Blog/News

From the Top’s Show 261 was taped at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall in Boston, Massachusetts on Sunday, October 14, 2012. We asked our performers to share their thoughts on the music they performed for the show: Sebastian Stoger, 13, cello “Pezzo Capriccioso” By: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky When I play this piece of music, I […]

Late October found us in Davis, California where we taped an episode of the radio show at the Mondavi Center, a stunning concert hall on the campus of UC Davis. This show was full of interesting and talented kids, including three who’ve won major competitions. Kicking things off was a very young violinist –12-year-old Alex […]

It’s that time of year again – The Blount-Slawson Young Artists Competition is accepting applications! Musicians in grades 7-12 can enter to win prizes including $10,000 cash, a performance with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, and an appearance on From the Top! String, wind, brass, percussion, and piano students are eligible to apply. Applications must be […]

Towards the end of October we were in Greensburg, Pennsylvania for a taping at the Palace Theatre. It was a great show and the young musicians really bonded and had fun together– as evidenced by what happened during curtain call! In what has to be one of the most unexpected moments in From the Top […]

I think it is very important for musicians these days to be flexible and able to do many types of jobs in the music world aside from playing an instrument.  Cellist Nikita Annenkov (Show 238) had a really unique experience this past summer at the Chamber Music Connection’s (CMC) Summer Music Festival – he was […]

Music is amazing when you are working on it, but it is so much more rewarding when you know that there are people who can simply appreciate all the longs hours you put into practicing. Flutist Karen Baumgartner (Show 250), A From the Top Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist, believes that “music has the power […]

October was a busy, but wonderfully energizing, month. The weekend after our Troy, New York, show, we were back at our home base, New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall in Boston for a taping that featured a diversity of kids who expressed all sorts of new ways of looking at things. For instance, 18-year-old recorder aficionado […]

From the Top’s broadcast for Show 257 was taped at the Chautauqua Amphitheater of the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York on Friday July 20, 2012. We asked our performers to tell us about the music they performed on the show: Laura Park, 18, violin Waltz-Scherzo, Op.34 By: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky I think that the […]

October is a busy month here in From the Top land. Last week we taped a show in Troy, New York; this past weekend we taped one in Boston; we’re off to Greensburg, Pennsylvania in a few days, and then we round out the month in Davis, California! But will I manage to post my […]

From the Top alumni are doing amazing things! This summer, it seemed like every time we fired up the old internet-machine, we saw news of another From The Top alum making waves in the world of music and beyond. In the coming weeks, we’ll be updating you on a plethora of From the Top alumni. […]

[Music] is such an underrated resource, yet people use music every day. We have it in our cars, on our phones, in the grocery store – it is everywhere we go and it is used to alter or encourage our own moods. My hope is that people will be able to recognize music not only […]

From the Top’s broadcast for Show 256 was taped at the Palace Arts Center in Grapevine, Texas on Wednesday June 27, 2012 as part of the Military Child Education Coalition Conference. We asked our performers to tell us about the music they performed on the show: William Hume, 16, piano Rhapsody in B minor, Op.79, […]

In this week’s episode of From the Top, we teamed up with the Military Child Education Coalition to celebrate the talented and hardworking children of America’s service men and women. These fantastic performers shared the ups and downs of military life, from living on US bases in Germany and Belgium to dealing with a parent […]

From the Top alumni are speaking out about the state of orchestras today, emphasizing the value that these cultural institutions offer to their communities. For Jingxuan Zhang it is a personal issue affecting his hometown of Indianapolis, while Stanford Thomson takes a look at American orchestras and provides some thought-provoking solutions to some of the […]

“[Teaching] is one of the most important and gratifying professions, and I plan on continuing my new-found passion!” When violinist and Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Gloria Ferry-Brennan appeared on our show this past February (Brunswick 247), she took us on a magical spoken tour of her hometown: the colorful and picturesque Whidbey Island (off […]

Never would I have imagined when I joined From the Top over a decade ago, that there would come a day when our crew would travel all the way to China to tape our radio show, but earlier this summer, we had the amazing opportunity to tape not one, but two episodes of our radio […]

On this week’s episode of From the Top, host Christopher O’Riley interviews Broadway and television star Audra McDonald, touching on her musical beginnings, training at Juilliard, and learning to follow her instincts into a career path she loved. McDonald is currently starring in Broadway’s The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. Listen to the interview.

From the Top’s broadcast for Show 254 was taped in the Brown Theater at Wortham Center in Houston, Texas on Saturday May 12, 2012. We asked our performers to tell us about the music they performed on the show: Houston Youth Symphony Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72 from Fidelio By: Ludwig van Beethoven Meghan […]

We have had an unusually busy summer here at From the Top. We were in China very recently (look out for a blog about that adventure next week!), but right before leaving the country we taped a show at the famous Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York. What a gorgeous place to spend the summer! […]

After an appearance on From the Top in 2008 (Show 192), violinist Ren Martin-Doike (now studying viola at the Curtis Institute) has been all about making connections with others through music. We’ve shared a number of these connections on our blog over the years, including a demonstration on the similarities between a string quartet and a rock band  for an […]