Blog/News

Janet Fagan is From the Top’s Recruitment & Alumni Relations Assistant and recently hosted a Groupmuse event at her home in Newton. It was such a privilege to have nine From the Top alumni performers visit my home on Saturday night – I never dreamed that I could have such beautiful music performed in my […]

Performing and serving with organizations like From the Top help us recognize that identity and community extend beyond sticky labels of race, gender, nationality, or economic status – these experiences reveal that we are part of a community bound by the sacrifice and diligence required to develop and maintain mastery of our art. Whether in […]

Each year, the YoungArts Foundation hosts a prestigious competition for outstanding young musicians. Like peanut butter to jelly, our young musicians match well with this great organization. Here’s the official list of all From the Top alums who are YoungArts finalists and honorable mentions for the upcoming year! Congrats to all of these fantastic players. Click on […]

Recently, we caught up with From the Top alum George Li while he was in town preparing for our recording of NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley at Jordan Hall (airing the week of 11/30/15 nationally). This past summer, George received a silver medal at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition, making him the highest placing American […]

  What is #GivingTuesday? We all know about Black Friday and Cyber Monday…#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving. On Tuesday, December 1, 2015, charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give. Thanks to the generosity of people like you, From […]

Keitaro Harada first appeared on Show 91, recorded at the Interlochen Arts Academy in 2003, at the age of 18. Then, he came back for From the Top’s 10th Anniversary celebration on Show 216 in 2010 at age 25. Recently, From the Top’s Admissions & Alumni Relations Assistant Janet Fagan caught up with him. Here’s what he’s up to now! […]

Fall has just begun, and we already have lots to catch up on! We’ve produced four shows over the past few weeks, and it’s been quite the whirlwind of activity. We started out in Atlanta, Georgia, where we recorded a show at Emory University’s Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. The Schwartz Center is home […]

Mai Nguyen is a member of our 2015-2016 Center for the Development of Arts Leaders. She recently performed at Goddard House Assisted Living in Brookline, Massachusetts, and sent Shea Mavros, our Education Program Manager, this great note:    Dear Shea, This is probably kind of unexpected, but I really wanted to let you know how […]

Yesterday – Sunday October 4 – was a pretty special day for us here at From the Top. In addition to having our Board of Directors and Overseers in town for our annual meeting, we also recorded episode 313 of our radio show, NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley, in celebration of our 15th […]

It’s official. From the Top alum and classical saxophonist Chad Lilley wins this year’s award for most unusual video. Chad plays a gorgeous rendition of Barry Cockcrofts’ “Ku Ku.” You can watch it here. But since we’re From the Top, we decided that a song that sounds like chickens needs to be played FOR chickens. […]

BOSTON, MA — SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 — From the Top today announced that it is a grantee recipient of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Arts Innovation and Management (AIM) program. Through the two-year initiative, Bloomberg Philanthropies is providing $30 million across 262 small and mid-sized nonprofit cultural organizations around the country to help strengthen their operational and programming […]

This post has been updated to reflect corrections and additions since it was published on Friday 9/18/15. On Sunday, September 20, we welcomed a record-breaking class to the 2015–2016 class of the Center for Development of Arts Leaders (CDAL), our Boston-based leadership and music outreach program! The five-year-old CDAL program is the first center of its kind […]

Violinist Benjamin Beilman appeared on From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley Show 84 as part of the Bay Chamber Trio. Ben was a mere 13 years old when he performed on From the Top, but we had a strong feeling that he was going places, and indeed he has. Now 25, Ben is an award-winning soloist […]

Jason Lewis is a modern day Renaissance man: an award-winning classical guitarist who loves to skateboard, a poet who plans to study neuroscience. Directed by: Dillon Buss Subscribe to our YouTube channel today for more cool music videos. Hear more from Jason on NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley Show 307. Jason’s website is www.Jasonblairlewis.com.

Guitarist Jason Lewis appeared on NPR’s From the Top Show 307, recorded at a private home in Boston’s Back Bay, which you can hear on public radio stations nationwide the week of September 7. We discovered that Jason has a passion for skateboarding as well as guitar. Here’s a sneak peek of an upcoming video featuring Jason, […]

We’re visiting some really amazing concert halls and venues this season, and we want to see your smiling faces in the audience! Join us at one of our upcoming tour stops near you: Saturday, September 19, 2015: Atlanta, Georgia Schwartz Center for Performing Arts Presented by Emory University Sunday, September 27, 2015: Big Sky, Montana […]

Flute player Ramakrishnan Kumaran was 16 when he appeared on Show 281 of NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley, recorded in Costa Mesa, California in January of 2014. He is entering his sophomore year at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. He wrote this personal essay about his tumultuous first year at the University to […]

Chad Lilley is From the Top’s first Beth Klarman Fellow, spending a summer interning with our marketing and program teams, and has appeared on NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley. This is part four of his blog series of seeing the other side of From the Top. You can read parts one, two, […]

Chad Lilley is From the Top’s first Beth Klarman Fellow, spending a summer interning with our marketing and program teams, and has appeared on NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley. This is part three of his blog series of seeing the other side of From the Top. You can read parts 1 and […]

Boston, MA – Through its grantmaking to thousands of nonprofits each year, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) promotes opportunities for people in communities across America to experience the arts and exercise their creativity. From the Top is pleased to announce that they will receive a $90,000 award to support the national tour and […]