Anthony Plog on Music

Jörg Widmann is one of the most versatile and fascinating classical artists in the world today. He is one of the world's most recognized modern composers, with premiers by major orchestras around the world. He has also appeared as a clarinet soloist with many of the world's top ensembles. As a conductor, he was the Music Director of the Irish Chamber Orchestra for ten years. His body of...

In the Bonus Room we discuss the idea of using social media to build a career in music, and from there we move on to the subject of the interpretation of Baroque music... authentic instruments and phrasing vs. modern instruments and phrasing. And we end with Anne's optimistic take on the future of classical music... "The music is just fine."

Part 2 of our discussion deals with the books "The King and I", and "My Nine Lives". We talk about what it was like to work with Herbert Breslin and Leon Fleisher, both towering but very different figures in the music business. This leads to a short discussion about interpretation, and we end with Anne talking about her current project, a book of historical fiction about the pe...

Anne Midgette was the music critic for the Washington Post for eleven years, and for seven years before that was a regular contributor to the New York Times. She is the author of two books on music, The King and I , about the relationship between Luciano Pavarotti and his manager, Herbert Breslin, and My Nine Lives , with the pianist Leon Fleisher. She is currently working on a historical novel ab...

Jock transitioned to jazz and rock and moved to San Francisco during the height of the hippie movement. We talk about improvisation and the difference between "playing licks" and "riding the crest of the wave." Part 2 ends with Jock talking about two of the iconic band leaders he played with ... Don Ellis and Frank Zappa.

In the Bonus Room, I ask Jock about perhaps the most unusual aspect of his career ... doing voice overs for commercials, cartoons, and the like. And Jock was happy to give me some examples of what different cartoon characters might sound like. So this Bonus Room is quite different from Bonus Rooms of the past! Enjoy!

Jock Ellis has had a remarkably diversified musical (and non-musical) life. I first met Jock while we were in our teens playing in the American Youth Symphony and we have been friends to this day. But we have gone in different  musical directions, with me staying in classical and Jock going in the direction of jazz, rock, and ... voice overs! In Part 1 of our conversation, Jock talks about growing...

In the second part of our conversation, I ask Carol about the role of the tuba in the brass section and also the orchestra, and how her interpretation changes when playing with the different brass instruments, and how she adapts for different styles.  Carol has premiered solo works by Michael Daugherty and Wynton Marsalis, both written for her,  so I ask her to take us through the process of worki...

In addition to being an orchestral musician and soloist , Carol also teaches at Yale University, so I ask about her thoughts on teaching and practicing. In addition to everything else, she is an entrepreneur, having founded an organization called Tubas for Good, which supplies tubas and euphoniums to underfunded school arts programs.

Carol Jantsch made history in 2006 when she won the position of principal tuba with the Philadelphia Orchestra, becoming the first woman to win such a position in a major American orchestra. But even more impressive is that she won the chair while she was still in her senior year at the University of Michigan. Noted not only for her orchestral playing, she is a brilliant soloist, and in addition t...

In Part 2 of our conversation , Mal and Mari talk about how they are able to combine free-lancing while being in school and studying. We also talk about auditions ... and the difficulty of taking a compliment (!).

It is easy to focus on times when things don't go well with the playing, and so Eddie Ludema and I ask about times when things worked really well. I tell the story of Joe Alessi's perfect note, and we end our conversation by talking about the future.

In the course of this podcast , it has been both a pleasure and also an honor to interview some of the most iconic people in various areas of music. I think it is very easy to think of those people as being incredibly gifted (which of course they are). But what about students who are on their way to a successful career - what is the path they have chosen, what are the obstacles they might face, an...

As a member of the Berlin Philharmonic , Gábor Tarkövi has performed under many great conductors, and so I ask him to talk about how he thinks the Berlin Philharmonic has changed from the time of Herbert von Karajan to the present. Then, using Andris Nelsons as an example, Gábor talks about what he thinks makes a conductor great. Having played first with the Bayerische Rundfunk (Munich Radio) Orch...

The Bonus Room is devoted mainly to Gábor's ideas about teaching . We begin with him speaking of his two main teachers, György Geiger and Hans Gansch, what he learned from them and their different styles of teaching. And since this was recorded before the World Cup was completed, I ask Gábor to predict who he thought would be the eventual winner!

Gábor Tarkövi is one of the most revered and respected trumpet players of his generation . He began his career as co-principal trumpet with the  Württemberg Philharmonic, then was principal trumpet of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, followed by principal trumpet with the Bayern Radio Symphony Orchestra. Finally, from 2004-2019 he was principal trumpet with the Berliner Philharmoniker. In addition t...

Gene Porkorny has had a truly illustrious career as an orchestral musician. In Part 2 we talk about his many experiences with great orchestras of which he has been a member. Beginning with his joining the Israel Philharmonic at the age of 22, Gene talks about his learning curve, what it was like to work with different orchestras and their principal trumpet players, and the reasons why he will play...

In addition to his orchestral career , Gene is also an accomplished soloist and chamber player, and I ask him about this aspect of his career. Finally, a huge influence on Gene and his thinking is the author Stephen Covey and his book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." And, as always with Gene, there is a lot of laughter! Dorico Professional music notation and composition sof...

Many people believe Gene Porkorny is the greatest orchestral tubist of his generation. A member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1989, he has also been a member of the Israel Philharmonic, the Utah Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. But in addition to his orchestral playing, Gene is an exceptional solo artist and chamber musician. As a young man Gene studied...

In Part 2 we continue our discussion of composition , why he is so inspired by poetry, and how it has led him to write so many works for chorus. We talk about the writing process, and his willingness to struggle to generate his best work. Morten Lauridsen is not only a composer but also a teacher, so we spend a lot of this episode discussing his ideas about teaching. Dorico Professional music nota...

Over the past 2 1/2 years , Professor Lauridsen has had an epic battle with cancer, and he was willing to share aspects of this battle and his moving insights with the hope that it might inspire others who are struggling with health issues. We end by discussing what it was like to receive the National Medal of Arts in 2007. Dorico Professional music notation and composition software from Steinberg...

Morten Lauridsen has written choral music that has deeply moved people around the world. As one of America’s most beloved and also most performed composers, he received the National Medal of Arts in 2007. His works O Magnum Mysterium, Dirat-on, O Nata Lux, and Sure On This Shining Night have become the all-time best selling choral octavos distributed by Theodore Presser Music. Not only a composer...

A Rector of a Musik Hochschule has many challenges , but perhaps the biggest that Ludwig Holtmeier had to face was the Covid crisis. Our interview was recorded in 2021, and a large portion of our conversation deals with the steps taken that allowed the Freiburg Musik Hochschule to be the only Hochschule that consistently remained open during that difficult time. But first we begin our conversation...

In the Bonus Room , I ask Professor Holtmeier a number of questions about music in general... Is tonality dead? What is the future of music? What was musical training like during the time of Franz Liszt? And finally, comic books! Dorico Professional music notation and composition software from Steinberg. Download a free 30-trial today! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a...

Ludwig Holtmeier has been Rector at the Freiburg Musik Hochschule since October 2017. Before taking the job as Rector, he taught theory at the Hochschule and earlier was a musicologist at the Hans Eisler Musik Hochschule in Berlin. He also taught at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland. In addition, he is an accomplished pianist and theorist, so he has a broad and deep understandi...