Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger

Javier Camarena is one of the leading tenors in the world. He is a guest at the Salzburg Festival, and participated in a series of conversations hosted by the Salzburg Festival Society. The moderator of this series is Jay. This episode of “Q&A” gives you excerpts of the conversation with Camarena. Jay actually had an encounter with this tenor in an opera house years ago – a story that Jay tell...

The Ravinia Festival is the famous music festival outside Chicago. Its longtime president and CEO is Welz Kauffman – who talks with Jay about his life and work. Kauffman has been in the business since the ’80s, encountering the great and the good (and the bad). He has seen changes in American culture, for better or worse. He has his eye on the scene and his finger on the pulse. A bonus fact: He......

Kyle Parker is on Putin’s “wanted” list – one of the people Putin wants handed over to the FSB, for questioning. Parker is the chief of staff at the U.S. Helsinki Commission, and a father of the Magnitsky Act, a law that gives Putin a stomach ache. With Jay, Parker talks about life on the list and much more. An interesting and invaluable guy, Kyle Parker. Source Get full access to Onward and Upwar...

Bill Browder is the financier whose lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was tortured to death by Russian authorities. Since that time, Browder has worked for justice, spearheading “Magnitsky acts,” which are laws that place sanctions on Russian human-rights abusers. Browder is high on Putin’s enemies list. Indeed, he is high on Putin’s literal list: the list of people whom Putin wants handed over to the FSB...

Thea Musgrave is a Scottish-American composer and a delight. This year, she and the music world have marked her 90th birthday. Jay sat down with her in her home in New York to talk things over. They talk about her life and her music – and other people’s music. Her husband, the conductor Peter Mark, chimes in with an excellent cameo. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger....

They called Barry Goldwater “Mr. Conservative.” In a scholarly sense, George H. Nash merits that designation, too: He is one of the world’s leading authorities on conservatism, and on American conservatism in particular. He wrote a landmark book on the subject. He is also the outstanding biographer of Herbert Hoover. Jay talks with Mr. Nash about his background: an upbringing in Massachusetts... S...

Omar Mohammed is an Iraqi historian and “citizen journalist.” Jay says he is one of the most extraordinary people you will ever meet. At tremendous risk to himself, he chronicled the Islamic State’s occupation of Mosul. What he saw might destroy the average person. But he has pressed on, simply because he wants the world to know, in the hope that people will defend themselves better against the......

David Luhnow is the Latin America editor for the Wall Street Journal. An American, he grew up in Mexico City. His brother Jeff is the general manager of the Houston Astros. (Have they done anything lately?) With Jay, David Luhnow talks about various matters Mexican: crime, economy, culture, politics, and more. The next president is expected to be AMLO – Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He is a left......

Mu Sochua was born in 1954. She left Cambodia when she was 18, three years before the Khmer Rouge came to power. Most of her family was wiped out. She returned and took up a political career. She served in the government but later turned to the opposition. She is now in exile. Monovithya Kem is the daughter of the opposition leader, Kem Sokha – who is now in prison. Like Mu Sochua... Source Get fu...

It is NBA Finals time, so that means another episode with Jay’s gurus from the last NBA podcast: Vivek Dave, Theodore Kupfer, and David French. They talk Warriors vs. Cavs and more. Something has happened since the last podcast: David has declared, in an “historic” essay, as Jay says, LeBron James the GOAT — the Greatest of All Time. What does the panel think about that? And other major questions....

Emmanuel Jal has had an extraordinary life – probably not one you would wish on anyone. He was born in Sudan, sometime in the early 1980s (he’s not sure when). As a child, he was forced to be a soldier. His mother was killed. So were many, many other members of his family. He spent several years – the heart of his childhood – in combat. Eventually, he was adopted by a British aid worker named Emma...

Gianandrea Noseda is the music director of the National Symphony Orchestra. He is also one of the best interviewees in all of music (as Jay knows from experience). Noseda was in New York, to guest-conduct the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Jay sat down with him — to talk about orchestras, Mozart, Mahler, YouTube, and more. At the end, Jay says, “Can you possibly put into words why you like... S...

In 2000, when he was running for president, George W. Bush said he wanted to encourage “a culture of responsibility.” He wanted to be “the responsibility president.” Then came 9/11 and the thrust of his presidency changed. At any rate, Jay recalls Bush in this conversation with David L. Bahnsen, the author of “Crisis of Responsibility: Our Cultural Addiction to Blame and How You Can Cure It. Sourc...

At the Ricochet Podcast Summit, Jay’s guest was Nury A. Turkel, who had a grim and horrifying topic to discuss: a new gulag in China, which contains up to a million Uyghurs (a Turkic minority). Turkel himself is a Uyghur American. This issue is personal, national, and international, all three. Something to know about, in a world pregnant with horrors. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at...

Manfred Honeck is one of the leading conductors in the world. A member of a prominent Austrian musical family, he is the music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and this week he is guest-conducting the New York Philharmonic. Jay sits down with him for a wide-ranging discussion: about music and the musical life. An excellent opportunity to hear the thoughts of a true and deep musician....

This “Q&A” begins with Jeb Bush talking about his late mother, Barbara Bush. Also, what’s it like to be part of a family so well-known? Then he and Jay get down to public policy: guns, immigration, the opioid epidemic, education, entitlement reform, trade. They talk about populism and nationalism and politics at large. Jeb Bush is at his knowledgeable and wide-ranging best. Source Get full acc...

It is a wonderful time of the year, with the NBA playoffs underway. What makes the NBA great? This is one of the questions that Jay takes up with three friends who are eminently qualified to say: David French, Theodore Kupfer, and Vivek Dave. How does the college game differ from the pro game? Are “super-teams” a problem? What about “tanking”? Who are the best players? Is LeBron the GOAT (the... S...

Free of columny, as William Safire called it, Thomas Sowell is writing books — as he always has, to be sure. His latest is “Discrimination and Disparities.” It does what Sowell books, and columns, always do. It teaches you important things. With Jay, Sowell talks about human diversity. He talks about equality of opportunity and equality of results. (Two very different things.) He talks about the.....

On Saturday, the Final Four will be played. And on Monday, the championship game will be played. What are we talking about? College basketball, the NCAA Tournament, March Madness. Jay’s guest is his young National Review colleague Theodore Kupfer (“Teddy K.”), who is a philosophy grad, steeped in sports. Jay and Teddy talk about the current tournament and also about larger issues: How corrupt is.....

Michael Breen is one of our best Korea-watchers — one of our best Korea analysts, one of our best authorities. He is a journalist, consultant, and book-author. With Jay, he talks about the Olympics just past. He talks about the North Korean charm offensive, if charm it was. He talks about upcoming summits. And the Kim family, that dictatorial dynasty. And the politics of reunification. And more. S...

Italy has just had elections, with very interesting results. Discussing them with Jay is Alberto Mingardi, one of Italy’s leading classical liberals, the director general of the Bruno Leoni Institute. They also talk about Trump, Silvio, demography (have Italians stopped having babies?), migration, the EU, books, music, and, crucially, food. You can understand Italy through its food... Source Get f...

In New York, the Human Rights Foundation hosted “PutinCon” – a conference dedicated to telling the truth about Putin and his Russia. Jay caught up with Bill Browder and Vladimir Kara-Murza. The former is the financier who has spearheaded “Magnitsky acts”; the latter is the Russian democracy leader who, twice, has survived poison attacks. Jay talks with them about the latest poison attacks in... So...

Hendrik Meijer is the author of a new biography of Arthur Vandenberg, the Michigan senator who led the isolationist wing before World War II and became a key internationalist thereafter. Meijer, too, is a Michigan man. In addition to being a biographer and writer, he is the executive chairman of Meijer, Inc., the chain of stores founded by his grandfather, also named Hendrik Meijer. Jay (a... Sour...

Poland has adopted a controversial new law, making it a crime to say some things about Poland and World War II. Radek Sikorski is well positioned to talk about this: He is a veteran writer and politician. He has served as both foreign minister and defense minister of Poland. Jay also asks him about Europe in general: Are authoritarian winds blowing? What does Anglo-American conservatism have in......

Alston Ramsay is an old National Review hand, and an old Bill Buckley hand. He went on to work for Secretary Robert Gates, General David Petraeus, and others. Now he is in Hollywood, writing movies. Just coming out is “ Midnighters,” directed by Julius Ramsay, Alston’s older brother. With Jay, Alston talks about the movie and many other subjects — including basketball, about which Alston is... Sou...