On the Road with Joanne Robinson: Show 250 New York City

We taped a show last week in the heart of the Big Apple at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall for a an audience packed with music teachers from all over the US. The teachers were in town for the Music Teacher’s National Association convention, and as you might expect, they made for a wonderfully enthusiastic audience!

Opening the show was 17-year-old violinist Madi Vest who played Franz Waxman’s “Carmen Fantasie.” She’s a serious violinist, wholeheartedly intent on pursuing a career in music, and her expressive style of playing really engaged the crowd.

Following Madi was a very young guitarist, 13-year-old Ashwin Krishna, who beautifully played “Sunburst” by Andrew York and talked with Christopher O’Riley about how he manages to balance school, music, Boy Scouts, and sports.

Next up was a phenomenal piano quartet from New York City who call themselves the Lapis Quartet. They passionately played the finale from Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 and talked about their history of having heated arguments in Chinese (the problem is, only three of the four quartet members speak Chinese)!

18-year-old Karen Baumgartner was up next playing a mesmerizing piece for solo flute called “Image” by Eugene Bozza. It’s always interesting to hear a musician play solo without accompaniment and Karen didn’t disappoint. She also was in for a surprise after the played when her twin sister, who could not be in the live audience that day, called in to the show to congratulate her.

For the grand finale, 18-year-old pianist Quinn Gomez took the stage to play a dynamic piece called “Butterflies and Bobcats” written by contemporary Canadian composer David McIntyre.

And now, for you viewing pleasure, enjoy this sneak peek of all of the performances taken the night before at our music rehearsal – and make sure to tune in when the show airs the week of April 30!