The Arts Salon

Today’s Guest is Brian McWhorter. I first met Brian many years ago when he first made an appearance on the faculty at Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar. He made an impression then, and I was very taken by his thoughtful approach to art making and willingness to question the trajectory of the arts. Brian has been an invaluable critic of music education and conservatory curricula. This discu...

Today’s Guest is Ben Neill. I first met Ben when I got the opportunity to perform LaMonte Young’s The Melodic Version of The Second Dream of The High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer from The Four Dreams of China with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for their Fluxus Festival. Ben is a truly unique thinker, and I must admit this conversation is amongst my favorite not just on this podcast, but in my...

1,956 Cases of Police Brutality, 313 victims of physical violence by the police, 40 victims of homicide (allegedly committed by the police), 1,003 arbitrary arrests, 418 violente interventions by the public force, 28 victims of injuries to their eyes, 129 cases of firearm shootings by the police, 12 cases of sexual assault by the public force.   Just what IS and has been happening in Colombia...

1,956 Cases of Police Brutality, 313 victims of physical violence by the police, 40 victims of homicide (allegedly committed by the police), 1,003 arbitrary arrests, 418 violente interventions by the public force, 28 victims of injuries to their eyes, 129 cases of firearm shootings by the police, 12 cases of sexual assault by the public force.   Just what IS and has been happening in Colombia...

1,956 Cases of Police Brutality, 313 victims of physical violence by the police, 40 victims of homicide (allegedly committed by the police), 1,003 arbitrary arrests, 418 violente interventions by the public force, 28 victims of injuries to their eyes, 129 cases of firearm shootings by the police, 12 cases of sexual assault by the public force. Just what IS and has been happening in Colombia?

Our conversation today is—if I may be immodest—an accurate display of David’s eclectic biography. We talk about neuroscience and music, artificial intelligence and the future role of the artist, and the creative logic of artists. David has been fascinating to me since I met him at CalArts, where he was the Dean of the Herb Alpert School of Music and ushered in a particularly bright period at the i...

Today’s guest is Russ Devuyst, former Associate Principal trumpet of the Montreal Symphony, and current head of brass as my alma mater, McGill University. Russ was my undergraduate teacher; he was also my first teacher of such a caliber. Before him, I had never really spent an extended period of time sitting next to someone who could make the trumpet sound that way. The reality is that no matter h...

I’m really excited for today’s guest because he represents the first departure from the small sphere of influence of the music industry. Jose Maria Barrero is currently Assistant Professor of Finance at the Instituto Tecnológico Autonomo de Mexico, in the business school. This is one of the leading higher-education institutions of Mexico. To read more about Jose Maria and discover his work, visit:...

Today’s guest is Mike Sachs, principal trumpet of the Cleveland Orchestra. I want to thank Mike for his generosity, and for sitting with me for over 3 hours, despite the fact that we had never met. Mike and I share a common hero, Thomas Stevens. As some recurring listeners may recall, I dedicated this podcast to Stevens when I launched it. I miss Tom, and what he represented. His death has left a...

Today’s guest is Grammy nominee, Kristen Klehr. Kristen has been a friend of mine for some times, as forms part of my monthly dinner party, which had become a recurring event in the months leading up to the pandemic. At these parties I would host a group of Los Angeles musicians to spend an evening socializing away from the gig-economy “hang.” She is one of the hardest working people I have ever m...

This is a special conversation to me, as Marco has been an important influence, and mentor for me throughout the last decade. Marco embodies all of the rarest qualities in the trumpet community, and like anything this rare, it makes Marco a huge asset to us all. Marco taught me how to listen more deeply, to enjoy sound to its fullest, and to be grateful for the moments spent making music. He has a...

My guest today is Thomas Gansch. This has been so far one of my favorite conversations on The Arts Salon. Thomas is an incredibly generous man, and I was humbled by his openness. This conversation was a joy to listen back to and edit, it helped me bring to words, sentiments I have for years been espousing. We touch on many topics, but I want to briefly highlight the one that is most important to m...

I remember starting my sophomore year at McGill University, and meeting with Ed Carroll who told me there was a killer bass trombonist joining the class. “No Nico, this guy is something else,” said Ed.  By way of coincidence, we were paired up in a dreadful brass quartet, and from the atrociousness, was born one of my most cherished friendships. I look back often, but seldom wish to vividly r...

My guest today is Dave Bilger. Our conversations examines many subjects that are dear to my heart: revolution vs. evolution, the role of the educator, living a cultural life, cancel culture, and many more topics which I’m sure you will enjoy as much as I did. If you’re new to the Arts Salon, this might not be the conversation with Dave Bilger you expect, but probably the one you need to hear. But...

The 20th and 21st centuries have been a period of extreme progress in matters of human development. Technologically, we have advanced more in a century than in the previous millennia. Over the last 40 years the distances between nations have become negligible, and democratically rooted systems have taken hold of a majority of the world, where even until the 1950s, only a minority of nations had su...

Today’s guest is Steph Richards. Editing this episode in the wake of the New York Philharmonic’s news, seemed serendipitous. During this pandemic we have all been scrambling to find a way forward, and most artists have been lost in this effort, because they have not been accustomed to swimming in the waters of change and hunger for far too long. This is obviously not the case with artists like Ste...

Today’s Guest is Dave Taylor, the extraordinary Bass Trombonist, who for decades has disproven that a muted personality will land you in a lucrative career. Dave is a great hero of mine, and I feel like I’ve known him for years through my dear friend Felix  DelTredici. Meeting him for this podcast was a real joy, and he proved to live up to my expectations. Dave and I talk at great length abo...

Welcome to another episode of the arts salon. Today’s guest is CJ Camerieri. I Met CJ when we did a concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the great American composer LaMonte Young. CJ can be heard with the innovative new music ensemble YMusic, as well as with legendary musician Paul Simon. Nobody on that gig was average, half of them will appear on this show if they haven’t already (Stephe...

John is one of the Trumpet’s leading scholars, and one of its main practitioners. His work with composers throughout the 20th Century has left a rich legacy of pieces that are truly spectacular. In this, his work with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is particularly salient. As a thinker he is unparalleled, and I wanted to have him on, because he is one of the Trumpet’s most educated and interesting advoc...

This bonus episode deals primarily with the erosion of Reason first world countries have been experiencing, primarily through the exploration of what I believe to be one of the most useless additions to the English language, the word Latinx. Earlier this month, I received a sleuth of emails in a single day from prominent academic and artistic institutions inviting me, a Latino, to seminars, festiv...

Peter Evans is one of the world's most astounding improvisers on any instrument. His technique mixes with his vast musical flexibility seamlessly.  I was in college when I first heard an old recording of Peter playing a version of Body and Soul, I had never heard so many complex techniques put together into a coherent idea with such nonchalance. I also had never had my mind working on overdri...

Mark has been criticized by lesser intellects for his bold activities, but it is undeniable that behind Mark’s antics is a true concern for the arts and a deep love for music. I cannot overstate how important this love is when attempting to transform or criticize the nature of art. Currently there is a lot of talk about how to improve classical music to better reflect modernity, and the sinner’s a...

Dan is one of the creative artists I respect almost more than anyone I’m in contact with. His work with his many bands is legendary and important, and brings joy to the audiences of LA, and wonderment to the many musicians who can’t understand where Dan and his peers can possibly find the time to get everything done. This conversation touches on many subjects including Dan's creative practice, his...

While Ed’s records, particularly his Italian Trumpet, are worthy of praise, and although his students plague every imaginable institution of prestige; Ed’s most lasting and important legacy without a doubt is the creation of the Center for Advanced Musical Studies at Chosen Vale. It is, to quote a statement (I find hilarious) made in the promotion of a recent brass album, “a minor miracle” that th...

This episode is mostly a conversation tracing the differences and similarities between the Piano and Trumpet competition worlds, their repertoire, and some of the complicated realities of the field. We’re talking about the REAL trumpet competitions hosted in Europe, where participants have to learn an average of 6–8 major trumpet works, not those rather simplistic events hosted in America like the...