Blog/News

“I strive to be an artist who serves everyone, not only those who are already familiar with classical music and those who can afford expensive concert tickets.” Corinne Auger, 2018 From the Top Alumni Leadership Grant recipient 19-year-old Corinne Auger is the co-founder and Executive Director of Music Lens, a free, summer music program for elementary […]

My name is Noah Lee, and I am a high school senior from Oakland, New Jersey, getting ready to start college in Boston in the fall. I was fortunate enough to have been born into a musical family. My mother and sister are both musicians. In fact, my mother was my first teacher. So it […]

December 12, 2017, Janet Fagan “Marcelina attitude” is what this From the Top alum had from at an early age. Her full name is Marcelina Suchocka and she was born in Bialystok, Poland. “My mom was a pianist. She played with the philharmonic of Bialystok and taught piano in their school. After I was born, […]

Meet Jessica Shand Jessica first appeared on our show just this past summer, as a soloist and as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States. She, along with alum Theo Luu, will be premiering J.P. Redmond’s new #Note4Note composition, Shifting. Read more about her and the campaign below. Our #Note4Note Campaign […]

Meet Tom Vignieri Tom was From the Top’s Music Director for 12 years, and was our 2016 #Note4Note Campaign composer whose piece was premiered by pianist Theo Luu and violinist Chad Hoopes. You can watch the world-premiere here. Now living in the beautiful countryside in the UK, we had the opportunity to speak with Tom […]

Meet Theo Luu This will be Theo’s second #Note4Note performance, and we’re thrilled to have him back again! Last year he premiered American composer and former From the Top Music Director Tom Vignieri’s composition along with rising star violinist and alum Chad Hoopes. You may also recognize him for our Pokemon Go! music video.   […]

Meet J.P. Redmond J.P. appeared on our show back in 2013 at the age of 13 where he received a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award in conjunction with his performance. Since being on From the Top, he’s been recognized with three ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, a 2017 Davidson Fellowship, and was a […]

From the Top alumni are no strangers to celebrating big-time success, and Emi Ferguson has a lot to celebrate right now. Emi first appeared on From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley  on Show 121 playing one of J.S. Bach’s famous flute sonatas, and has since gone on to attend Juilliard with a prestigious grant, perform […]

Pianist and alum Victoria Francis Young (Show 235) was born and raised in Las Vegas. She wrote a piece in memory of the victims of the recent mass shooting, and as a message of sympathy to their families. My heart was shattered to pieces by the October 1, 2017 massacre that took place in the […]

Alum Joseph Conyers, age 36, grew up in the small southern city of Savannah, Georgia. He performed on From the Top in 1999 as part of our second pilot program. We reached out to him recently to see what he’s up to in 2017. 18 years after performing on From the Top, he now serves […]

If you like to stay in the loop on the classical music, a cappella, or even popular music scenes these days, you’ve almost certainly heard of From the Top alum, Kevin Olusola. First featured as a saxophonist on Show 144 when he was 17, Kevin was invited back to perform on From the Top at […]

There’s no doubt about it; being on NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley is a big deal for our young musicians. They work very hard to perfect their playing, and they even get a chance to rehearse their interviews before stepping up to the microphone. When it’s over, there’s a palpable sense of […]

We asked the host of NPR’s From the Top, Christopher O’Riley, to give us some background about his This Land/Our Land music video project, which brings together six From the Top alumni, all with immigrant backgrounds, to perform a new musical composition/arrangement of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” O’Riley and the musicians gathered […]

This interview is part of This Land/Our Land, a music video project bringing together six young musicians from immigrant backgrounds to perform a new arrangement of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” The arrangement is by From the Top host Christopher O’Riley. Watch the video here. Want more stories like this? Scroll down to […]

This interview is part of This Land/Our Land, a music video project bringing together six young musicians from immigrant backgrounds to perform a new arrangement of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” The arrangement is by From the Top host Christopher O’Riley. Watch the video here. Want more stories like this? Scroll down to […]

This interview is part of This Land/Our Land, a music video project bringing together six young musicians from immigrant backgrounds to perform a new arrangement of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” The arrangement is by From the Top host Christopher O’Riley. Watch the video here. Want more stories like this? Scroll down to […]

This interview is part of This Land/Our Land, a music video project bringing together six young musicians from immigrant backgrounds to perform a new arrangement of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” The arrangement is by From the Top host Christopher O’Riley. Watch the video here. Want more stories like this? Scroll down to […]

This interview is part of This Land/Our Land, a music video project bringing together six young musicians from immigrant backgrounds to perform a new arrangement of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” The arrangement is by From the Top host Christopher O’Riley. Watch the video here. Want more stories like this? Scroll down to […]

This interview is part of This Land/Our Land, a music video project bringing together six young musicians from immigrant backgrounds to perform a new arrangement of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” The arrangement is by From the Top host Christopher O’Riley. Watch the video here. Want more stories like this? Scroll down to […]

From the Top performers are more than just impressive musicians—many of them are just as accomplished in their other areas of interest! This week, we were privileged to speak with one of these multitalented individuals: 16-year-old pianist and Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award recipient, Coco Ma. Coco, a Juilliard pre-college student, was recently featured […]