Category: In Boston

Did you know that there are other ways for young musicians to be part of From the Top beyond being on our radio show? Here in our hometown of Boston, we offer a unique leadership program called the Center for the Development of Arts Leaders (CDAL). More than 50 young musicians joined this past year (meet […]

If there’s one thing that all From the Top musicians and fans can appreciate, it’s the many… ahem…productive hours spent in practice rooms. How many of these have you experienced? Pianist 11-year-old Michael Karshis (you might remember Michael as a certain Star Wars villain in another recent video) Director Tim Banker Producer Mark Williams Director […]

On May 16, fans of From the Top will gather at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts for the 2016 From the Top gala, raising funds to support our arts education, media, and outreach programs. We pride ourselves on throwing a pretty incredible party, with astonishing live music, wonderful food, and one of the […]

There are no manuals for how to become a great cellist. It can’t be learned on YouTube. It requires hard work and immense dedication, and it also requires a teacher, one human, who will pour his/her soul into giving musicians the tools to find their own expressions of their own souls. What a thing that is! It’s the ultimate example […]

A sunny day in Boston. A few classical music stars head out to do some busking. Three young From the Top musicians have a different plan. We hope you enjoy our latest video, a rocking classical cover of Taylor Swift’s Grammy-nominated hit, Shake it Off.

Dear Friends, After 12 years, hundreds of radio shows, and countless other productions including two seasons of Emmy-winning television, our long-time music director Tom Vignieri is officially moving on. Tom, his wife Alison, and their two children have relocated to the English countryside to be closer to family in Devon and to give Tom the […]

By Linda Gerstle, Director of Education & Community Partnerships The Friday afternoon school assembly is a time honored tradition in many schools. A chance to connect with friends and teachers outside of class as the week winds down – it’s a moment that many of us recall so many years later. And so it was at […]

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 […]

Fall has just begun, and we already have lots to catch up on! We’ve produced four shows over the past few weeks, and it’s been quite the whirlwind of activity. We started out in Atlanta, Georgia, where we recorded a show at Emory University’s Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. The Schwartz Center is home […]

Mai Nguyen is a member of our 2015-2016 Center for the Development of Arts Leaders. She recently performed at Goddard House Assisted Living in Brookline, Massachusetts, and sent Shea Mavros, our Education Program Manager, this great note:    Dear Shea, This is probably kind of unexpected, but I really wanted to let you know how […]

Yesterday – Sunday October 4 – was a pretty special day for us here at From the Top. In addition to having our Board of Directors and Overseers in town for our annual meeting, we also recorded episode 313 of our radio show, NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley, in celebration of our 15th […]

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. […]

BOSTON, MA — SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 — From the Top today announced that it is a grantee recipient of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Arts Innovation and Management (AIM) program. Through the two-year initiative, Bloomberg Philanthropies is providing $30 million across 262 small and mid-sized nonprofit cultural organizations around the country to help strengthen their operational and programming […]

This post has been updated to reflect corrections and additions since it was published on Friday 9/18/15. On Sunday, September 20, we welcomed a record-breaking class to the 2015–2016 class of the Center for Development of Arts Leaders (CDAL), our Boston-based leadership and music outreach program! The five-year-old CDAL program is the first center of its kind […]

We’re visiting some really amazing concert halls and venues this season, and we want to see your smiling faces in the audience! Join us at one of our upcoming tour stops near you: Saturday, September 19, 2015: Atlanta, Georgia Schwartz Center for Performing Arts Presented by Emory University Sunday, September 27, 2015: Big Sky, Montana […]

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 […]

A few weeks back, we shared our cover of Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa’s See You Again, which has been seen by more than 100,000 viewers to date on YouTube and Facebook. At that same recording session, the From the Top band took a crack at another, quite different, current hit: FourFiveSeconds, performed by Rihanna, […]