Phillip Gainsley's Podcast

Cello playing is at the center of Matthew Barley’s career, while his musical world has virtually no geographical, social or stylistic boundaries. His passions include improvisation, education, multi-genre music-making, electronics, and pioneering community programs. Matthew is a world-renowned cellist who has performed in over 50 countries. Matthew’s new music group, Between The Notes undertook ov...

The 2023/24 season marked Chad Goodman’s inaugural year as music director of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra—only the fifth leader in the orchestra’s prestigious seven-decade history. Chad also serves as artistic director of IlluminArts, Miami’s art song and chamber music concert series.  He curates site-specific classical music programs in collaboration with the leading museums, art galleries, and h...

Peter works extensively as a director of theater, musical theater, opera and new work development. He is the producing artistic director at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. We recorded this conversation in January 2023, as he assumed that position. Peter and I spoke on Episode 27 when he was artistic director of Theater Latté Da, a Twin Cities-based company.  Since the Theater Latté D...

Teddy Abrams, Musical America’ s 2022 Conductor of the Year, starts his tenth season as music director of the Louisville Orchestra in the fall of 2024.  Teddy has been the galvanizing force behind the orchestra’s extraordinary artistic renewal and commitment to innovative community engagement since his appointment in September 2014. Teddy is also a prolific and award-winning composer.  We’ll hear...

Monet Sabel was born and reared in Redondo Beach, California. She grew up heavily participating in her local community theater, The Norris Theatre, to which she attributes all of her success. Monet moved to New York to attend NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned her BFA in Drama from the New Studio on Broadway. After college, Monet was cast in the Off-Broadway Barrow St. revival of Sween...

Ben West is a musical theatre artist and historian. His book, The American Musical, chronicles a detailed and comprehensive history of the art form’s artistic evolution.  Ben also created 20 “Timeline Wall” exhibits for the Museum of Broadway, that trace the history of the Broadway stage from 1732 to 2021, and spotlight more than 500 productions and 100 artists. He has worked in various capacities...

Simon Woods brings more than 30 years of experience working with orchestras to his leadership role as president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras. Simon is known throughout the world of classical music as a highly trusted mentor and advisor to orchestra management professionals. His leadership includes regular columns in professional periodicals about the future of orchestras, as well a...

Marc A. Scorca joined OPERA America as president and CEO in 1990. Under his leadership, OPERA America has become one of the most respected arts service organizations in North America. Its membership has grown from 120 opera companies to nearly 4,000 organizations and individuals, and its reach extends to 80,000 annual visitors at the National Opera Center and over 83,000 subscribers across digital...

Philippe Quint, violinist, was born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg today) and trained in the United States at the The Juilliard School, earning both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree.  He made his solo debut at age nine while studying at Moscow’s Special Music school for the Gifted.  He earned top prizes in music competitions around the world, and his recording of Korngold’s Violin Concerto ranked in...

Ann Morrison was Mary Flynn in the original 1981 production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Merrily We Roll Along , directed by Harold Prince, for which she won the 1982 Theatre World Award.  More than 40 years later she remains remembered for that role, but she has done so much more since then, including her one-person show she is currently revising, to take on the road.

Stephen Hamilton, the “concert touring organist,” has been prominent on the American organ scene for over 40 years. The New York Times wrote of Hamilton’s performance of the Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor: “Hamilton, as organist at the Church of the Holy Trinity (Episcopal) obviously knew the instrument’s sonorous capabilities and brought them powerfully to bear in a rousing account.” Throu...

GRAMMY® Award winning Classical Producer of the Year, Michael Fine is one of the top classical recording producers in the world.  But he also has been active in artistic planning for major orchestras world-wide. He formerly was vice president of artists and repertoire at Deutsche Grammophon, the first American to hold the post of artistic director of the 100 year-old label.  Michael remains active...

The Met: Live in HD is a series of live opera performances transmitted to selected venues, primarily movie theaters around the world, in high-definition video, via satellite from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The first transmission was the Julie Taymor production of a condensed English-language version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute , on December 30, 2006. Veteran TV director Gary Halvorso...

Michael Stephen Brown has been hailed by The New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” His artistry is shaped by his creative voice as a pianist and composer, praised for his “fearless performances” ( The New York Times ) and “exceptionally beautiful” compositions ( The Washington Post ). He was the winner of the 2018 Emerging Artist Award fr...

Robert Neu is known for his highly theatrical and musically sensitive work  He has directed over 100 productions of operas, musicals and plays throughout the country. Bob’s productions include everything from T he Music Man to St. John Passion, plus Bernstein’s Mass , Peer Gynt (for which he also did the adaptation), L a Traviata, The Magic Flute and Carousel, Hansel and Gretel, Don Giovanni a nd...

Richard Kogan has a distinguished career as a psychiatrist and  a concert pianist. Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and Artistic Director of the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Program, he has been praised for his “exquisite playing” by The New York Times , and the Boston Globe wrote, “Kogan has somehow managed to excel at the world’s two most demanding profession...

Justin Lucero is artistic director of Theater Latté Da, in Minneapolis. In addition to nearly a dozen works directed for El Paso Opera,  Justin enjoys a robust freelance directing career for professional and academic stages, including past work with Abingdon Theatre Company, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, City Theatre (Pittsburgh), Creede Repertory Theatre, University of Texas El Paso, UTEP Dinner The...

Conductor John DeMain is noted for his dynamic performances on concert and opera stages throughout the world. In January 2023, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Opera Association, the association’s highest award. During his three decades as the Madison Symphony Orchestra music director, John has consistently raised the quality of the orchestra by introducing blind audition...

 Andrew Arceci has developed a varied career as performer, composer/arranger, and scholar.  He performs regularly on the viola da gamba (viol), violone, and double bass throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.  As viol soloist with orchestra, Andrew has performed historical and/or contemporary works with Oxford Baroque (UK), and numerous ensembles throughout the United States.  Recent recording...

What a pleasure it was talking to Danish conductor Thomas Sondegard as he began his journey as music director of the Minnesota Orchestra. Bringing broad experience in both orchestral and opera repertoires, he has been music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra since 2018. Between 2012 and 2018, he served as principal conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and he has appeare...

D. T. Max first contributed to the New Yorker in 1997 and has been a staff writer since 2010. He is the author of “The Family That Couldn’t Sleep: A Medical Mystery,” a cultural and scientific study of fatal familial insomnia disease; “Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace,” and the topic of our conversation, “Finale: Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim.” He has be...

Singer, rapper, and writer, Dessa has made a career of bucking genres and defying expectations—her résumé as a musician includes performances at Lollapalooza and Glastonbury, co-compositions for 100-voice choir, performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, and top-200 entries on the Billboard charts.  Dessa has delivered keynote speeches and presentations on art, science, and entrepreneurship; guest...

Lee Mills is internationally recognized as a passionate, multifaceted and energetic conductor. In naming Mills as the ‘New Artist of the Month’ for March 2022, Musical America praised his ‘omnivorous musical temperament eager to try out highly contrasting musical styles and approaches.’ As you’ll hear, Lee left his mark wit the Seattle Symphony during the COVID pandemic, stepping in at crucial tim...

Since 2015, the Beo String Quartet has created a niche for itself as a daring, genre-defying ensemble.  Trained in the classical tradition, violinists Jason Neukom and Andrew Giordano, violist Sean Neukom, and cellist Ryan Ash also know their way around contemporary expression, including the use of electronics, live sound processing, and spatial audio manipulation. Their performances of Bach, Moza...

With “a prodigious clarity of diction” ( Scherzo ) and “a moving tendresse” ( BBC Music Magazine ), Esther Yoo has been described as “the model of a violin soloist in the modern age.” ( The Strad ). In 2010, she became the youngest prizewinner of the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, and of the Queen Elisabeth Competition two years later. She talks about both. In 2014, she became a B...