On the Road with Joanne Robinson: A Whirlwind Week

Hi everyone! We just got back into Boston after a whirlwind couple of days that found us taping radio shows in Monterey, California and New York City as well as performing a family concert at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall.

The California taping took place at the EG Conference, an amazing meeting of innovators in media, technology, entertainment and education. It was thrilling to be there, and we packed our show with innovative musicians, such as guest artist Jake Shimabukuro, who brought an incredible energy to our show by blasting away conventional thought about the traditional limits of ukulele.

Check out the incredible flip cam footage I took the night before our taping. Jake Shimabukuro and violinist Charles Yang, a From the Top alum we invited back for this show, started to jam together after our rehearsal in preparation for performing a piece together at the opening ceremony of the EG Conference, which was to take place prior to our taping the next day. The collaborative energy between the two is pure magic!

The day after the taping, we flew across the country to New York City, where we were to perform two shows, both featuring winners of our Big Break contest, an online contest in which the public voted on videos submitted by young performers. Grand prize winner percussionist Marcelina Suchocka along with three runners-up were flown to New York City to be on a radio show episode taped at WQXR as well as perform at a Carnegie Hall family concert.

Make sure to tune in to our Monterey show the week of May 2, 20111 and the WQXR show the week of May 16. And, as a special treat, the Monterey show was videotaped and can be seen on our YouTube channel the week the show airs. It’s definitely a must see!