On the Road with Joanne Robinson: Show #229 Cedar Falls, Iowa

Our whirlwind tour of tapings (five this month!) kicked off this week in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where we recorded a great episode with five outstanding teenage performers: 17-year-old cellist Andrew Altmaier, 17-year-old saxophonist Elizabeth Lin, 18-year-old pianist Yifan Wu, 14-year-old violinist Jennifer Cha, and 17-year-old accordionist Danielle Renzi.

The night before the show, our producers had a special surprise for Elizabeth Lin, who is passionate about fashion. They presented her with a fabulous fuchsia dress designed by her favorite designer, Marchesa, to wear the next day on the show! She looked absolutely gorgeous in it – and the saxophone around her neck was the perfect fashion accessory.

The show closed in an especially interesting way. Accordion player Danielle Renzi not only performed Parisian-inspired music on her acoustic accordion, but she also gave a demonstration of the Roland Digital Accordion, which could produce some incredibly rich, diverse sounds. Check out my flipcam footage of Danielle playing Paul Desmond’s Take Five on her digital accordion. Plus, a bonus clip the performers took of themselves having fun backstage before the show!