Sunday Baroque Conversations

Award-winning musician Shawn Okpebholo earned his degrees at the prestigious University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. But he credits his start in music to The Salvation Army church, where he received free music lessons as a child, and to his mother's tenacious support. The breadth of Dr. Okpebholo's work is extraordinary: chamber works, art songs and choral music, opera, orchestral...

From the time he was just a small child, Charles Wilson III – aka BLKBOK – showed extraordinary musical talent. The budding piano virtuoso's family nurtured his interests, which blossomed to include many genres of music: classical, hip-hop, rap, and much more. BLKBOK chose his name, in part, as a way to honor his admiration for Johann Sebastian Bach. Full of energy and positivity, BLKBOK is not ju...

"Being an artist is living a life of service." The words of Jessie Montgomery, who has earned acclaim, awards, and praise for her growing body of work as a composer, violinist, teacher, and activist. The musician credits her many teachers and mentors – and her parents – for opening up worlds to her. Jessie Montgomery shared stories about her experiences – including that time she was a little girl...

Scotland-based American conductor Kellen Gray is Assistant Conductor of the English National Opera and Assistant Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He's attuned to the orchestral repertory, including Bela Bartok, Antonin Dvorak, Aaron Copland, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. He's also passionate about championing African-diasporic composers, and has two critically acclaimed albums - A...

Grammy-nominated flutist Brandon Patrick George is a member of Imani Winds and has appeared as a soloist with soloist with the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Albany symphonies, American Composers Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, among others.  He's also on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. Suzanne spoke with Brandon Patrick George about his debut 2020 solo recording, and welcomed h...

As a music lover, you may be familiar with Melvin Chen for his recordings of piano music by Dmitri Shostakovich or Ludwig van Beethoven. He put his double degrees from The Juilliard School to work as Professor in the Practice of Piano at Yale School of Music and is Director of Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, which is Yale's Summer School of Music. Melvin Chen arrived at his career in music after e...

Acclaimed harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani - the first and only harpsichordist to be named a BBC New Generation Artist, and the youngest ever recipient of the Wigmore Medal – is an outspoken and passionate advocate for his instrument. Although the harpsichord is most closely associated with baroque music, Mahan Esfanai’s repertory is large and diverse, from Johann Sebastian Bach to contemporary commi...

Loki Karuna (formerly Garrett McQueen) began his life in music as a bassoonist, earning degrees in music and performing in orchestras. His passion for music and justice propelled his career as a musician, leading him to become a radio and podcast producer, and an activist. An eloquent storyteller, Loki Karuna spoke with Suzanne about his weekly podcast Trilloquoy, his job as Director of Artist Equ...

Howard Bass, Tina Chancey, and Susan Gaeta are the members of Trio Sefardi, a group they formed in 2010 to perform traditional songs of the Sephardim – the descendants of Jews exiled from Spain in 1492. They draw on their individual experience and expertise in many different genres of music, including jazz, folk, and early music, and they mine the rich song traditions of Sephardic communities from...

Tammy McCann loves music. She lives and breathes her craft, and starts each day acknowledging and celebrating Music's importance in her life. She talked with Suzanne about her life as a professional jazz singer, her start as an opera singer, and how playing the double bass is the instrument she feels she was meant to play.

Kelly Hall-Tompkins is a dynamo – full of energy, positivity, passion, and initiative. The talented violinist is an award-winning and acclaimed musician with an international career, as well as an entrepreneur, humanitarian, and social justice advocate who founded MUSIC KITCHEN – FOOD FOR THE SOUL. She brings together other professional musicians to share the uplifting power of music with unhoused...

Award-winning and critically-acclaimed singer Elijah McCormack's repertory includes baroque music, contemporary music, and everything in between. He is a male soprano who grew up in a family in which music was and is an important priority – they all sing in the church choir, and his late father played viola in a local professional orchestra. (Growing up in Connecticut, Elijah has also been listeni...

Lauren Rico is a veteran classical music broadcaster who keeps countless listeners across the United States company with her friendly, down-to-earth approach. In 2016 she started sharing her passion for classical music with a different audience: readers of romance novels. Beginning with her self-published erotic thriller, REVERIE – in which she set out to "put the sexy back in Bach." She followed...

For as long as I can remember, naysayers have been predicting the "death of classical music." Audiences are aging, and ticket sales are often a struggle for classical music concerts, and some people are concerned that the art form will "die" as a result. Andrew Ousley leaned into that fear when he established his concert series, THE DEATH OF CLASSICAL, in 2015. He even holds the concerts in venues...

Violinist Yanet Campbell Secades is featured on the 2023 recording BREAKING BARRIERS with Carlos Bastidas leading Ontario Pops Orchestra. The Camagüey, Cuba native is one of three up-and-coming young women instrumentalists performing as soloists in concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. Yanet Campbell Secades joined Suzanne to chat about her early interest in and talent for music,...

Alison DeSimone is a musicologist – someone who is a scholar of music and its relationship with a wide variety of other disciplines. She is an Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City – and she specializes in music of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. Alison DeSimone joined Suzanne to talk about what a musicologist does in general, her personal areas of expertise...

James O'Donnell is a Professor in the Practice of Organ at Yale University's Institute of Sacred Music and the Yale School of Music, where he teaches graduate-level organ majors and other students in sacred music. He also directs a newly-established professional liturgical vocal ensemble at Yale. James O'Donnell brings to New Haven his exceptional talent and vast experience as a concert organist,...

There's a particular type of collaboration that exists in a chamber music ensemble. The award-winning Catalyst Quartet's collaborative efforts involved choosing projects and conducting scholarly research that will have maximum impact in their mission to achieve unity and celebrate composers of color whose works have been overlooked by the traditional canon. Catalyst Quartet cellist Karlos Rodrigue...

The talented young pianist Clayton Stephenson's story is more than just an inspiring example of the power of music. It is also a story of tenacity and resourcefulness, and the importance of teachers and mentors. The New York City native loves to immerse himself in the work of the countless musicians he admires. Clayton Stephenson is currently enrolled in a dual degree program at Harvard and the Ne...

Violinist Holly Mulcahy is concertmaster of the Wichita Symphony, and has previously held that position in other symphonic orchestras across the country. She is also a busy soloist and chamber musician who regularly performs at a maximum security prison. Holly Mulcahy is the founder and leader of an organization that strives to " … help people in need through the power of art, culture, communicati...

Dr. Rochelle Sennet is a versatile musician, with a wide repertory. The prize-winning pianist has recorded (so far) two albums called BACH TO BLACK in which she combines works by Johann Sebastian Bach with works by Black composers including Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Frederick Tillis, and R. Nathaniel Dett, Florence Price, and many others. Dr. Sennet spoke with Suzanne about her life in music – begi...

Randall Scotting's 2022 debut recording THE CROWN is a tribute to famed 17th century Italian castrato singer, Senesino. Scotting collaborated with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Laurence Cummings, and their collection of these Heroic Arias is receiving critical acclaim. The countertenor spoke with Suzanne about how he found his way to a career in music, details about the c...

Since her 1984 debut with the Chicago Symphony at age 10, American violinist Rachel Barton Pine has been a trailblazer. Her musical tastes are broad and inclusive – from the baroque era, through all the major classical and romantic works, to contemporary commissions, and heavy metal – and she's a seasoned soloist and chamber musician. Rachel spoke with Suzanne about her career, including the recen...

Brooklyn native Eric Rice did not set out to become a professional musician and musicologist. He discovered early music while studying at Bowdoin College and, after four years as a schooner captain at the South Street Seaport Museum, he earned his PhD in Musicology and a Certificate in Medieval and Renaissance studies from Columbia University. He worked as Artistic Director of the Connecticut Earl...

North Carolina native André Raphel is an award-winning orchestral conductor with an international career. An expert in the classic orchestral repertory as well as a proponent of new music, Maestro Raphel's experience with US orchestras includes appearances with the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. André Raphel spoke with...