All Classical Radio | On Deck with Young Musicians

Christa Wessel chats with 17-year old pianist Nikita Istratov, a senior at Sunset High School and one of the winners of Cognizart’s Young Artist Debut Concert on May 17th.  In this episode of On Deck, Nikita talks about his love of classical music, his curiosity about how creative people became creative, and about getting his pilot’s license before he got his driver’s license.

Raul Gomez-Rojas chats with 17-year old bassoonist Katelyn Nguyen, one of All Classical Radio’s 2024 Young Artist Ambassadors. In this episode of On Deck, we’ll learn not only why she chose the bassoon, but why she has chosen to play in both the Metropolitan Youth Symphony AND the Portland Youth Philharmonic. As she heads to the Curtis Institute next year, she also shares some advice for her young...

Sophie Bergkvist is in the midst of her first season with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony (MYS), where she plays trumpet with the Concert Orchestra and Symphonic Wind Ensemble. She began playing trumpet at the age of 10 by joining her school band. She enjoyed it so much, that she decided to study under Jim Kvech, and currently with Gerald Webster. Musical honors include selection to the 2023 Orego...

Eden Warmflash is a 16-year old junior at Portland’s Cleveland High School, and a percussionist with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. In her chat with Raul Gomez-Rojas, Eden talks about the various categories of percussion instruments, some misconceptions about percussionists, and how playing in musical ensembles helps her as a dragon boat captain.

Kaden Prichard is a freshman at Rex Putnam High School where he plays in the Wind Ensemble under Jeff Wilson. He started playing clarinet in the third grade and has been a student of Dunja Marcum since then. When he's not gaming or relacing a pair of sneakers, he enjoys cooking, swimming and will be trying out the golf team this spring. He's been an active member of MYS ensembles since 2018 and ha...

Amy Faust gets to know Maya Hausman, a senior at Cleveland High school who plays flute and piccolo (plus a little bit of clarinet!) for various school ensembles as well as the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. Maya started playing the piano at age 5, but as a member of the Cherokee Nation she was drawn early on to the native flute playing at the tribal gatherings her family would attend each summer. He...

Christa Wessel chats with 18-year old pianist Joshua Hahn. Joshua loves how music demands perseverance and dedication, and also how it can connect us to emotion and memory deep inside us.

All Classical Radio celebrates the 10th anniversary of On Deck with Young Musicians by following up with 10 of the musicians who were interviewed in the first season of the show. The series is hosted by All Classical intern Jahlysa Azaret. Daniel Rodricks is a resident physician and pianist based in Newport News, Virginia. In this bonus “Where Are They Now” episode Daniel shares his thoughts about...

Violinist Leena Karmarkar was only 4 years old when her parents signed her up for music lessons. Now at 17, she’s the concertmaster at the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. Leena talks about losing motivation during the pandemic, and how she got her joy back. A junior at Portland’s Lincoln High School, she enjoys being challenged. Leena is working toward an IB diploma, and in her spare time she runs cr...

Rachel Modlin is a senior at Reed College, studying collaborative piano performance and French. She studies piano privately with Jean-David Coen and Monica Ohuchi. She is a member of the Reed Piano Trio, has soloed with the Reed orchestra, and frequently performs collaborative works with Reed students. As a collaborative pianist, Rachel performs a variety of gigs from musical theater auditions at...

All Classical Radio celebrates the 10th anniversary of On Deck with Young Musicians by following up with 10 of the musicians who were interviewed in the first season of the show. The series is hosted by All Classical intern Jahlysa Azaret. Saori DeBruyn is an opera singer based in Eugene, Oregon. In this bonus “Where Are They Now” episode Saori shares her thoughts about her past interview, her car...

All Classical Radio celebrates the 10th anniversary of On Deck with Young Musicians by following up with 10 of the musicians who were interviewed in the first season of the show. The series is hosted by All Classical intern Jahlysa Azaret. Jonathan DeBruyn is a conductor and violinist based in Eugene, Oregon. In our tenth episode, Jonathan shares his thoughts on his past interview, his career, and...

All Classical Radio celebrates the 10th anniversary of On Deck with Young Musicians by following up with 10 of the musicians who were interviewed in the first season of the show. The series is hosted by All Classical intern Jahlysa Azaret. PJ Hummelt is a data analyst and French horn player based in Berkeley, California. In our ninth episode, PJ discusses his thoughts on his past interview and his...

All Classical Radio celebrates the 10th anniversary of On Deck with Young Musicians by following up with 10 of the musicians who were interviewed in the first season of the show. The series is hosted by All Classical intern Jahlysa Azaret. Daniel Kim is a former cellist, now photojournalist based in Seattle, Washington. In our eighth episode, Daniel talks about how he became a photojournalist and...

Dina Biggs is a 14-year old clarinetist, and a freshman at West Linn High School. Though Dina has only been playing clarinet for 3 years she is already quite good: she is the only freshman in her school’s Symphonic Band, and she plays first clarinet in the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Fun fact: her first clarinet was purchased for $49 on Amazon.com.

All Classical Radio celebrates the 10th anniversary of On Deck with Young Musicians by following up with 10 of the musicians who were interviewed in the first season of the show. The series is hosted by All Classical intern Jahlysa Azaret. Anna Louise is an opera singer based Rochester, New York. In our seventh episode, she shares her thoughts on her interview from 10 years ago and also talks abou...

All Classical Radio celebrates the 10th anniversary of On Deck with Young Musicians by following up with 10 of the musicians who were interviewed in the first season of the show. The series is hosted by All Classical intern Jahlysa Azaret. Emma Simmons is a violinist based in Eugene, OR. In our sixth episode, Emma shares her thoughts on her interview from 10 years ago. She also talks about her int...

All Classical Radio celebrates the 10th anniversary of On Deck with Young Musicians by following up with 10 of the musicians who were interviewed in the first season of the show. The series is hosted by All Classical intern Jahlysa Azaret. Jimmy Brown is a baritone singer and Elementary Music Educator based in Portland, OR. In this episode, Jimmy shares his thoughts on his “On Deck” interview from...

Software engineer (and former violinist) Emily Wu reacts to her interview from 10 years ago, and shares about her work as a software engineer, getting involved in the dance community, and sharing advice with young musicians on overcoming their obstacles.

Bassist Nick Arredondo reacts to his interview from 10 years ago, and shares about finding community in the Colburn School of Music, playing for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and sharing advice with young musicians to prioritize self-care.

Vocalist Geetha Somayajula reacts to her interview from 10 years ago, and shares her journey since then (which includes a degree from USC, a Fulbright year in South India, a stint at Price Waterhouse Cooper, and a current path to a dual Masters degree at Northwestern University). Geetha also shares that as a South Asian she has often felt misunderstood; she now finds purpose in helping people comm...

All Classical Radio celebrates the 10th anniversary of On Deck with Young Musicians by following up with 10 of the musicians who were interviewed in the first season of the show. The series is hosted by All Classical intern Jahlysa Azaret. In our first episode, pianist Ruta Kuzmickas reacts to her interview from 10 years ago and talks to Jahlysa about her rebellious nature which pushes her to crea...

Olivia Turk is a classical saxophonist who just started their senior year at Ida B Wells high school where they play clarinet and saxophone. They started music over ten years ago and have been playing saxophone for three. Currently, Olivia plays in Portland Youth Philharmonic Wind Ensemble and sits first chair in their school band. Adam Eccleston talks with Olivia about their drive to pursue music...

Naomi Margolis is a 16-year old cellist who not only plays in the Metropolitan Youth Symphony, but she also -as a freshman- started a chamber orchestra at Lincoln High School. Raul Gomez-Rojas talks with Naomi about leadership, about being the youngest member of almost every ensemble she’s been a part of, and about how orchestra is like a sports team. Naomi also loves learning languages (Mandarin,...

Eunji Ryu is a rising senior at Westview High School in Beaverton. She has been playing the cello for almost 10 years and currently plays in the Portland Youth Philharmonic. In 2022 and 2023, she played in Oregon's All-State High School Ensemble and in 2023, played in the All-Northwest Ensemble. In 2022, she performed at Weill Recital Hall in New York for the Winners Recital of the American Protég...