Category: Links We Like

As if you needed any more reasons to support the arts in schools! According to a study by the Center for Arts Education, New York City high schools that offer the most access to arts education have higher graduation rates than schools that offer the least access to quality arts instruction. According to the report: […]

Community MusicWorks (CMW) Fellowship Program is an opportunity for young professional violinists, violists, and cellists to spend two years performing, teaching, and mentoring alongside the Providence String Quartet in urban neighborhoods of Providence, Rhode Island. CMW is seeking qualified VIOLISTS and CELLISTS to apply by DECEMBER 1 for September 2010 through June 2012 fellowships. What …

Chamber Music Hawaii and the Musicians of the Honolulu Symphony have announced that Christopher O’Riley will perform a benefit recital on behalf of the Honolulu Symphony musicians on Sunday, November 29, 2009. Christopher was originally scheduled to perform as a soloist with the Honolulu Symphony in concerts at the end of this month, when it […]

Congratulations to the winners of Do Something and VH1’s “Save Our Music” campaign! By organizing fundraisers, launching letter writing campaigns, and making presentations to their local school committees, students were given the chance to win up to $2500 for their school’s music program. Read about the winning projects and get inspired! Tell us what you […]

This NPR story features studies that prove how musician’s brains are better at isolating sounds in noisy environments. Find out how music training can change your brain!

It’s been a busy day for our venerable host. Before taping a live From the Top episode at Emory University tonight, Christopher participated in Emory University’s Creativity Conversation series. Watch his interview with Emory University Vice-President and Secretary Rosemary Magee.

The White House’s music series turns to the classical music world today as it combines a program of student workshops with an evening concert performed by renowned professionals Grammy Award-winning violinist and frequent From the Top guest Joshua Bell, Grammy Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin, renowned cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and acclaimed pianist Awadagin Pratt. We’ve also …

A great experience for D.C. Youth Orchestra members to play with a master conductor as reported in the Washington Post.

For those of you who are fans of Alex Ross’ “The Rest is Noise” blog, we thought we’d point out that he’s moved his daily blog to the New Yorker’s website, check out “Unquiet Thoughts” here. Commuting is now a musical experience in Stockholm, Sweden where they turned a subway stairway into a piano keyboard […]

Get involved in National Arts and Humanities Month! Here are three things you can do right now: Go to the American for the Arts “Arts Action Center” to tell your senators and representatives to support a funding increase for the National Endowment of the Arts (it takes two minutes!). Click on the National Arts and […]

DoSomething.org has done it again! They are teaming up with Vh1 Save the Music and giving students an exciting opportunity to bring music back to their schools! Sign up for their Save Our Music Campaign to get ideas on how to become a music advocate and win the grand prize of $2500 for your school! […]

Classical music blogs are all a-Twitter with news of the Royal Opera House’s plan to create the world’s first Twitter Opera. The concept is that anyone who has a Twitter account can contribute, 140 characters at a time, to the opera’s lyrics. They will then be set to original music and performed next month. Aisle […]

Television host Rachel Maddow was recently at Jacob’s Pillow talking about the importance of the arts in our country. “A country without an expectation of minimal artistic literacy, without a basic structure by which the artists among us can be awakened and given the choice of following their talents and a way to get to […]

  We’ve just heard that the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Orchestra will offer a new international competition for young musicians ages 13-18 beginning in summer 2010. Known as the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, the competition takes an interesting approach by alternating each year between piano and violin entries. First up, is […]

Wicked: Composer Stephen Schwartz (of “Wicked,” “Enchanted,” and “Pippin” fame) is writing an opera, and a spooky  one at that. “Seance on a Wet Afternoon” is about a married couple and the spirit of their dead 11-year-old. It sounds reminiscent of Menotti’s “The Medium” (incidentally, From the Top featured a wonderful …

Check out this great article we found in the New York Times about the booming instrument industry in China. Violin, viola, cello, and bass production in the small town of Donggaocun, just outside Beijing, is actually serving as a serious form of economic development for the area. Read the article here.

Send in the clowns: it’s a Concerto for Toy Piano. Keith Kirchoff is the soloist in this whimsical piece of music written by Matthew McConnell, which, as it turns out, was recorded right on From the Top‘s home turf: NEC’s Jordan Hall! Keith is a composer as well as a pianist, and has written several […]

I have to admit it. I had no idea there were so many classical concerts to be heard in the Midwest, beyond Interlochen and Ravinia. The good news is, I was wrong. There are dozens of them – and you can get into plenty for under 20 bucks. -Lily Kaiser