Blog/News

Published on Feb 18, 2014 Recorded at the Tivoli Theatre and nearby schools Chattanooga, Tennessee Visit our YouTube channel and subscribe today to get great kids and great music in your inbox!

REPEAT BROADCAST: Show 288, recorded in Tacoma, Washington in April 2014. This episode features Prokofiev’s Toccata performed with a level of energy that can only be described as diabolically teenage (the performer is a totally brilliant, risk-taking 15-year-old), we’ll hear a young violinist perform a lush and lyrical piece written for her by her father, […]

We’re proud to share the first From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley show recorded in the great state of South Carolina! Recorded at the Peace Center for the Performing Arts in Greenville, SC on November 6, 2014. Listen to the show and meet the young musicians here! Check your local public radio station for air times.

Music is often referred to as the “universal language.” 17-year-old violinist Chelsea Kim knows this is true. Having moved several times throughout her childhood, Chelsea performed in retirement centers, hospitals, and churches in every new community. This gave her a sense of music’s power to connect people, a theme that would become very important to her life’s […]

This post is Part 2 of a three-part series about From the Top’s Fall 2014 residency at the Conservatory Lab Charter School (CLCS), an elementary school in Boston with a music-intensive curriculum. Read Part 1 here.  On a windy fall afternoon, From the Top’s arts leaders arrived for the second day of their chamber music residency at […]

Pianist Phuong-Nghi Pham, from Dorchester, MA, was 14 years old when she wrote a letter to Dr. Carol R. Johnson, Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools District, appealing for a spending increase on the city’s musical education programs for the following school-year budget. The letter was part of Phuong-Nghi’s Arts Leadership project, associated with her […]

Backstage at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium, 8-year-old pianist Oscar Paz-Suaznabar has his head bent over a cell phone, launching angry birds at stubborn pigs, and From the Top alum Clifton Williams reaches over to show him a trick. Clifton has recently graduated college and moved to Los Angeles to build a career composing and […]

Sometimes, music can express what nothing else can. 17-year-old mezzo soprano Olivia Cosio, who appeared on Show 278 in Boston’s Jordan Hall, understands music’s power to transcend. Growing up in San Francisco’s notoriously dangerous Tenderloin neighborhood, Olivia turned to music for the creativity and expression she needed to overcome adversity. In addition to singing on …

This post is Part 1 of a three-part series about From the Top’s Fall 2014 residency at the Conservatory Lab Charter School (CLCS), an elementary school in Boston with a music-intensive curriculum. Each year, From the Top’s Center for the Development of Arts Leaders partners with organizations around Boston, making way for extraordinary young musicians to take their […]

19-year-old David von Behren appeared on Show 273 in El Paso, Texas. In addition to being an organist, he is also an accomplished violinist, and played trumpet in his high school band. He was even voted Homecoming King in his hometown of Falls City, Nebraska. Each of these traits led From the Top to give him the […]

13-year-old cellist Sebastian Stöger from New York City appeared on Show 261 back in 2012. In conjunction with his performance on From the Top, Sebastian also received the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, a $10,000 scholarship given to extraordinary young musicians with financial need. Each recipient of the award is required to complete an arts leadership project, an outreach activity […]

Under the lights of Calderwood Hall in Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for Show 285, one audience member sat gazing intently at each performer while moving a pencil over a page in her sketch book. At the end of the performance, we tracked her down to find out who she was and take a peek inside her […]

There’s no better way to start off our new season than with news of From the Top alumni sweeping the global competition scene. Back in July, pianist Hilda Huang, who appeared on Show 180, took first prize at the International Bach Competition in Leipzig, Germany. Across Europe in Hungary, cellist Taeguk Mun, who first appeared on Show 174, […]

Eric Goldberg, originally from the Chicago area, is an accomplished percussionist who not only performs, but also inspires others beyond the concert hall. He first appeared on From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley Show 206 in Dallas, Texas. His most recent appearance on Show 271 in New Albany, Ohio, coincided with his receipt of the From the Top Jack Kent Cooke […]

At just 14 years old, Andrew Moses’ virtuosic clarinet playing is exceeded only by his good heart. He first appeared on From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley Show 273 in El Paso, Texas. In addition, he was a recipient of the From the Top Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, a $10,000 scholarship given to extraordinary young […]

Sometimes the best music comes from a variety of influences. J.P. Redmond, from Yonkers, New York, is not only a pianist but also a composer. At only 14 years old, J.P. has proven to be a musician as accomplished as he is multi-talented. In addition to appearing on From the Top Show 274 in San Marcos, Texas, J.P. […]

It’s that time again! The leaves are changing color, the air is getting crisper, and Boston’s young musicians are in the midst of another academic year. Lots of music is yet to be made, some in a formal concert hall, some out in our community. We find it’s the unexpected encounters with music that often have the most […]

It’s that time again! The leaves are changing color, the air is getting crisper, and Boston’s young musicians are in the midst of another academic year. Lots of music is yet to be made, some in a formal concert hall, some out in our community. We find it’s the unexpected encounters with music that often have the most […]

Over the last 10 years, From the Top and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation have worked hard to ensure that financial need does not keep extraordinary young people from realizing their dreams. More than $2 million in scholarships have been awarded to more than 200 young musicians through the From the Top Jack Kent Cooke […]

On a cool, crisp November day last fall, as the leaves completed their yearly makeover of the New England hills, painting them in swaths of red and orange, a rainstorm was brewing INSIDE of Boston’s Symphony Hall. Some of the area’s best musicians had gathered on stage of the historic music venue along with From […]