the Hook Arts; and host of The Piano Puzzler on NPR's Performance Today. (Episode 48)

“I started with classical music and then got disillusioned nice and early, which is good because you get it out of the way and go back to having illusions afterwards.”

Hailed by the New York Times as “Opera’s Great 25-Year-Old Hope,” Matthew Aucoin shares his passion for opera with a heartfelt traversal of Mozart’s “Figaro,” and discusses unusual pathways to classical music via an early rock band ensemble.

Recent and upcoming performances of Aucoin’s orchestral and chamber works include performances by the Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the SOLI Chamber Ensemble, and the Gramercy Trio. (Episode 21)

“Composing is a battle for me.”

Winner of four Grammy Awards, an Oscar, and the Pulitzer Prize, American composer John Corigliano has one of the most diverse and prolific musical outputs of his generation. In an exclusive and emotionally revealing feature, John Corigliano opens up about his influences and inspirations, his difficult relationship with his father who was concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, the loss of over 100 friends to the AIDS epidemic and its influence on his works, and the tortured nature of his compositional process. He discusses whether composers endure a specific type of stage fright, and if student composers can be taught an individual voice. (Episode 60)

“You get to a certain age when you don’t care so much what people think about you... and that’s one of the great things about getting older.”

Filmed in Steinway Hall in NYC, polymath pianist Stephen Hough describes his diverse creative projects, the importance of making a positive impression, the non-linear progress of learning, and how to deal with success and failure. Hough emphasizes the influence of his teacher Gordon Green, performance psychology, the artist’s role as an outsider, and his own perspective on the state of human rights in the world. (Episode 9)

“I felt my life was over.”

In an intensely personal conversation, Grammy-winning oboist Alex Klein traces the ups and downs of a most unusual career, from a childhood with attention deficit and learning to play without an instrument, to becoming the Principal Oboist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In a first for the show, the symptoms of musician’s dystonia are demonstrated visually and through an emotional account of how to live with a crippling condition. Full of anecdotes, musical and artistic concepts, and confessions, this episode is sure to have viewers talking. (Episode 51)

“Composition is something you have to do because you can't imagine doing anything else.”

Lowell Liebermann is one of America's most frequently performed and recorded living composers. Called by the New York Times "as much of a traditionalist as an innovator," his music is known for its technical command and audience appeal. He has written over one hundred works, several of which have gone on to become standard repertoire for their instruments. His "Sonata for Flute and Piano" and "Gargoyles for Piano" have each been recorded at least twenty times. (Episode 38)

“I can only feel free if I forget about myself.”

Susanna Mälkki is making waves in the world of conducting and joins us for a delightful conversation about her journey from being a cellist to being bitten by the conducting bug. She discusses the tradition of conducting from her native Finland, and discusses the conductor's world and responsibilities — and what it means to be a leader. She also discusses performance day routines, dealing with disappointments, and what is required to create magic on stage. (Episode 61)

“Play in such a way as to make everybody around you better.”

Conductor Roger Nierenberg discusses his Music Paradigm, in which he seats business executives within orchestras to demonstrate engaging and humorous lessons in leadership through a love of music. Full of anecdotes about Leonard Bernstein and Carlos Kleiber and the complex character of conductors, this episode is surprising in its highlight of the transformative power of music. (Episode 47)

“The biggest part of the work is at home and alone.”

Conductor Gianandrea Noseda joins Living the Classical Life for a discussion that traces his early training as a pianist, the way he regards music from the conductor's point of view, and the search for meaning. He explains how a conductor influences the sound of the orchestra, develops a community audience by taking the music to them, and recounts the "shocking virtuosity" of Carlos Kleiber. This revealing conversation ultimately culminates in a search for honesty in life through music. (Episode 78)

“It’s a paradoxical, Buddhist concept:  the way to really influence an orchestra is let their sound go through you, with your ears open.”

Winner of the Solti Foundation Conductor’s Prize, Case Scaglione went from trombone player in a Texas high school band to Associate Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, a position revived specially for him by Music Director Alan Gilbert. He discusses his life, the complex relationship between conductor and players, and how to make a modern orchestra sound as Bach intended. (Episode 15)

“When we started Apollo’s Fire, I was living on Ramen noodles.”

Grammy®-winner Jeannette Sorrel recounts how she built one of the largest audiences for baroque music in the U.S. despite having no money, no role model and being told that neither audiences nor musicians would accept a woman as a conductor. She also explains how she leads musicians and audiences alike toward an understanding of a centuries-old aesthetic. (Episode 64)