Blog/News

This week, guest host Orli Shaham returns for another new episode, enjoying the moving experience of performing live chamber music for the first time during the pandemic. The program, recorded partly on stage at Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Music Center in New York, features a wonderful group of young people, like a young violist, […]

Our host Peter Dugan catches up with WRTI’s Susan Lewis about being host of From the Top, balancing a diverse career, and life since Covid-19 in this episode of TIME IN.

This is a reminder to our alumni to make your voice heard this election. Get out and vote! You have the power to shape the future. Learn more at vote.gov.  

This week’s episode of From the Top marks the kick-off to our 2020-2021 radio season. It’s not easy producing radio with kids from across the country during a pandemic, but our faithful producers have found a way! This week’s amazing young musicians join guest host Orli Shaham for a unique show – some recorded virtually […]

Today, Tuesday September 22nd is National Voter Registration Day. Alumni of From the Top daily remind us what the power of expressing their voice through music can do. Now, we all have the power to share our voice and VOTE. Make Your Voice Heard. Watch Alumni Testimonials on Instagram. From the Top alumni Charles Yang, Conor […]

From the Top is pleased to announce the 2020 recipients of the Alumni Leadership Grant. The Alumni Leadership Grant, generously funded by the Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation, seeks to support alumni of From the Top’s media and arts leadership programs who have created projects using music and the arts to impact their local […]

From the Top’s Alumni Leadership Grant, generously funded by the Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation, seeks to support alumni of From the Top who have created projects that use music and the arts to impact their local communities. Pianist Amir Siraj was awarded the Alumni Leadership Grant in 2019 for his project to advocate […]

The “lazy days of summer” is not an expression that applies to From the Top’s industrious alumni who are accomplishing a lot during these hot months. From benefit concerts to providing virtual access to music and arts education, our network is BUSY, and we have a lot to report in today’s update. As a reminder, […]

From the Top musicians teach the world daily about compassion, the power of voice and action, and most of all, unity – values critical for urgent change in our country. To the From the Top musicians, especially our young artists of the black community and all of our young artists of color: You are our family.  We believe […]

Recently, we started this column as a way to highlight the inspiring work of alumni during this global pandemic. We’re here today with a few more incredible updates, keep your tissues handy! Alumni, please continue to send updates to info@fromthetop.org. Dr. Rachel Easterwood appeared on From the Top in 2001 on Show 46 performing from […]

Here at From the Top, we’ve used this time to check in on our extended family of alumni. We have been delighted to receive updates from many alumni who have inventively shifted their work to help others during this pandemic. Their leadership is inspiring. Many others are calling on musical projects to offer hope and […]

This week on From the Top’s podcast, we have a special performance of Peter Dugan’s own arrangement of Holst’s “Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity” from The Planets, recorded at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Calderwood Hall on February 6, 2020. From the Top · BONUS TRACK: Host Peter Dugan performs his arrangement of “Jupiter” If […]

What connects skateboarding and Paganini Violin Caprices? For Phillip Hammond, 17 year-old violinist from Bloomington, Indiana and a recipient of From the Top’s Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, it’s all about taking risks. Being able to pull off these techniques, whether on a skateboard or on a violin, requires him to be committed and […]

We are pleased to announce our upcoming Daily Joy Facebook Live events. Join us at Facebook.com/FromtheTopFans/Live. Upcoming Facebook Live Events: Wednesday April 29th – 8PM ET – Facebook Live: Inside the Episode with Peter Dugan and Philadelphia-based double bassist Braden Ellis. They will discuss From the Top’s new “Blanket Fort Show”, a program recorded remotely in […]

This week’s show is the re-broadcast of Show 364 taped in Beaver Creek, Colorado last January 2019. We asked the show performers for their favorite memories of recording with co-hosts Charles Yang and Peter Dugan at the beautiful Vilar Performing Arts Center. Flutist Scott Quirk from Los Angeles kicks things off with his reflections and […]

We are thrilled to invite you to another From the Top Daily Joy Facebook Live concert, this Friday, April 17, at 6 PM ET featuring “Needham State of Mind”: Ilana and Eric Zaks from Needham, Massachusetts. The duo will play a program featuring music of all genres. Ilana appeared on the show at age 14. She and Eric were […]

Helen Bryant was one of the performers on this week’s show, recorded at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, GA. Recently, she reflected on the powerful experience she had connected with this show and shared a recording of one her favorite works – the fifth movement of Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op.12, “In der […]

This post is meant to serve as a resource to our alumni. We are aware of some relief funds for artists affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but we will update it as we learn of opportunities. Artist Relief Coalition Fund Tarisio Strings Gives Back YoungArts Alumni Emergency […]

We are thrilled to invite you to another From the Top Daily Joy Facebook Live concert, this Friday, April 10, at 6 PM ET with the amazing Pogossian Family Quintet, featuring three FTT alums: Anoush, Cara, and Eddie, and their talented parents Varty and Movses. About the Pogossian Family: Varty Manouelian made her American debut in […]

13-year-old Harpist Olivia Lee is one of the outstanding young artists featured on this week’s From the Top episode from Boston, Massachusetts. All of the performers on this show participated in a four-day residency where they used their artistry to connect with the community. Here, Olivia reflects on that powerful experience: A few years ago […]