Category: On the Road

Live recordings of popular NPR classical music show will feature a variety of hosts, co-hosts, and guest artists Boston, Massachusetts (Updated February 7, 2019) – From the Top, the nationwide program distributed by NPR that showcases young classical musicians, announced today the lineup of renowned artists who will host, co-host, or appear as special guests […]

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 […]

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 […]

Hello readers! It’s only been two weeks since I started the Klarman fellowship but I feel like I’ve done so much already! Last week I went on a trip to Michigan where the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp is in session, where I actually spent my summers as a tiny fourth grader skipping around campus singing […]

From the Top alum and staffer Matthew Dykeman is on the ground in Miami for a week-long residency with local schools. He’s sent back these reports (here and here). On his last day there, he wrote this final post…enjoy! Folks, let me give you some statistics: 250 students, age 5-18 5 schools 44 mammoth pizzas 1 […]

From the Top alum and staff member Matthew Dykeman is on the ground in Miami at a week-long residency. He’s blogging about his experience – you can read his first post here. This is quickly turning into one of the most awesome experiences I’ve had in my life. As the appointed “Pizza Czar” (I tried […]

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 […]

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 […]

We’re back from our week-long trip to Colorado which was packed to the brim with all sorts of events. Colorado is home to two of the best summer music festivals in America, and we were lucky enough to be invited to participate in both. We started out in Vail, as part of the Bravo! Vail […]

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. *** […]

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 […]

Oh Chautauqua, how I miss you already! I’m home in Boston now, but just days ago I was at the Chautauqua Institution in Southwestern New York, where we recorded an episode of our radio show. If you haven’t heard of Chautauqua, let me paint a quick picture for you: imagine a huge, private summer resort completely […]

This outreach event took place during the weekend of Show 305 in Miami, Florida. A shy boy with a mop of dark hair sits quietly on the side of the classroom at Pine Villa Elementary School in Miami, Florida. When Antonio Urrutia, one of the performers on From the Top’s recent residency in the area, […]

This is a special look into Show 305. To listen, click here. When 14-year-old Matthew Hakkarainen pulled the bow across the strings of his violin and the last note of the Kreisler Praeludium and Allegro rang out through Gusman Concert Hall at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, the audience erupted in applause. […]

In 2015, From the Top commissioned a new musical work from alum Michael Thurber, that would feature the next generation of classical musicians. His concerto, “The Three Musketeers: A play for instruments” premiered on From the Top’s live recording at Interlochen Center for the Arts on March 13. Excerpts from this piece will be broadcast […]

“Jump right in!” a young lady with long brown hair belts out from the stage, her foot tapping as she dances along with the music, “Let the music pull you in, jump right in!” The more than 500 middle and high school students in the audience here in Hazard, Kentucky are very familiar with this […]

We’re proud to share the first From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley show recorded in the great state of South Carolina! Recorded at the Peace Center for the Performing Arts in Greenville, SC on November 6, 2014. Listen to the show and meet the young musicians here! Check your local public radio station for air times.

Backstage at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium, 8-year-old pianist Oscar Paz-Suaznabar has his head bent over a cell phone, launching angry birds at stubborn pigs, and From the Top alum Clifton Williams reaches over to show him a trick. Clifton has recently graduated college and moved to Los Angeles to build a career composing and […]

We would like to think that if Beethoven arrived in the 21st century, hearing magically restored, he would see the performers on From the Top as a sign of the invigorated future for classical music, full of passion, humor, and music that defies labels. He’d see the music schools and programs that we visit around […]

On July 16, we recorded a show with the National Youth Orchestra of the USA (NYOUSA). Our friends at Carnegie Hall bring this orchestra of amazing young musicians together each summer, and the result is pretty incredible. (You can listen to the show here, if you’d like. We highly recommend it!) The next day, From […]