Down the Pit

Great conversation with Executive Director of Mata Festival Pauline Kim Harris and featured composer Jessie Cox . Music at the Anthology (MATA) celebrates its 27th Annual Festival with performances at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn from June 11th to 14th 2025 Titled Intergalactic Infinity: Music Between Spaces, the festival promises to be an incredible few days of sounds, creativity and imagin...

A highly entertaining and informative conversation with 6 time GRAMMY-nominated violinist & composer Curtis Stewart. In the episode, Curtis talks about tearing down the facade of "classical violinist" and his constant pursuit of his musical authenticity, treating art as a battery for realizing citizenship. His creative process, his upbringings, upcoming projects, are all part of this...

Violist and Comedian Isabel joins Ian and Sami in a dynamic and fun conversation in which she dives into her life, going into details about the shift in her career, the viola, her standup comedy routines, her appearances in the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, her upcoming projects, goals and a lot more. Also, for the first time, we will be posting our full episode on YouTube (highly recommended) P...

In this episode, Sami Merdinian and Ian Loew have a great conversation with music educator in Florida Anthony Williams who is known to be the Michael Jordan of Music Education down in Florida. As retirement approaches, he shares his passion and life mission of making the world a better place through music and the importance for accessibility no matter the background. An uplifting episode that make...

In this episode, Sami Merdinian and Ian Loew have a great conversation with violist/composer/educator Jessica Meyer who has established herself to be an incredible force in the industry thanks for her passion, perseverance, entrepreneurial skills and extraordinary talent. She talks about all of her projects, her path to becoming a very influential figure, her grind, the importance of improvisation...

Happy New Year listeners!!! In this episode, we learn the unique story of one of the best trumpeters of his generation. The youngest player to ever play with the legendary Canadian Brass, Brandon Ridenour engages in a very entertaining  and informative conversation; his first piano lesson with his father at age 5, to his parents crushing his dreams to play drums, Brandon shares his path to th...

“A VIOLINIST OF HEART-MELTING TALENT.” – The Wall Street Journal “DAZZLING SKILLS AND A MONA LISA SMILE.” – The Washington Post A very special episode with violinist, singer, actress Lucia Micarelli!  Born in Queens, New York, Lucia has been immersed in the arts since the age of three. After attending the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music,  Lucia began to develop a growing i...

Great conversation with composer extraordinaire, Emmy Award-winning and Grammy® nominated Adam Schoenberg who has been named among the top 10 most performed living composers by orchestras in the United States twice. His works have received performances and premieres at the Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and...

Last episode of Season 2 of Down the Pit, and final part of our conversation with Film & TV Composer Jeff Cardoni. Jeff’s talents range from intimate independent fare to full orchestral majesty. With over 45 feature film scores and several network series to his credit, one can hear his work worldwide every day. His unique ability to cross genres has made him a power-ful player in the film comp...

Part 1 of our conversation with 2019 ASCAP Composer of the Year Jeff Cardoni . Jeff’s talents range from intimate independent fare to full orchestral majesty. With over 45 feature film scores and several network series to his credit, one can hear his work worldwide every day. His unique ability to cross genres has made him a power- ful player in the film composing industry.   CSI: Miami, MTV'...

Continuation of our fun conversation with Latin Grammy Award winning bassist and composer Pedro Giraudo. He shares with us his style of composition, where he finds inspiration, what he does for fun his fear of aging and how he has changed his lifestyle to adjust to it. You will also listen to his composition "Con Creces" from his 2021 album Impulso Tanguero, featuring bandoneonist Rodolfo Zanetti,...

Part 1 of our conversation with Latin Grammy Award winning bassist and composer Pedro Giraudo. In this episode he talks about growing uip in a musical family in Cordoba, Argentina, how he got into music, his musical journey that brought him to New York City, his experiences and differences between leading his big band in New York and being a guest in Japan and Germany, a close look at his style of...

Part 2 of our conversation with pianists and entrepreneurs Audrey Vardanega and Christos Vayenas. We talk more about the next steps of Arium TV, support for the Arts, fair compensation for musicians, their source of inspiration, their hopes, their fears, and a lot more! Please Subscribe, Rate and Review the Podcast. A lot of work goes into bringing Down the Pit to you, and we would to know your th...

Part 1 of our conversation with pianists and entrepreneurs Audrey Vardanega and Christos Vayenas. We will learn about their careers, how they got into music, their upbringings in the Bay Area and the Northeast, how they transitioned during the pandemic, their passion to help musicians and their careers, as well as some of the awesome and unique ventures they are involved in like Group Muse, Musaic...

Part 2 and final episode of our conversation with the world-acclaimed British pianist Philip Edward Fisher. He will tell us about his recording experiences with Naxos, Chandos, going through the pandemic and our way to recovery, the Covid-19 Variations, what gives him hope, his sources of inspiration, the future of classical music, and so much more Please Subscribe, Rate and Review the Podcast. A...

Part 1 of our conversation with the world-acclaimed British pianist Philip Edward Fisher. We will learn about his young years in Birmingham and how music took him to London, his love for soccer and snooker, his mentors, moving to NYC, the secret ingredient for the best Fish and Chips, playing by memory vs with music, the mind of the performer, how 9/11 directly affected one of his most special and...

Here it is, the second part of our conversation with the incredible soprano and citizen artist Camille Zamora. In this episode Camille talks about her involvement with a Grammy-winning production, her response to 9/11 while living in NYC and how it lead to co-founding Sing for Hope , her fears, her hopes, her inspirations, (and maybe some dating advice for musicians?). A super fun and fascinating...

We are very excited to share the 1st part of our conversation with the incredible soprano and citizen artist Camille Zamora. In this episode Camille will share some details about her childhood and her travels between Houston and Mexico, her relationship with classical music and other genres of music, Aspen Music Festival, remembering Ed Berkeley, the beauty and importance of simplicity, maintainin...

In the 2nd and final part of our interview with Mary Javian, we talk about some of the landmarks in her career, some amazing organizations she is involved with like Project440 (https://project440.org) and Voces8 (https://voces8.com), founding and curating LiveConnections (https://worldcafelive.com), performing and coming back to some kind of normality post-pandemic, some incredible words of advice...

We are beyond excited to share the first part of our conversation with the incredible Mary Javian. In the episode we talk about her life in Philadelphia, using music to make a  positive impact in society, performing at the most prestigious stages as a bass player as well as bringing music to hospitals, prisons and the homeless, wearing many hats as a teaching artist and as a mom, her Philly c...

In part 2 of our conversation, we continue our conversation with violinist/singer-songwriter Charles Yang in which he talks about how he got into singing, the violin he plays on, crazy and boozy stories while on tour, #AsianHateCrime, the importance of friendship, his sources of inspiration, the future generation of artists, the future of "classical" music, and more. Please Subscribe, Rate, and Re...

Recipient of the 2018 Leonard Bernstein Award, Juilliard graduate Charles Yang was born and raised in Austin, Texas. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras and in concert in the United States, Europe, Brazil, Russia, China, and Taiwan, and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. On June 9th of 2005, the Mayor of Austin presented Mr. Yang with his own "Charles Yang Day".  I...

Welcome to Season 2! Born and raised in Chicago, Anthony McGill has carved an incredible career and is one of the most influential figures in classical music. He is equally recognized as an orchestra musician, a chamber musician, soloist, and teacher. Principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic after a decade with the Metropolitan Opera, he’s the first African-American principal player in t...

Welcome to Season 2! Born and raised in Chicago, Anthony McGill has carved an incredible career and is one of the most influential figures in classical music. He is equally recognized as an orchestra musician, a chamber musician, soloist, and teacher. Principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic after a decade with the Metropolitan Opera, he’s the first African-American principal player in t...

Professional musicians Sami Merdinian and Ian Loew are the co-hosts of Down the Pit, a podcast series that delves into the world of classical music, bringing in leading conductors, composers, and performers to the show, to demystify, promote increased accessibility for the genre, and analyze its future. Each episode will have an incredible guest, and through casual and fun conversations, we will d...