Blog/News

16-year-old guitarist Chaconne Klaverenga from Lafayette, Indiana played a guitar concerto with Buffalo Philharmonic Music Director JoAnnn Falletta on From the Top this winter. Now she is one of ten semifinalists in the Parkening Youth Guitarist Competition to be held on May 26 and 27 at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Cal. Christopher Parkening appeared on […]

We are pleased to announce our 2009-2010 national tour dates for taping our popular NPR radio program hosted by acclaimed concert pianist Christopher O’Riley. The tour will include concert events at From the Top’s home base at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall and cities from Atlanta to Santa Barbara and will mark From the Top’s […]

ArtsJournal.com blogger Lee Rosenbaum has posted First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech at yesterday’s ribbon cutting for the new American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts in New York. Among her remarks in support of providing access to the arts for all Americans, Mrs. Obama said: The President and I want to ensure that […]

Two years ago, From the Top visited Chandler Music Hall in Randolph, Vermont to tape a national radio broadcast. We had a wonderful experience exploring the town and even lightheartedly poking fun of the locals by staging a Vermont fashion show with Vermont perfomer Thea Talento. It looks like our visit made an impression with […]

From the Top at Carnegie Hall has received five Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards for its second season on PBS, the series has earned a total of eight nominations since it debuted in 2007. Nominations were in the following categories for Season 2: Outstanding Children’s Series, Outstanding Directing in a Children’s Series (Gary Halvorson), Outstanding Achievement […]

Earlier this week, Dr. Jose Abreu, the founder of Venezuela’s national youth orchestra program known as “El Sistema”, was announced as a recipient of Sweden’s Polar Music Prize. If you haven’t heard about the amazing work that Dr. Abreu has done in fostering a thriving network of youth orchestras throughout Venezuela, we’ll try to briefly […]

Tony Rymer, a 19-year-old cellist from Dorchester, MA, appeared on From the Top with a string quartet from his music program, ProjectSTEP, back when he was in high school. In addition to playing on the show, he received one of From the Top’s first Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Awards and later used some of […]

Two From the Top alumni have been named as recipients of the prestigious Presidential Scholar in the Arts award. Nate West, double bass, and Andrea Jarrett, violin are two of 20 recipients (and two of only four instrumentalists) nationally to be named a 2009 Presidential Scholar in the Arts! “Of the three million students expected […]

Chad Hoopes, who appeared on From the Top at Carnegie Hall and will be featured on From the Top’s upcoming Telarc Records CD “From the Top at the Pops”, was on the CBS Early Show on Friday, along with his sisters Anna and Alexandra. Watch CBS Videos Online

From the Top Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Clifton Williams will appear on this week’s national broadcast of From the Top on NPR and is featured in today’s Washington Post. Clifton, a 17-year-old pianist from Washington, DC is among the 100 recipients who have received a $10,000 award through a partnership between From the Top […]

“I think a lot about how, as a classical violinist, I spend so much of my energy honing my skills in a very narrow discipline. I want to find ways to use my skills to help make the world a better place.” — Caeli Smith This Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 10 from 3-5 pm in […]

We recently posted about 18-year-old cellist and From the Top alum Patrick McGuire and his arts outreach trip to Arusha, Tanzania. Since then, his group has made some great progress towards their goal with a grant from Julliard. Patrick sent us the following update: Hi everyone! It’s been awhile since we sent a Facebook update, […]

This month’s issue of Strings Magazine highlights emerging soloists. The magazine profiles 26-year-old violinist William Harvey who appeared on one of From the Top‘s first episodes. William will return to Boston May 3 to record a new broadcast of our show. His appearance will launch our  10th anniversary celebration, in which we will look back […]

“Concert music doesn’t have to be presented like it’s in a museum,” says 20-year-old composer Stephen Feigenbaum in an article in the Yale Daily News. “This is exactly the opposite. We want a show that can be like a rock concert, something where people can get genuinely engaged, especially young people … This music doesn’t […]

From the Top alumni, Rainer Crosett, a 16-year-old cellist from Andover, MA and Julia Glenn, a 19-year-old violinist currently studying at Harvard University, visited the Whelan Elementary School in Revere, MA on April 15, where they performed for the entire 3rd grade in the school library. Rainer and Julia talked about their instruments, had the […]

Like many, we were moved by the story in the New York Times last week about Newark, Ohio senior Tiffany Clay. We’ve heard that the Newark and surrounding communities have come together to raise funds to help Tiffany continue her music and academic studies and to support the efforts of the Newark High School Orchestra. […]

On April 8th, 2009, 20-year-old  Sebastian Baverstam visited the Epiphany School in Dorchester, MA to lead a morning assembly for 6th-8th grade students. Sebastian, a cellist currently in his sophomore year at New England Conservatory, first appeared on From the Top at age 10 and continues to stay involved with From the Top through our […]

This month, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a dozen Chicago-based music education organizations launched a new initiative to encourage youth engagement in music with the  “Chicago Festival of Youth in Music.” Percussionist and From the Top alum Joshua Jones (pictured) was among the hundreds of participants. He writes: “I had the privilege of performing in […]

Caeli Smith reports on the upcoming YouTube Symphony event on April 12-15 at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Learn more about the project on Caeli’s vlog.

Piano teacher Adrienne McKinney of Lexington, KY posted a comment to Greg Sandow’s blog that has generated some great ideas about how to bridge the gap between classical and not-classical music – inviting music students to bring in their favorite tunes for reworking or improvisation, giving them the vocabulary to communicate about what music means […]