Category: Alumni

Pianist Maxim Lando appeared on Show 283, recorded in Boston in February 2014, at age 11. Since then, he has gone on to do great things with his music, including a special collaboration with Lang Lang, and winning major competitions. Recently, we chatted with him about his inspirations, favorites, and plans for the future.  Q: What […]

Super Bowl 50 is coming! On Sunday, February 7 on CBS, Peyton Manning and Cam Newton will face off on the football field. But before then, we were thinking that the CBS opening theme could use a little From the Top-style interpretation. Who better to play it than two outstanding From the Top piano alumni? […]

By Janet Fagan, Recruitment & Alumni Relations Assistant…and long-time From the Top fan. I owe my love of From the Top to one woman – Barbara Nakazawa, my daughter’s flute teacher. “You must listen to this show called From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley,” she told us years ago. “It’s terrific!” We took her advice […]

Pianist Youlan Ji performed on Show 309, recorded in July 2015, at age 15. She was also a recipient of From the Top’s Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award. Everyone who receives this award is required to do an arts leadership outreach project where they take their music beyond the concert hall and out into the community. Here, Youlan describes […]

Janet Fagan is From the Top’s Recruitment & Alumni Relations Assistant and recently hosted a Groupmuse event at her home in Newton. It was such a privilege to have nine From the Top alumni performers visit my home on Saturday night – I never dreamed that I could have such beautiful music performed in my […]

Performing and serving with organizations like From the Top help us recognize that identity and community extend beyond sticky labels of race, gender, nationality, or economic status – these experiences reveal that we are part of a community bound by the sacrifice and diligence required to develop and maintain mastery of our art. Whether in […]

Each year, the YoungArts Foundation hosts a prestigious competition for outstanding young musicians. Like peanut butter to jelly, our young musicians match well with this great organization. Here’s the official list of all From the Top alums who are YoungArts finalists and honorable mentions for the upcoming year! Congrats to all of these fantastic players. Click on […]

Recently, we caught up with From the Top alum George Li while he was in town preparing for our recording of NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley at Jordan Hall (airing the week of 11/30/15 nationally). This past summer, George received a silver medal at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition, making him the highest placing American […]

Keitaro Harada first appeared on Show 91, recorded at the Interlochen Arts Academy in 2003, at the age of 18. Then, he came back for From the Top’s 10th Anniversary celebration on Show 216 in 2010 at age 25. Recently, From the Top’s Admissions & Alumni Relations Assistant Janet Fagan caught up with him. Here’s what he’s up to now! […]

It’s official. From the Top alum and classical saxophonist Chad Lilley wins this year’s award for most unusual video. Chad plays a gorgeous rendition of Barry Cockcrofts’ “Ku Ku.” You can watch it here. But since we’re From the Top, we decided that a song that sounds like chickens needs to be played FOR chickens. […]

Violinist Benjamin Beilman appeared on From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley Show 84 as part of the Bay Chamber Trio. Ben was a mere 13 years old when he performed on From the Top, but we had a strong feeling that he was going places, and indeed he has. Now 25, Ben is an award-winning soloist […]

Jason Lewis is a modern day Renaissance man: an award-winning classical guitarist who loves to skateboard, a poet who plans to study neuroscience. Directed by: Dillon Buss Subscribe to our YouTube channel today for more cool music videos. Hear more from Jason on NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley Show 307. Jason’s website is www.Jasonblairlewis.com.

Guitarist Jason Lewis appeared on NPR’s From the Top Show 307, recorded at a private home in Boston’s Back Bay, which you can hear on public radio stations nationwide the week of September 7. We discovered that Jason has a passion for skateboarding as well as guitar. Here’s a sneak peek of an upcoming video featuring Jason, […]

Flute player Ramakrishnan Kumaran was 16 when he appeared on Show 281 of NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley, recorded in Costa Mesa, California in January of 2014. He is entering his sophomore year at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. He wrote this personal essay about his tumultuous first year at the University to […]

Chad Lilley is From the Top’s first Beth Klarman Fellow, spending a summer interning with our marketing and program teams, and has appeared on NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley. This is part four of his blog series of seeing the other side of From the Top. You can read parts one, two, […]

Chad Lilley is From the Top’s first Beth Klarman Fellow, spending a summer interning with our marketing and program teams, and has appeared on NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley. This is part three of his blog series of seeing the other side of From the Top. You can read parts 1 and […]

Chad Lilley is From the Top’s first Beth Klarman Fellow, spending a summer interning with our marketing and program teams, and has appeared on NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley. This is part two of his blog series on seeing the other side of From the Top. You can read parts 1 here. *** […]

Prologue: My name is Chad Lilley, and I’m a classical saxophonist and Washington DC area native. I appeared on NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley in the fall of my junior year: October 5, 2013, in the near acoustically (and aesthetically) perfect Jordan Hall at The New England Conservatory. In the summer after […]

July 9, 2015: Tonight we recorded Episode 309 of NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley at the Vilar Center at the wonderful Bravo! Vail Music Festival. You can hear this show on stations nationwide during the week of October 5, 2015. One of our featured young musicians, 17-year-old violinist Mira Yamamoto, is also a […]

In March 2015, From the Top alumni Anna DeLoi, Matt Dykeman, Ryan Shannon, and Chad Lilley participated in a week-long From the Top arts leadership residency in southeastern Kentucky where they explored how music can be used as a central tool for leadership and community building. In response to the question “What am I learning about myself as […]