Blog/News

As promised, here are some more behind the scenes videos taken during our March 29 radio taping at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall in Boston. The house was completely packed, including many students from the Boston area and even one group all the way from Pittsfield, MA.  The broadcast airs nationally the week of April […]

An interesting article from England about the state of music education appeared in The Guardian last week. How are schools in your part of the world promoting music education? What can we do better? At From the Top, we have been working in three Boston Public Schools for the past two years through a generous […]

We shot the following videos with our handy Flip cam backstage at our recent radio taping in Buffalo, NY at Kleinhans Music Hall.  16-year-old violinist William Hagen and 18-year-old violist Matthew Vera show us both the serious and silly sides of From the Top performers. The broadcast will air nationally the week of April 13th. […]

We are always thrilled to hear from our past performers, and here is another round of news from the many From the Top alumni living all over the country. Kevin Olusola writes, “I’m currently a junior at Yale University, East Asian Studies Major and Pre-Med. In Summer 2007, I was on a trip with 100 […]

On Friday March 27, From the Top was featured during the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) National Arts Council Meeting. From the Top CEO Jerry Slavet remarked that it was an exciting opportunity to speak  with the NEA leadership body about From the Top’s public broadcasts, education outreach, and scholarship program. “The early vote […]

This Friday, our venerable host launches a new and innovative concert series at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre. Chris’ three-part recital series will bring him back to the stage where he performed his groundbreaking Radiohead Transcriptions in 2002. The new series entitled 2+2=5 draws connections between the music of Radiohead, Nick Drake and Elliott Smith with […]

On Sunday, March 15, From the Top teamed up with Music Director JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra for a live concert and taping of our radio show. The collaboration was exciting in many ways. Not only did it give our performers an opportunity to solo with a first class orchestra, it provided a […]

By Caeli Smith, Roving Reporter Hi everyone! One of my all-time favorite quotes comes from the other side of the globe. In the words of Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali mystic, “Music fills the infinite between two souls.” A person who lives half the world away can seem infinitely far from you, but music brings people […]

By David Balsom, Tour Producer As From the Top’s tour producer, my job is to bring From the Top to communities across the United States.  This means I get to work with some of the best concert halls and performing arts venues in the country, from Carnegie Hall to the Houston Grand Opera, to Zellerbach […]

18-year-old cellist Patrick McGuire, a From the Top alum and current student at The Juilliard School, is co-organizing an arts outreach trip to Tanzania in May called the Arusha Arts Initiative.  The group will be traveling to the Umoja Youth Empowerment Center in the city of Arusha to help strengthen community-building and leadership skills in […]

Interested in taking action but don’t know where to start? Already have a project but need funding and exposure? Check out this great organization for ideas, funding opportunities and general inspiration and let us know what you do! www.dosomething.org

Portland’s KGW Channel 8 News recently featured a segment about From the Top alum and violist Griffin Gaffney’s free lesson program. Click here to check it out!

Dr. Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of music division at The Boston Conservatory, gave this fantastic welcome address to the  parents of incoming students at The Boston Conservatory on September 1, 2004: “One of my parents’ deepest fears, I suspect, is that society would not properly value me as a musician, that I wouldn’t be […]

A silly question. But, yesterday, From the Top’s upcoming taping in Buffalo with the Buffalo Philharmonic was featured in the Buffalo News, and the writer Mary Kunz Goldman later blogged about her experience interviewing Christopher O’Riley and mentioned this very blog! It seems this cycle could go round and round! In other news, our venerable […]

As usual, From the Top’s amazing alumni are out and about and accomplishing great things. Here are just a few examples of recent news we have heard: The 2009 Annual Stulberg String Competition was held on Saturday in Kalamazoo, Michigan. From the Top alumni soared to the top of the competition. They include: Gold Medal […]

Helen Ensign, from Atlanta, GA writes: “I play the violin today, I’m 50, because of a school string program. Music kept me sane in school and serves still as a social network and mental workout. It is not and never has been a career, but I’ve played for most of my life. I play for […]

On Friday, February 6th, 2009, 19-year-old violinist, Julia Glenn, and 16-year-old cellist, Rainer Crosett, visited the Community Therapeutic Day School in Lexington, MA. Julia and Rainer introduced their instruments and each played a solo piece before joining forces in a duet. All of the students, ages 5 through 12 were present, and they were a […]

The YouTube Symphony just announced its final orchestra roster – including several From the Top alumni.  We’d like to take the opportunity to acknowledge all the participants who auditioned and voted in the YouTube Symphony. It’s very exciting to see such a strong showing of classical musicians and fans participating in this project. As one […]

17-year-old violinist Karen Cueva visited two third grade classes at the Ohrenberger School in West Roxbury, MA on January 23, 2009. After playing Schubert, Bach and Manuel de Falla, Karen surprised the kids with some hip hop violin. They jumped right in, beat boxing for her while she improvised. Now that’s collaboration! Karen said: “I saw […]

Our congratulations and best wishes go to 20-year-old soprano and From the Top alumna Nadine Sierra, who was the only female winner in yesterday’s Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Finals in New York. Nadine first appeared on From the Top when she was 15 and wowed our audience with her beautiful performance of “O, Mio […]