From the Top

This week From the Top returns to its home, Jordan Hall, in Boston with a line up of superb young musicians including a teenager who, having stuck with the recorder since the 4th grade, has become a young virtuoso on the instrument ... a 13-year-old cellist who performs the music of Tchaikovsky and then shares with us his unusually in-depth knowledge about mushroom harvesting ... and a jaw-droppingly good 9-year-old violinist who's read pretty much every Nancy Drew book written.

From Troy, New York, this week's From the Top features master cellist, Matt Haimovitz as our special guest artist. Maestro Haimovitz performs one of the most gorgeous pieces of chamber music written for the cello--David Popper's Requiem--with two wonderful teenage cellists and host Christopher O'Riley. We test his wits against some of the young performers on the show in a humorous cello trivia competition, and the program culminates with some of the genre bending Maestro Haimovitz has become famous for-—a rousing finale arranged for 5 cellos.

This program is the second of two special From the Top episodes recorded with the Great Wall International Music Academy in Beijing, China. One of the strongest violinists from the Shanghai Conservatory's middle school performs the music of Mozart, an 11-year-old from the Philippines performs Haydn, and we'll hear the plaintive sound of the traditional Chinese string instrument, the erhu, performed 13-year-old girl destined to be one of the greatest erhu players of her generation.

This program is the first of two special From the Top episodes recorded with the Great Wall International Music Academy in Beijing, China. You'll hear the brilliant 17-year-old Chinese violinist Mei Di Yang perform the music of Brahms, a chamber orchestra made up of students from around the globe perform beautiful traditional Chinese music, and more.

From Princeton, New Jersey From the Top celebrates the 75th anniversary of the world renowned American Boychoir. As our special featured guest, we'll hear them perform the music of Bach, the Beatles, Duruflé, and Sousa. Also on the program, a teenage cellist performs Fauré's "Elegie" and we'll meet a brilliant young violinist who has won three major American music competitions this past year.

This week, host Christopher O'Riley catches up with some of From the Top's most illustrious alumni in our annual "Where Are They Now Show." We'll enjoy the extraordinary music these young pros are making in their early careers and we'll hear their stories of triumph and struggle as they work to define their own creative space in the world. Featured alumni include a brilliant young composer who is about to have a concert of his work performed by the Shanghai Philharmonic, a touring violinist who has just released a CD of all unaccompanied pieces, and a French horn player who has founded a free music school in his home town.

From New Albany, Ohio today's program features the The Sacred Lullaby by Brahms performed by a young vocalist and violist from the Columbus Ohio area ... a teenage percussionist from Chicago performs a mesmerizing contemporary piece and then talks about how difficult it is to avoid being pigeonholed by other kids in high school ... and a 13-year-old pianist from the Bay Area tosses off one of the most entertaining, but difficult pieces by Franz Liszt. This podcast also includes Christopher O'Riley's extended interview with singer Frederica von Stade (Flicka).

From Athens Georgia, this week's From the Top features an unusually expressive teenage cellist performing Ravel's sacred masterpiece, "Kadish." We meet a 17-year-old pianist who has a strong case of synesthesia — so strong, she can occasionally taste the music ... and a young guitarist performs one of the most famous of all Spanish guitar pieces by Francisco Tarrega.

This highlight episode features the favorite pieces of renowned musician Gunther Schuller, performed by From the Top alumni. The show includes the world premiere of a piece Gunther wrote when he was just 19 years old.

This week from Mesa, Arizona we’ll hear one of the most thrilling works written for unaccompanied cello composed by Kodaly and performed by a talented 17-year-old from Gilbert, Arizona ... a young violinist tells the tale of her harrowing, but triumphant debut with the Cleveland Orchestra ... and the Phoenix Children’s Chorus takes on a haunting composition written by teenage composer from Denver and set to the poetry of Walt Whitman.

This week, From the Top journeys all the way to Bogota, Colombia to meet the talented young people who play in one of the best youth orchestras in the Americas -- the marvelously spirited Youth Philharmonic of Colombia. We'll also learn about Colombia's visionary national music education program, Batuta and hear traditional Colombian melodies performed by a very young Orff ensemble.

From Tucson, Arizona, From the Top this week features an unusually expressive 11-year-old violinist performing the last composition Debussy ever wrote. We'll hear one of the best teenage trumpet players in the country perform an exhilarating arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin, and we'll meet a talented young classical guitarist from Tucson who is a budding naturalist with a rather eccentric job at a university research lab studying ants. This week's podcast also features an extended interview with actor David Hyde Pierce.

This week, From the Top broadcasts from the Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas where we hear a French horn player evoke the steely imagery of the German Industrial Age through a stunning performance of the music of Hindemith, a local 16-year-old "steals" one of the best loved violin showpieces to perform it on cello ... and the great soprano Audra McDonald makes a cameo appearance to share stories and offer some advice to a young singer.

From Fraser Studio at WGBH in Boston, this week's program features a 17-year-old soprano from New Orleans who grew up working with a major Hip Hop producer ... a brilliant 14-year-old composer and pianist from New York City who performs both the music of Franz Liszt and his own 12-tone composition ... a talented teenage cellist from the Boston area performing Bartok's Romanian Dances ...  and we'll meet a young violinist who has seen music break down the walls of her brother’s autism.

From Fraser Studio at WGBH in Boston, this week's program features a brilliant 14-year-old composer and pianist from New York City who performs both the music of Franz Liszt and his own 12-tone composition ... a talented teenage cellist from the Boston area performing Bartok's Romanian Dances ...  and we'll meet a young violinist who has seen music break down the walls of her brother’s autism.