Category: Alumni

From the Top alum and violinist Alice Ivy-Pemberton (Show #174 in Boston, Massachusetts) recently raised a couple thousand dollars for schools in Haiti! Alice gave a solo benefit recital at the Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst, Massachusetts on Sunday, November 21. The concert raised almost $2,000 for St. Matthew’s School in Bayonnais, Haiti – enough […]

From the Top Alum Bryanne Presley, oboist from Nevada, Iowa, participated in two performances with renowned opera singer Simon Estes as part of his Roots and Wings tour. The Roots and Wings tour has a goal to provide outreach to all ninety-nine counties in Iowa and raise funds for the Simon Estes Iowa Educational Foundation, […]

Currently the 10th International Sibelius Violin Competition is taking place in Helsinki, Finland and two From the Top alums are among the six international finalists! First and Second round competitors also includes From the Top alums Eunice Keem, Elly Suh and Stephen Kim. This is really exciting for Emma Steele and Nancy Zhou – the Sibelius […]

This week’s radio show is a special “Alumni Musical Mavericks” episode where we hear from several From the Top alums who have continued their music and done some really cool things. The show includes a violist who hosts her own exciting radio show in New York, an award winning composer, a concert pianist and more. […]

For our fourth blog of The Parents’ Perspective we asked for both parent and reader feedback on which topic to discuss – skipping school for the sake of music, or dealing with stage fright and nerves. Both are great (and important) topics, but we had overwhelming interest in discussing the matter of skipping school for […]

From the Top alum and violinist Stephen Waarts, who appeared on Show 207 in Stanford, California, recently won one of the two first place prizes in Division 1 of the International LOUIS SPOHR Competition for Young Violinists in Weimar, Germany! Stephen also received a special award for the best interpretation of a romantic concerto, in all divisions. […]

Very exciting news just in – over the weekend alums George Li (Show 144, age 15, piano) and Benjamin Beilman (age 20, violin) both won first prize at the Young Concert Artists (YCA) International Auditions in New York! This is an incredible accomplishment and we are very proud of George and Benjamin. This year the YCA International Auditions […]

The Montgomery Symphony Orchestra has announced the next Blount-Slawon Young Artists Competition on January 29-30, 2011 at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama. Applications must be post marked by December 10th! The competition is open to 7th-12th graders who go to school in the US. String, wind, brass, percussion, and piano are all eligible for entry.  The […]

On this week’s show, 17-year-old saxophone player Justin Moser relived his experience auditioning for American Idol with our host Christopher O’Riley. Nerves may have gotten the best of him at his audition, but he certainly nailed his From the Top performance and this singing demo! Check it out.

From the Top alum and harpist Sage Po will appear in an upcoming PBS documentary called “My Musical Life.” This film is about the lives of Sage and four of her fellow young musicians who are part of the Music in the Mountains (MIM) Young Composers Program in Nevada County, California. The MIM Young Composers […]

Just got some great news from Pianist Michael Brown, who appeared on Show 109 in Lancaster, PA in November of 2004. He just won first prize in the prestigious 2010 Concert Artists Guild (CAG) competition in New York! The CAG’s mission is to discover, nurture and promote young musicians. What’s especially cool about this concert is that winners […]

We just got wind of a cool From the Top alum collaboration. Soprano Hailey Markman (Show 209 in Waimea, Hawaii) got to know guitarist Tim Callobre (Shows 090 in Lubbock, Texas and 150 in Malibu, California and From the Top at Carnegie Hall) after a From the Top fundraiser in Los Angeles, and they ended […]

6 years have passed since Brian Heveron-Smith was on our Show #097 in Iowa City, where he performed the third movement of Concertino for Marimba by Paul Creston. In that time he’s graduated school, played drums on a Caribbean cruise ship, toured the east coast with jazz pianist Solomon Douglas, explored Africa, and more (if you can […]

From the Top alum and Roving Report Caeli Smith recently wrote a great blog for Juilliard’s Office of Admissions. Caeli’s a first-year violinist at Juilliard, and in this piece she talks about the transition from pre-college to college. Below is a short excerpt. To read more, click over to the Office of Admissions Blog. During […]

This past May From the Top alum and cellist John-Henry Crawford (Show 206 in Dallas, TX and Show 219 in St. Paul, MN) performed with Dr. Hung Sung, a collaborative pianist for the Curtis Institute of Music, at the City Center Academy (a high school) in Philadelphia, PA. John-Henry said “I wanted to do this […]

Today we’re turning the spotlight on From the Top alum and violist Nadia Sirota. Nadia initially appeared on From the Top during our first season – Show 013 to be exact – which we taped at Symphony Hall in Boston on March 4, 2000.  She performed the Viola Sonata, Mvt. Impetuoso by Rebecca Clarke. Later that same […]

Welcome to our third installment of the Parents’ Perspective – a mini blog series for parents, by parents, to lend advice, share stories, and more about raising musical children. You can also read past posts on music resources and musical beginnings. Today’s topic is on practicing: How’d you get your kids to do it? What schedule […]

Last week we introduced you to Leeza Ali’s concert series that is raising money for P.E.C.A. – Partnership for the Education of Children in Afghanistan. Below you can read about the second and third concerts that she’s put on so far. You can listen to Leeza’s performance on From the Top at the Young Artist […]

We are proud to announce that the 50th Anniversary Season of the Young Concert Artists Series (YCA) will include two From the Top alums! Violinist Caroline Goulding, who’s appeared on three From the Top radio broadcasts as well as an episode of From the Top at Carnegie Hall, will be performing at the Gala Opening […]

From the Top alum and mandolin player Solly Burton (Show 197 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa) will be sharing his music next weekend (Oct 8 and 9) through radio appearances and live performances with Gibbs & Main, a Rochester, New York chamber music ensemble. Solly will also be giving a workshop “Kidsemble” with Terry Smith, Music […]