Classical Conversations

Welsh pianist Llŷr Williams joins us to preview his 12-CD box set Beethoven Unbound. Recorded live during his three-year Beethoven cycle of concerts at London's Wigmore Hall, the collection contains remarkable performances of the complete piano sonatas and other works – including the 32 Variations in C minor, Eroica Variations, Opus 126 Bagatelles and the Diabelli Variations (a total of almost 14...

Genre-defying artist and composer Harold Budd joins us in the studio to preview his weekend of performances and appearances at the Toledo Museum of Art and Bowling Green State University. Also on the panel: the TMA's Manager of Programs Scott Boberg, and Kurt Doles, director of BGSU's MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music. Please note: due to copyright, musical excerpts have been truncated. Ph...

Formed at The Juilliard School in 2008, the Tesla Quartet quickly established itself as one of the most promising young ensembles in New York. Some ten years later, they've not only gained international recognition, but they've released their debut album (on Orchid Classics). The group's four members: Ross Snyder and Michelle Lie (violins), Edwin Kaplan (viola), and Serafim Smigelskiy (cello) join...

Toledo Symphony President Zak Vassar, Toledo Ballet Artistic Director Lisa Meyer-Lang, and Toledo Symphony Music Director Alain Trudel join us for a discussion about their newly announced umbrella organization: The Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA).

Duo Noire (classical guitarists Thomas Flippin and Christopher Mallett) offer a preview of their debut album, Night Triptych – which contains works by living women composers written just for them.

Conductor Donald Nally joins us for a conversation about his choral group The Crossing, and their recent project Zealot Canticles – which pairs the provocative writings of Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka with the explosive music of American composer Lansing McLoskey.

The young and vibrant Neave Trio – violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov, and pianist Eri Nakamura – preview their new album "French Moments" from Chandos Records. The disc contains masterful performances of trios by Albert Roussel, Claude Debussy, and Gabriel Fauré – each remarkable in its own way.

Cellist Inbal Segev and pianist Juho Pohjonen join us for a preview of their new album from Avie Records, which includes three chamber music masterpieces: the cello sonatas of Chopin and Grieg, plus Schumann's Fantasy Pieces, Op. 73.

In his new album "The Golden Age" for Decca Classics, violinist Ray Chen pays tribute to the great violinists of the past while looking to the future. Ray joins us to preview the disc, which includes classic arrangements of standards by Gershwin, Kreisler, and Debussy alongside energetic new arrangements of well-known works, created for Ray's virtuoso string quartet Made in Berlin.

Soprano Patrice Michaels, along with her husband James Ginsberg, founder of Cedille Records in Chicago, join us for a conversation about their ambitious musical project which profiles James's mother, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg (a.k.a. "Notorious RBG"). The album, Notorious RBG in Song, includes musical settings of various texts, ranging from personal, intimate letters to hilarious r...

Cellist Amit Peled carries on the formidable legacy of the great Pablo Casals, both as the custodian of Casals' own cello and through his long-running project of recreating Casals' concerts. In his latest album, Peled and pianist Noreen Polera take on the two cello sonatas of Johannes Brahms – who also had a connection to Casals.

Opera luminary Joyce DiDonato joins us for a conversation about the star-studded album Hopes and Dreams: The Lullaby Project. An outgrowth of Carnegie Hall's Lullaby Project – which pairs pregnant women and new mothers with professional artists to write and sing personal lullabies for their babies – the recording includes contributions from Fiona Apple, the Brentano String Quartet, Lawrence Brownl...

Violin superstar Joshua Bell joins us to preview his new album, which features his first recording ever of the virtuosic Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch. Also on the disc, a thrilling new take on Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor – a piece Joshua first recorded over thirty years ago with the orchestra that joins him for this recording, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein's latest recording from the Orange Mountain Music label is called Circles, and features the Boston-based, Grammy-nominated chamber orchestra A Far Cry. It also features two piano treasures, one old and one new: J.S. Bach's Keyboard Concerto No. 7 in G Minor, BWV 1058, and a brand new concerto by Philip Glass (Piano Concerto No. 3), written especially for her. Simone join...

The young and dynamic American conductor Kazem Abdullah joins us for a conversation about his new recording of Maurice Ravel's masterful ballet Daphnis & Chloe.

Pianist Robert Prester has received wide acclaim for his jazz recordings over the years. Now he turns his attention to the classical genre with a new album called Rapsodya, which includes works by Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin, and Bach – as well as his own composition, the Sonata in F Minor.

Pianist Norman Krieger talks Johannes Brahms and samples his new album, which features both Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 (with the London Symphony Orchestra) and the Piano Sonata No.1.

Formed in Israel nearly twenty years ago, the Ariel Quartet is currently Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. We're joined by three members of the group to preview their debut album, which essays the String Quartet No. 2 of Johannes Brahms alongside Bela Bartok's String Quartet No. 1.

Two members of the celebrated Miró Quartet talk about the group's history and the latest entry in their Beethoven cycle: the String Quartet Opus 131 in C sharp minor, one of the composer's most profound and enigmatic works.

Stage director/vocal coach Kathy Kelly and soprano Jennifer Cresswell join us for a preview of Kerrytown Concert House's upcoming production of Laura Kaminsky's As One, an opera about the transgender experience. (Note: due to copyright, musical selections have been edited out of the podcast version of this episode)

The University of Toledo Opera Ensemble's director Dr. Denise Ritter Bernardini joins us along with coach/accompanist Wayne Anthony and four cast members to preview their production of Benjamin Britten's opera A Midsummer Night's Dream, based on the Shakespeare play. Please note: due to copyright, musical selections have been edited out of this interview.

The Masterworks Chorale of Toledo's director Timothy Cloeter joins us to preview their spring classics concert, From Darkness Into Light, which pairs music of Johann Sebastian Bach with that of John Rutter. (Note: due to copyright issues, music selections have been edited out of this podcast).

We continue the conversation with composer, conductor, teacher, and author Samuel Adler on the occasion of his 90th birthday, featuring his recent album One Lives but Once: A 90th Birthday Celebration from Linn Records, and his recent autobiography Building Bridges With Music: Stories from a Composer's Life from Pendragon Press. Note: due to copyright, musical selections have been edited out of th...

Celebrated composer, conductor, teacher, and author Samuel Adler turns 90 this month. Sam joins us for an extended conversation about his life, career, and music – with a focus on the recent album One Lives but Once: A 90th Birthday Celebration from Linn Records, and Sam's recent autobiography Building Bridges With Music: Stories from a Composer's Life from Pendragon Press. Note: due to copyright,...

Pianist Lara Downes talks about her intimate tribute to Leonard Bernstein and his American legacy in her new album from Sony Classical, entitled For Lenny. This 28-track recording features world premieres, new arrangements, and inspired collaborations between Lara and artists such as Rhiannon Giddens, Thomas Hampson, and Kevin Olusola.