Blog/News

Last spring, listeners heard host Christopher O’Riley tell 15-year-old cellist Aaron Wolff from Newton, MA “I hate you!” He didn’t actually mean it. But he was confessing  that he was seriously jealous that Aaron Wolff would be appearing in the latest feature film from the Coen brothers. Aaron plays Danny Gopnik, the son of a […]

DoSomething.org has done it again! They are teaming up with Vh1 Save the Music and giving students an exciting opportunity to bring music back to their schools! Sign up for their Save Our Music Campaign to get ideas on how to become a music advocate and win the grand prize of $2500 for your school! […]

17-year-old cellist, Khari Joyner, from Atlanta, GA, is passionate about music’s power to heal. During his interview on From the Top’s live taping in El Paso, TX (airing the week of October 19), Khari spoke about his experience overcoming lymphoma cancer last year and how music and the power of positive thinking helped get him […]

Last year 17-year-old flutist Chaz Salazar performed on From the Top’s Mesa, AZ taping in November as a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award recipient. These days, Chaz is involved in several projects, including leading flute sectionals and giving private lessons to a few students at his old elementary school in Phoenix, AZ. As a […]

This just in… an exclusive interview with Christopher O’Riley is now on the Chopin Society of Atlanta’s web site. Get the inside scoop from our host. If you are in New York this weekend, be sure to check out From the Top alum Anna Lee performing with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony. Fellow alums Sirena […]

Interested in starting your own community project?  Check out DoSomething.org ‘s Social Action Bootcamp where you’ll learn tons of valuable skills like building a website for $10, writing a business plan and online fundraising. On Saturday September 26th from 9am-5pm, Do Something will be streaming LIVE! from our Boston Social Action Boot Camp into your […]

About two hundred years ago, the great Italian virtuoso Niccolo Paganini wrote 24 Caprices for Solo Violin. Ever since, they have been considered the hardest pieces written for the instrument. From the Top alum William Harvey is going to learn and perform all 24. Why? You ask. He’s doing it as a fundraiser for his […]

This week’s From the Top episode, taped at the Holland Performing Arts Center in Omaha, Nebraska, features a variety of instruments and repertoire- from a trombone solo to a marimba quartet. Read what the performers have to say about the music. Sangbin “Bihn” Park, 12, cello I. Adagio and III Allegro di molto from Divertimento […]

-Kathryn J Bacasmot Living on the East Coast for the past five years has given me plenty of practice in verbally defending my home state, Nebraska. I have honestly grown to relish the laundry list of questions, the looks of disbelief, and the subsequent thinly veiled attempts to recover and come off sounding politely intrigued: […]

From the Top alum George Li, who wowed audiences on the first season of From the Top at Carnegie Hall and charmed Martha Stewart on her show, recently returned to his hometown of Boston from a concert tour of Sweden. The 14-year-old pianist performed in three Swedish cities with the Nordic Chamber Orchestra, under the […]

The Music Center Spotlight Awards are inviting applicants from young performing and visual artists in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Diego counties in California. Learn more: http://www.musiccenter.org/education/spot_index.html

On this week’s show, we reconnect with 26-year-old violinist and Cultures in Harmony founder, William Harvey. William first appeared on From the Top’s pilot episode and returns to the show as part of our special 10th anniversary alumni spotlight series. You can listen to the episode at fromthetop.org and learn more about William’s mission to […]

This week’s show, recorded at the WGBH Fraser Performance Studio in Boston, begins From the Top’s 10th Anniversary celebration. In addition to featuring special alumni guest, William Harvey, the show also includes a 9-year-old flutist, a chamber ensemble from the New England Conservatory’s Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, a counter tenor and a clarinet trio. We asked […]

10-year-old guitarist and From the Top alum, Roberto Granados represented From the Top at the Daytime Emmys last weekend in Los Angeles, where From the Top at Carnegie Hall picked up two Emmys. Performing before the ceremony, Roberto was complimented by Ming Tsai of PBS’s Simply Ming, as being  ‘to the guitar what Tiger Woods […]

We are deeply saddened by the loss of our friend Erich Kunzel today.  He was a great champion for classical music in America, and a wonderful supporter of the next generation of musicians. He was truly one of From the Top’s role models. We feel very fortunate to have collaborated with him and his incredible […]

From the Top’s first recording collaboration with Telarc  and Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops, From the Top at the Pops, was officially released last Tuesday. The album has already received kudos from a number of critics and bloggers. On Tuesday, September 8, From the Top and the Pops will throw a New York coming […]

We are pleased to announce that From the Top at Carnegie Hall received two Emmy Awards at this weekend’s Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Ceremony. The awards were for: Outstanding Children’s Series and Achievement in Multiple Camera Editing. Congratulations to the entire production team including: From the Top, Don Mischer Productions, WGBH and our partner Carnegie […]

This week Secretary of Education Arne Duncan engaged in a public conference call on the subject of arts education with more 2,000 educators, advocates, leaders, and concerned citizens.  Our Education Program Manager Jenny Meyburg joined in on the discussion. Keep reading to learn more about what was discussed on the call: 

Johann Sebastian Bach’s biggest fan is quite possibly a thirteen-year-old girl from Palo Alto, CA. But pianist Hilda Huang is way beyond most thirteen-year-olds. For starters, she wowed a national audience with her music, (and her Bach obsession), two years ago on the PBS series From the Top at Carnegie Hall, and did it all […]

Classical music blogs are all a-Twitter with news of the Royal Opera House’s plan to create the world’s first Twitter Opera. The concept is that anyone who has a Twitter account can contribute, 140 characters at a time, to the opera’s lyrics. They will then be set to original music and performed next month. Aisle […]