On the Road with Joanne Robinson: Show 254 Houston, TX

Greetings everyone! The whirlwind spring tour of 2012 continues with our most recent taping in Houston, Texas. We taped at the Wortham Center, the gigantic home of the Houston Ballet and Houston Grand Opera, and our show included plenty of outstanding Houston talent. The audience was packed, and, as a result of the Houston Public Radio’s fundraising drive’s From the Top Day, almost 200 Project GRAD students were able to attend our taping for free!

Kicking off the festivities was the Houston Youth Symphony, 82 members strong, performing Beethoven’s “Leonore” Overture No. 3. After they played, a few of the orchestra members were interviewed about inter-orchestra romance. One of the teenage members shared that he was a student ambassador for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, which works to ensure that gay students are not bullied, and it was heartening to see his orchestra colleagues and the audience applaud in support.

Later in the show, a fantastic 18-year-old baritone, Aaron Bigeleisen, sang Schubert and spoke about founding a Glee Club – although in this case, “GLEE” is a clever acronym for “Gun Lovers and Environmental Enthusiasts!” The audience got a kick out of that, and it struck me that here on From the Top we meet kids of all ages and backgrounds with all sorts of different viewpoints, who bond through their shared love of music and also tend to find a lot of common ground with each other. Now if only the rest of the world could work like that!

As always, for your viewing pleasure, enjoy this Sneak Peek of the upcoming broadcast, and make sure to tune in when this show airs in September.