Blog/News

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 […]

We are excited and proud to be one of more than 1,000 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Art Works grant recipients! Please see our press release, below. DATE: June 15, 2017 CONTACT: Jodi Beznoska jbeznoska@fromthetop.org 617.437.0707 x117 Boston-based youth music and media organization From the Top receives National Endowment for the Arts Funding Boston, Massachusetts—National […]

Friends, Federal support for the arts, humanities, and public broadcasting has been getting a lot of attention these days, and, unfortunately, it’s not because of all the wonderful things we do. If you’re wondering what you can do to help, check out our 3 Actions You Can Take Right Now. (And, Alumni – we need you!) What’s Happening The […]

In every city or town that we visit to record an episode of NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley, we work hard to celebrate the power of music in the hands of young people. But what does that mean, exactly? Well, it depends on the community. No matter where we go, we seek […]

It’s hard to believe it’s been more than 4 months since our last pop cover (Kanye/Rihanna/Paul Simon’s FourFiveSeconds)! The From the Top band is back (with both new and familiar faces) and we hope you enjoy our latest musical video mashup of “Can’t Feel My Face” and “Where Are U Now” (the original artists just won top […]

Photo: Chantell Ziegler From the Top alum Molly Yeh (pronounced “yay!”) went to Juilliard to study percussion but came away with a love for food that has spawned a career in culinary writing. Her blog, my name is yeh, chronicles her life on a sugar-beet farm on the North Dakota-Minnesota border with her farmer husband, eggboy (a […]

We believe in the power of music in the hands of young musicians. Do you? Join From the Top alumni, fans, and family in trumpeting (pun intended) the awesomeness that young musicians bring to the world by adding your note to our #Note4Note online giving campaign. Here’s how it works: 1. You give a dollar, […]

What happens when 8 classically-trained musicians, 8 vocalists, 10 visual artists, and one rap artist come together? The answer is our latest music video, a cover of Jon Batiste & Stay Human’s “Express Yourself (Say Yes)”. We filmed this video at the Epicenter of Artists for Humanity, a non-profit here in our hometown of Boston. […]

Happy #ArtsMatterDay, Massachusetts!  Arts & culture drive the economy, enhance education, build community, and embrace diversity & inclusion. They encourage us to explore new and unfamiliar ideas in safe spaces. Karen Cueva, a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship and a From the Top alum, writes: “The arts matter because they offer multiple entry points to […]

Why Should I Learn How To Transpose? Let’s say we’re a trumpet quintet who was just hired for a Sunday morning church gig (hey, it could happen), and we’ve been told: “No need to come to a rehearsal, you’ll just be sight-reading some easy hymns.” When we arrive, the director hands us a hymnal and […]

Welcome to the new CDAL Class of 2016–2017 For the past six years, young musicians in the Greater Boston area have applied to join our Center for the Development of Arts Leaders (CDAL) here in our hometown. CDAL is the only program in Greater Boston focused on leadership training for pre-collegiate and collegiate classically-trained musicians. This […]

What would it look like to launch a new orchestra from the ground up while trying to be accessible, appealing, and, most importantly, social? That is the question that From the Top alum and conductor Matthew Szymanski posed to a group of like-minded friends back in 2014. Over time, the answer became clear and Matt […]

Can’t Stop the Feeling If you’re like us, there was a moment this past summer when you saw the music video for Justin Timberlake’s summer hit “Can’t Stop the Feeling”, and you couldn’t help but cheer for all those awesome folks getting down and dancing. Well, here’s another reason to cheer – six incredible young […]

Check out a preview of our next music video, a Justin Timberlake cover filmed atop Aspen Mountain and featuring outstanding young musicians studying at the Aspen Music Festival and School. We’re not quite ready to let go of summer just yet…let’s keep the good times going with a little classically-infused pop fun! You can see […]

Happy Monday everyone! I know the school year’s ramping up for many of us, but I still got this feeling – it’s sort of inside my bones, really – that this summer might have some good times left up its sleeve, and I’ll tell you why. A couple of weeks ago, a few of us […]

Violinist Suliman Tekalli, an alum who was 12 years old when he appeared on From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley on Show 22, is now a 28-year-old prolific performer and composer who is involved in several important areas of the classical world. We caught up with him to hear about his musical adventures. What do you […]

24-year-old pianist, Clifton Williams appeared on NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley on  Show 195, recorded in March 2009 at age 19, and then again on Show 296, recorded in October 2014 at age 22. In conjunction with his first performance on the show, he also received From the Top’s Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award. Here […]

22-year-old violinist Kenneth Renshaw appeared on From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley most recently on Show 228, recorded in February 2011. Previously he appeared on Shows 211 and 186. In conjunction with his first performance on the show in 2008, he received From the Top’s Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award. Here is what he has been up to since […]