From the Top visits East Palo Alto Boys & Girls Club

The day after our taping at Stanford University’s Dinkelspiel Auditorium, From the Top had the opportunity to visit the Boys & Girls Club of East Palo Alto for a special family performance. 16-yr-old cellist Nathan Chan, 16-yr-old pianist Jade Huang and 13-yr-old violinist Stephen Waarts , all performers on the show, were joined by local alum, 13-yr-old pianist Hilda Huang, to play for an intimate audience of parents and kids.

Because of the small audience size, two young boys had a very special experience.  James and Myles sat in the front row for the entire performance with wide eyes, asking great questions and sharing their reactions to the music.

James was one of the first audience members to arrive, and he got a special treat when the performers, who were all fooling around on the piano playing “Heart and Soul” invited him up to join them. Nathan started teaching him a simple left hand part while the others took turns playing the melody. After a couple rounds, James, who didn’t play the piano at all, was really starting to get it!

Playing "Heart & Soul" with James

During the program, each musician played some of their favorite pieces, shared their thoughts on the music and answered questions from the audience. Nathan got things started with the beautiful Prelude from Bach’s Cello Suite No.3, then he shook things up a bit with the rock and jazz influenced “Julie-O”, which he had performed the night before. The kids were amazed by the way he used the cello as a guitar and a percussion instrument.

Hilda was next, and of course, we had to talk to her about her favorite composer, J.S. Bach. Hilda played a favorite Prelude and Fugue and gave a great explanation of the term fugue. She had the kids imagine four people running along with the same tune: sometimes they’re running next to each other, sometimes they’re crisscrossing and sometimes they crash into each other. Hilda also performed a Ligeti Etude, which one little boy said reminded him of a Tom and Jerry chase scene. Hilda agreed!

Stephen played an excerpt from the Brahms Violin Concerto before dazzling the audience with Waxman’s fiery Carmen Fantasie. He shared his thoughts on  music as a language without words and how each person can create his or her own story in response. The kids in the audience imagined several colorful stories for the Carmen Fantasie after his powerful performance.

Next up was Jade, who played etudes by two different composers, explaining to the audience that these are essentially exercises for pianists. Jade began with Chopin’s Etude Op. 10 No. 1, which she described as the equivalent of push-ups for the right hand. Watching her right hand run up and down the keyboard at break-neck speed throughout the entire piece had the audience nodding in agreement. Jade brought the program to a close with the two Prokofiev Etudes she performed the night before, explaining that the second one was a great “anger management tool.”

The whole event ended just as it had begun: with the From the Top musicians showing the kids in the audience their instruments and getting them involved. James and Nathan became fast friends when they bonded over a shared love of Mettalica: Nathan quickly pulled out his cello and started jamming on “Unforgiven” and some other classic hits while James stood watching with a huge grin. Meanwhile Hilda was showing another little girl how to play some simple tunes on the piano. At the end, all of the performers were excitedly talking about a return visit and the different chamber music they could play. This could be the start of a beautiful collaboration.

Photo by: Advocate/Liz Condo. Christopher O'Riley plays at LSU's Claude L. Shaver Theatre.

Yesterday, Christopher O’Riley and Tour Producer David Balsom spent the day in Baton Rouge at the Louisiana State University College of Music and Dramatic Arts to announce the launch of a new partnership. LSU has named Chris its first Distinguished Visiting Artist from 2010 to 2013 and has invited From the Top to record an episode on the LSU Baton Rouge campus and to collaborate with the university for a two- to three-year series of radio tapings, community engagement,  arts leadership and communication activities. This partnership will enhance performing arts programs in the community as well as encourage student participation and skill building in the performing arts.

“As the dean of the College of Music and Dramatic Arts at LSU, I’m very proud that we will be starting a three-year association with piano artist Christopher O’Riley, as well as the popular NPR program ‘From the Top,’” said Laurence Kaptain, dean of the LSU College of Music and Dramatic Arts. “He comes to us as someone who has stepped beyond the traditional role of a concert artist sequestered on the stage. He has embraced technology, media and popular culture while retaining his high artistic values. The residency of Christopher O’Riley as a performing artist and media personality demonstrates the new linkages that LSU must make with national media as well as popular culture.”

From the Top alum Halie Silverman, an LSU master’s degree student and trumpeter, joined in on the announcement by presenting Chris with an LSU sweatshirt.  She said that appearing on From the Top back in 2004 was a defining moment for her.

From the Top is thrilled to embark on this new partnership and eager to head back down to LSU next season for some more of the incomparable Baton Rouge hospitality. Read more about the announcement in the Baton Rouge Advocate.

From the Top is heard on KRVS 88.7FM, Lafayette, Tuesdays at 7pm; KDAQ 89.9 FM, Shreveport, Saturdays at 11am and beginning in January 2010 WRKF 89.3 FM, Baton Rouge. New Orleans’ WWNO-FM is also expected to carry the show beginning in fall 2010.

Kicknote is happy to announce the release of the next step in our push towards the Artist Newsfeed.–the YouTube video feed. Kicknote now scans YouTube and automatically grabs new videos about your favorite artists and puts them right into their Kicknote profiles and your custom artist feed (if you have it set up).

If you haven’t set up your custom artist feed yet, you can set it up by either logging in or registering for Kicknote. Once logged in, you can have Kicknote read your iTunes and create a custom artist feed for you based on the artists in your iTunes. Your Kicknote Artist Feed will then provide you with a single place to find all the latest Twitter updates, Flickr photos, and YouTube videos from & about your favorite artists. It’s as simple as that!

New designs and layouts are currently in the works to accommodate our new features. Also, there are plenty more features on the way. Check back soon!

Hi all! I just returned home from Silicon Valley and the beautiful campus of Stanford University, where we taped a great show this weekend. We had the pleasure of being joined via phone by a very special guest –puzzle master extraordinaire Will Shortz! As a huge fan of the New York Times Sunday Crossword, I have to admit I was giddy with excitement. He joined us to give an original word quiz to a talented young violinist /puzzle aficionado, who was featured on the show.

Evan Premo and Mary Bonhag on From the Top.

We also reconnected with another 10th Anniversary Alum, double bassist and composer Evan Premo, who was originally on our program back in 2002, when he was 17. Now a happily married 24-year-old, Evan divides his time between Manhattan, where he is a fellow of the Weill Institute at Carnegie Hall, and the Hudson Valley, where his wife, Mary, is getting her Masters in Vocal Performance at Bard.

Evan and Mary performed two beautiful pieces together and told the amazing story of how they met. To give you the lowdown, they basically struck up a conversation on a bus, and when Evan told Mary he was a double bassist and that he liked to go ice fishing, Mary felt like she already knew him. Well it turned out that she had heard him on From the Top a year and half earlier! Little did she know then that this memorable bassist would one day be her husband. Of course, we here at From the Top take full credit.

Also on the show, a vivacious young cellist played one of my favorite pieces, “Julie-O” by Mark Summer, a talented pianist went head to head with Chris O’Riley to determine the pieces best suited for releasing aggression, and the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, 30-teenagers strong, closed the show with a beautiful Corelli piece.

This program will broadcast the week of March 1, so mark your calendars! But here’s a preview to tide you over.done

– Joanne

Melissa White on From the Top.

This week’s episode of From the Top features violinist Melissa White, member of the Harlem Quartet.

Quoted by the Lansing State Journal, Melissa says:

“I’m living my dream because I’m playing my violin and getting paid for it,” she said.

“I was so impressed with [the performers on the From the Top broadcast taped in November],” she said. “It was weird to be sitting there as the older one and realizing I was good enough to be on the show at their age.”

Her advice to current From the Top performers.

“You’re not going to love every performance and sometimes you’re going to feel beaten down from lesson after lesson,” she said. “But if in 10 years you can say you kept doing it, then you’ve accomplished something.”

Last weekend, Melissa and her quartet were invited to perform at the White House’s holiday party. Learn more about Melissa on this week’s broadcast of From the Top.

Every morning, I have the same routine: make coffee, shower, have breakfast, read tweets.  At times, checking e-mail leapfrogs twitter (especially during midterms and finals when my inbox is flooded with student e-mails), but for the most part– that’s the routine.  To say the least, a vast change from a black-and-white memory I have of my father sitting back in his worn-in easy-chair, coffee on coaster to his right, and newspaper in hand.  Within the multitude of reasons for this, I submit they key lays in “active passivity.”

In 1997, Paul Levinson’s The Soft Edge noted that “speed is [...] the essence in delivery of news, [therefore] we might expect the online newspaper to easily exceed the sometimes soggy mess of print delivered to our doorstep only in the morning” (183).  As I write this post, my living room’s bay window offers a picture of a particularly grey, windy, rainy front yard and driveway.  The very driveway where a morning paper would be delivered.  While the physical elements do play a roll in my lack of enthusiasm toward retreiving a paper amid raindrops and wind, Levinson’s note of “speed” plays much more of a vital factor in my decision to not pay for news delivery (the monetary cost also playing a bit of a role).

Having covered the ‘passivity’ in “active passivity,” here’s where the footwork comes in: harvesting news sources.

Just months ago, I found most of my news from RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds.  Most blogs and news websites offer an RSS Feed somewhere within or surrounding the text of an article/post.  If a website or web log does not offer a ‘clickable’ RSS link, secondary sites like Feedburner.com would provide writers with a unique RSS Feed URL.  Plugging that URL into a Feed Reader (much like those you see in the picture to the right) provides instantaneous updates to one’s blog or homepage.  The screen-shot provided comes from my iGoogle homepage.  Fully-customizable, iGoogle delivers immediate article/posts/news from websites/blogs I’ve visited and harvested for content.  In fact, popular sites like The Drudge Report and Huffington Post both represent “aggregators,” or sites that conjure a majority of content from outside sources (Drudge is more exemplary of this characteristic).

Recently, my aforementioned iGoogle homepage has collected a serious layer of dust.  Truthfully, multiple layers.  The central reason: Facebook’s Newsfeed and my customized Twitter-Feed.  Both tools represent vehicles for news information and, better, a lack of initial RSS/website harvesting.

Now, because I share tastes in news stories with my “friends” (Facebook) and “followers” (Twitter), I read about news that they find interesting.  Which brings me to the premise of this post: “Facehoo!”

As you can see, the following post from a former classmate came to my attention three days ago.  The link Samia shared with her friends delivered me to the original article at MediaPost.  The most interesting component of the article comes here:

Yahoo users will see friends’ Facebook activities in “Yahoo Updates,” a tab found on key properties within the Web portal such as Yahoo Sports, News and Finance. (Mark Walsh)

This post arrived just days (if even that) before Facebook-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s open-letter to the Facebook community, when he revealed the network had exceeded 350 million users (side note: notice the RSS Feed icon in the upper-left corner of the screen shot).  Further down, Zuckerberg acknowledges the same changes shared in the link provided above.  The partnership between Yahoo! and Facebook will undoubtedly result in an increase in Facebook users.

Think to those people who Mark Penn refers to as New Luddites, people who “don’t use [technology] because of age” among other characteristics (Microtrends, 257).  Though this group may have ignored the initial surge toward Facebook (and social networking as a whole), e-mail (specifically Yahoo! e-mail) and Yahoo! are two elements of the Web they all know.  Once they initially notice “comments,” “status updates,” and “sharing” links, this group will be lured to Facebook from their Yahoo! homepage.

This initial introduction to, what Howard Rheingold refers to as “reputation management” or “social filtering,” trail-blazes a way for more “active passivity” news sources.  Rheingold cites examples such as:

“Epinions [who] pays contributers of the most popular online reviews of books, movies, appliances, restaurants, and thousands of other items. [...] Slashdot and other self-organized online forums [that] enable participants to rate the postings of other participants in discussions, causing the best writing to rise in prominence and most objectionable postings to sink” (Smartmobs, 114-115).

All of the above, plus popular cites like Digg, all play into this individual news collecting trend of “active passivity;” a definite eVolution to take note of during the initial stages of this “Facehoo!” partnership.

Caroline Goulding and Christopher O'Riley at a sound check for the CD release party at (Le) Poisson Rouge in Septmber 2009

Last night, among the Grammy nominations announced was a nod to From the Top alum, 17-year-old violinist Caroline Goulding for her self-titled debut album, recorded with our host Christopher O’Riley. The album is a collection of works by American composers, composers writing in this country and pieces inspired by uniquely American idioms, as well as a Cape Breton set which features Caroline with pianist Janine Randall. Caroline and Chris played a few favorites from the album at an event co-sponsored by From the Top and Telarc Records this September at New York’s (Le) Poisson Rouge, including Kreisler’s “La Gitana.” Caroline and Chris also appear on From the Top at the Pops performing the third movement from Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings in D minor with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under the direction of the late Erich Kunzel.

At From the Top, we are thrilled to see the success of a young artist who in a way as grown up with us. Caroline first appeared on From the Top when she was just 13 years old, and has subsequently appeared on several other radio broadcasts as well as on our PBS television show. In August, we spoke with Caroline about heading to college at the same time that she’s released her first recording.

Three cheers for Caroline and her collaborator Chris!

I killed myself finding a solution to unhide a FB App, so anyone facing a similar problem here is the solution.

Robbie and Allie Switala with the students at Lakeview Middle School.

In early November, From the Top spent a whirlwind week in Texas with radio tapings and school visits in Waco and Dallas. From the Top alumni and brother and sister team Robbie, 18, violin, and Allie Switala, 16, violin from Grapevine, TX, launched our Texas road shows with a visit to Lakeview Middle School in Colony, TX.

Robbie and Allie gave a riveting performance of Mozart, Bach, and one of their personal favorites, the Handel-Halvorson Passacaglia (see them perform it on our television show), in front of 50 enraptured middle school orchestra students.

The Switalas talked about how much they love playing chamber music with their friends, and how being siblings definitely gives them an edge on the toughest part of ensemble playing – teamwork and communication. They  put the students at ease answering questions between musical selections and even finishing each other’s sentences!

They agreed that playing both violin and viola made them better musicians and advised the students to practice slowly and approach the music measure by measure–not always fun, but really helpful and necessary.

Orchestra Teacher Beth Emert commented, “I love how personable everyone was. The question and answer element helped us remember that the musicians are real people with other passions, interests, and hobbies.”

The students were just as enthusiastic. “Everything was great! I wish we had more time to hang out with them!” said one student.

On Friday evening, November 13, Lakeview students attended the From the Top taping at the new Winspear Opera House at the AT& T Performing Arts Center in Dallas, where they got to cheer on another group of fantastic, young musicians.

Mia, Simon, and Nathaniel playing for the students at G.W. Carver Academy.

On November 12, From the Top visited the G.W. Carver Academy in Waco, TX with performers Nathaniel Smith, 15, cello, Mia Orosco, 16, fiddle, and Simon Stipp, guitar. The 50 middle school students were engaged from the moment the musicians walked in to the classroom, pressing them with television theme song requests and questions about their instruments.

The students were fascinated by Nathaniel’s impressive instrument line-up: he brought three different cellos to the school! Nathaniel started off with Popper’s Serenade on his “classical cello”, then followed that with a demonstration of his “road cello,” and finally his snazzy black, carbon fiber cello which he connected to an amp and played like a guitar.

Along with his assorted cellos, Nathaniel also demonstrated the many different styles of music he loves to play, including classical, bluegrass and jazz, by playing variations of the tune “Happy Birthday.”

After this, Simon joined in on guitar, and they played a few animated bluegrass tunes. The students quickly joined in clapping a steady beat, agreeing that the music definitely makes you want to move!

Mia was next, talking about how she loves both classical violin and fiddle. She played a couple of her favorite fiddle pieces with Simon and demonstrated the differences between the bowing used in classical and fiddle music.

Nathaniel, Mia and Simon had fun answering all of the questions and were able to improvise quite a few of the tunes the students suggested, including the theme from The Simpsons.

At the end of the session, Nathaniel, Mia, and Simon joined forces to perform the exciting finale they had played on the From the Top radio taping the day before, “Sally Goodin.” When the students asked for more, the trio started improvising on “Sweet Georgia Brown”–a perfect end to our school visit! (Check out Nathaniel and Simon improvising on this very tune in our behind-the-scenes video footage!)

The attentive audience.

After the final applause, there was a rush by the students towards the performers to get a closer look at their instruments and ask some final questions. Mia, Nathaniel and Simon each had a cluster of curious students surrounding them- it was so much fun, no one wanted to leave!

Later Mia commented, “I had a fun time at the school. I loved how all the kids had smiles on their faces the whole time! Also, I thought that it was very neat that, in addition to asking us questions about music in general, they also asked about our experiences and were interested to know how we got to where we were in our music.”

Hally Davidson and Bryan Anderson at Henderson Middle School

In early November, From the Top provided two Atlanta middle schools with an interactive demonstration before taping a From the Top broadcast at Emory University’s Schwartz Center. We brought Hally Davidson, 15, flute, from McDonough, GA and Bryan Anderson, 16, piano, from Stockbridge, GA,  members of the flute and piano duo “Music Two Share”, to play for students at Shamrock Middle School and Henderson Middle School, through the Emory Coca-Cola Artists-in-Residence Program.

Hally and Bryan performed the final movement from Widor’s Suite for Flute and Piano, Op.34, which they also perform on our upcoming broadcast.

After an electrifying performance, the students eagerly shared what they imagined while the two were playing.

“It was fun to see them really get into describing the pieces and the pictures in their heads. They gave [the] Widor so many great titles, it was hilarious—from a cat and mouse game to a boat sinking at sea!” Hally said.

A serious Tolkien fan, Hally explained that the music reminds her of a scene from the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Then, Hally and Bryan each played a solo piece and talked about the challenges and benefits of their instruments. In fact, Hally’s favorite thing about the flute– which is that in playing the flute you only have to read one line of  music — was exactly what pushed Bryan from the flute to the piano. Bryan explained to the students that he also plays the organ, and on that instrument, it’s like having 20 flutes under your fingers!

After sharing some of their favorite classical pieces, including Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” and a Chopin Etude, Hally and Bryan played a ‘mystery’ piece, which was quickly identified as the theme from Lord of the Rings by the excited audience. They followed that with the theme from Pink Panther, which was a definite hit.

Hally later commented, “I really liked sharing music at the schools…The students’ excited responses taught me how important finding a ‘common ground’ with your audience can be in building bridges with music.”

We all know that social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook are affecting the way we communicate with others. Instead of driving to someones’ house or even picking up a phone, people are often choosing to instant message, private message, or public message others on the web.

One way that these websites are impacting us that we may not think about is the creation of terms that become part of our everyday language. Terms such as newsfeed, blog, and wall post would not have been created if it wasn’t for social networking sites. Some words, such as “unfriend” have even made it to the dictionary. Also, These sites come up with new definitions for words we already use such as “tweet” on Twitter and “friend (as a verb)” on Facebook and Myspace. As these websites expand and new ones keep popping up, new words will continue to be created and used all over the world.

You, like me, are having a love affair with Facebook. Step 1: Admit it. Step 2: Hear me out.

I joined Facebook Fall 2004, and it has been a healthy, passionate relationship ever since. Sure, we’ve had our spats. The first one was when he betrayed college students. His exclusivity ended, and he opened up to high school students and eventually to anyone and everyone. I felt like he was being a man whore. I forgave him when I realized I had friends who weren’t in college with whom I wanted to connect.

Then, we argued about the Newsfeed. I was very upset about it because I felt like a stalker and didn’t like that people could stalk me. In the end, I realized isn’t that why we’re on the Book? To keep track of people?

Our biggest fight was, of course, when he added applications that annoyed the crap out of me! I was also very upset when he took away Scrabulous, but he gave it back in the form of Lexulous.

But through and through, we’ve been there for each other. Every time (which was a lot) I broke my phone and needed numbers or needed pictures for scrapbooking, he was there. If I needed to invite people to an event, he was there. From tagging embarrassing pictures of friends to liking someone’s status, he has always been there.

Not everyone seems to share my love. So many users have complained about it. I had a friend who left Facebook because it got to be “too greasy” for him. But, he came crawling back after a few months. Another left after a break up, but he came on back, too.

Go on,admit it. You, like my friends, love the Book, too. It has changed the way you communicate with your friends, family, and acquaintances. In fact, it has changed the way the world communicates.

I’m sorry fiance, but you’ve got to make space for my second love.

Time to change my Facebook status and upload some photos.

H, out.

Deberly teaches a young violinist.

Young musicians can do amazing things! 17-year-old violist Deberly Kauffman, who was featured on From the Top’s radio taping in Wolfeboro, NH this past summer, created a free music lessons program in her hometown of Robbinsville, NJ. She has now been teaching and running this program with her father for five years!

Deberly’s program offers private lessons during the academic year as well as a summer camp. With the help of sponsors, they also provide instruments for students who need them. She also takes her students to see classical music concerts. Just last October, she took a group of students to the Sphinx Concert in New York City.

The idea for this program came about in a conversation with her family about “what would the world be like if we all understood and enjoyed music…[the] idea blossomed from there, almost overnight.”

From there, Deberly took action…

First I contacted the local mayor and superintendent of Beverly. I went to the school board and got the support of the local community. Then, I did an assembly at the elementary school several months before starting the program to get the kids interested and informed.

Deberly also employed the help of her grandmother, who acted as her contact with the school board.

She even has some advice for other young musicians who want to make a difference:

It’s really not as scary or hard as it seems to build from the ground up. First, pick a location. Then get the support of the local school board and any other politicians you can, as well as sponsors.

Hold an assembly to get people familiar with you and the program–make sure the community is informed! Finally, just make lessons fun…. Sometimes I feel [self-conscience] about teaching, but then people will tell me how much they love it.

With one idea and the help of her family members, Deberly was able to gain the support of her local community and really make a difference!

Our monster two-week tour has finally come to an end, and from Atlanta to Granville to Waco to Dallas, it’s been a great one!

After the show (Photo from John Ringor)

On Friday night we taped at the exceptionally beautiful AT&T Performing Arts Center’s Winspear Opera House in Dallas. Two From the Top alums, percussionists Joshua Jones and John Ringor from Chicago, joined us as members of the Percussion Scholarship Group. It was so much fun to see them again. Joshua is one of the most exuberant people I know – he went out of his way to make all the other kids feel at home – and John was his usual hilarious self.

Highlights of the show included wonderful performances by violinist Jenny Lee, pianist Sahun (“Sam”) Hong, and violist Isabella Markham. Talented cellist John-Henry Crawford gave Chris a major piano workout when the two collaborated on the challenging Allegro Commodo from Martinu’s Cello Sonata No. 2, which Chris described as “a race to the finish between piano and cello.” It was fascinating to watch the two of them working through the intricacies of the piece the night before.

The show closed with the nine-member Chicago Symphony Orchestra Percussion Scholarship Group playing Minoru Miki’s Marimba Spiritual, and their performance couldn’t have been more spellbinding. You need to check out this Flip video I shot of the group rehearsing their piece the night before the show.done

Percussion Scholarship Group on stage

Now picture them decked out in matching black attire with dramatic stage lighting and the acoustic magnificence of Winspear Opera House, and you’ll get an idea of what it was like to be in the live audience. What an exciting way to end the show – and the tour!

Next stop: back to Boston for a bit, and then off to Stanford for our next taping in early December. Until we meet again… have a wonderful rest of the month and a happy Thanksgiving!

– Joanne

Howdy from the Lone Star State! Do you know we’ve done more tapings in Texas than anywhere else in the country?

Jones Concert Hall at Baylor University

We just drove to Dallas, where we have a taping tomorrow, from Waco, where we had a show at Baylor University’s Jones Concert Hall last night (thanks to the folks at KWBU). It was one of the most eclectic shows we’ve ever done (you’ll hear it the week of Feb. 1). It had a little bit of everything, from a country fiddle tune to a cello serenade, a virtuosic violin piece, a patriotic favorite, and a dramatic fugue played on Jones Hall’s gorgeous pipe organ!

Plus, one of our earliest performers, bassoonist Lamont Barlow from way back on show #2, joined us as our 10th Anniversary Alumni guest. He’s a brilliant 26-year-old physician now, but he hasn’t lost a bit of his musical chops, and he and Chris played beautifully together.

Check out this footage I got backstage before the show. Cellist Nathaniel Smith and guitarist Simon Stipp started jamming together and improvising on all sorts of tunes. Enter Joanne and her handy Flip cam! Here are Nathaniel and Simon playing “Sweet Georgia Brown.”done

-Joanne

Irineo answered students' questions after his presentation.

Irineo Cabreros has been described as hard to peg. Featured on From the Top’s Mobile, AL taping last winter, the phenomenal 18-year-old musician says it best when he describes himself as “a dreadlocked, birkenstocked, teenage flutist who loves to play soccer and beat-box.”

Currently enrolled in the Harvard University and New England Conservatory (NEC) dual degree program in Boston, MA, Irineo is also a From the Top Alumni Fellow through NEC’s Performance Outreach Department. Through the Fellowship Irineo, and three other From the Top alums (Audrey Wright, Victoria Aschheim, and Ross Holcombe) visit our three Turn it UP! partner elementary schools to lead instrumental music sectionals, perform for students, and inspire new musicians to keep on practicing. Turn it UP! is From the Top’s Wallace Foundation Excellence Award program.

We caught up with this self-ascribed physics-lover to talk about his presentation with From the Top at the School of Math and Science in Mobile, AL last January.

“I felt a real personal connection with these students, some of which I still remain in contact with.”

FTT: What was it like to present music to your peers?

Irineo: This experience was very rewarding for me. Initially, I was quite nervous performing for a class of my own peers—that I would come across as condescending or detached. However, the overall environment in the classroom was extremely collaborative and exciting. The students appeared highly interested and intrigued by my comments.

FTT: Did you have a favorite moment during your presentation?

Irineo: Perhaps my favorite aspect of this visit was the connection I shared with these students as a boarding high-school student. We shared many connections due to our common experiences. By the end of this single one-hour class, I felt a real personal connection with these students, some of which I still remain in contact with.

FTT: What did you hope to share with your audience?

Irineo: I think that this experience really made this audience re-examine the prejudices that they previously held against classical music. I really enjoyed creating for them a real contrast between prior expectations and the experience they had.

FTT: What did you learn from your school visit?

Irineo: Perhaps the most unexpected part of this experience, for me, was how extremely attentive the audience was. Where I hoped to have broken their stereotypes of classical music, they certainly shattered my own stereotypes.

I’m coming to you today from several thousand feet off the ground on my flight back to Boston, and I’m still on a high (no pun intended) from yesterday’s taping at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. It was an all-alumni show featuring some incredible performers from past seasons. I had such a blast reconnecting with them! You’ll be able to hear it all on our broadcast the week of January 4th, but here’s a sneak preview of video I compiled with my Flip video. done

There was pianist Colton Peltier, who is a brilliant performer and just an all-around fascinating kid. Both of his folks are professional athletes with no musical background, and somehow, up sprung Colton, this incredible artist. He’s also a total goofball and ribbed me mercilessly about my latest dating disaster.

I was so happy to see violinist Anna Lee again. She’s such a little spitfire. Anna is one of these incredibly expressive performers you can’t take your eyes off of. Her fiery presence onstage reminds me of Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, who was a guest on our show a few years ago.

It was great to reconnect with baritone John Brancy, who is now in his third year at Juilliard. Being a huge musical theater fan, I was particularly excited about his song choice — “Soliloquy” from Rogers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. What a powerful voice. He’s a terrific actor too and really brought the character of Billy Bigelow to life.

Lauren Chipman

Violist Lauren Chipman was this show’s Tenth Anniversary Season guest. She was originally on our show ten years ago, and now lives in Los Angeles, where she has quite the amazing career. She tours with the indie rock group the Rentals, writes film scores, and does all sorts of recording sessions for other artists. Chris O’Riley was in awe, saying, “You have the coolest career I’ve ever heard of. You’re such a rock star!” I have to agree.

At the end of the show, Lauren and Anna were joined by another stellar alum, cellist Coleman Itzkoff, to play a gorgeous Fauré piece. The whole taping was so energizing my jaw was a bit sore afterward from spending an hour and a half grinning like a demented Cheshire cat!

After the show we were treated to a catered reception, the highlight of which was John Brancy surprising us by singing an operatic rendition of “Happy Birthday” in honor of our tenth anniversary season. And the bacon-wrapped crostinis. Those were delicious!

Off to Texas tomorrow, and I’ll catch up with you then.

-Joanne Robinson

Emory University

Greetings from beautiful Atlanta, Georgia, where it is a sunny 64 degrees (my poor colleagues back in Boston are dealing with much chillier temperatures)!

We had a great taping last night at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts at Emory University. It was really fun reconnecting with this show’s 10th Anniversary Alumni guest Melissa White, who was on our show ten years ago and is now a professional violinist with the Harlem String Quartet. Seeing Christopher O’Riley collaborate with her was amazing. He’s clearly a big fan of her playing and positively lit up when they were working through the piece together.

There were lots of other memorable moments. The show’s opening performers, a duo called Music Two Share, are both obsessed with Tolkien, and Chris engaged in a conversation in Elvish with one of them. Pianist Ming Wilson, who played Liszt, was the tallest 13-year-old I’ve ever met (6′1″)! There was an amazingly talented 15-year-old bassist named Xavier Foley who played Bottesini and demonstrated what he called “the money stroke” — the stroke you need play to get into a top orchestra. Finally, the show closed with the fabulous Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra performing a piece by William Walton. You’ll hear it all the week of December 7 when the show airs nationally.

Probably my favorite moment in last night’s show was a special dedication by a member of the audience. Her name is Zhanna Arshanskaya and she is a holocaust survivor who was able to endure through her ability to play music. She eventually went on to attend the Juilliard School and teach piano at Indiana University. She stood up and dedicated a piece on the show to Chris, whom she called “the ambassador of music ” for young people. Earlier that day, Zhanna and I had a conversation in which she expressed her dream that one day From the Top would extend past the U.S. and be broadcast all over the world. How cool would that be?

Off to Denison University in Granville, Ohio for another taping. I’ll catch up with you in a few!

- Joanne

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.

New York Crew gets ready to serve.

In October, From the Top and Young Audiences New Jersey (YANJ) facilitated a three-hour workshop for New York area alumni to prepare for another exciting year of performances and demonstrations in the Newark public schools.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Prudential Foundation, our six alumni volunteers Ibanda Ruhumbika, 19, tuba, Christopher Pell, 18, clarinet, Karen Cueva, 18, violin, Khari Joyner, 18, cello, Patrick McGuire, 19, cello, and Brian Ge, 12, piano, all students at the Juilliard School, will perform for and inspire students through one of two programs:

Make Your Own Radio Show, a residency that engages students in the creative process of producing their own From the Top-inspired radio show.

From the Top Times 2, which pairs a From the Top musician with a YANJ teaching artist for a one-day, two- performance visit, combining a larger assembly performance with a more intimate workshop for music students in the school.

During the workshop, the musicians shared their past experiences playing for kids and worked with teaching artists from YANJ on developing effective and fun school presentations. Everyone got to test out their ideas with the group and give feedback to each other. One highlight was when Chris Pell demonstrated all the different parts and functions of his clarinet to the group, as they pretended to be curious third graders. We all learned something new!

All six of these talented musicians have taken part in school visits and various leadership projects previously with From the Top, including Brian Ge, who took part in last year’s program.

And of course, what From the Top event would be complete without a pizza party at the end…

Karen Cueva and Patrick McGuire are already slated to perform together in November.

We’re excited to follow their work. Stay tuned for more updates!

We are happy to announce the release of the Kicknote Newsfeed. This feature allows users to create customized feeds of information about their favorite artists right on Kicknote.com. Currently the feed only supplies Twitter updates, but more information sources are being added very shortly. Soon, you will be able to see new photos, videos, concert dates, blog posts, and more, from over 50 sites, all nicely organized in one place. Staying up to date on your favorite artists has never been easier!

How it works:

1. Sign in OR create your Kicknote account
2. Find your favorite artist’s profile on Kicknote
3. Click “add to feed” on the left side.
4. Repeat for all of your favorite artists

You can access your own custom feed by clicking “my account” in the header whenever you are signed in. Only artists with Twitter accounts will show up in your feed right now, but don’t be afraid to add artists without Twitter– you’ll be able to see all kinds of other updates from them soon.

We have plenty more features currently in the works, and look for the Newsfeed to expand and evolve very rapidly over the coming weeks.

There’s lots of great stuff happening at Kicknote right now, so check back often to see all the progress we’ve made and stay up to date on your favorite artists!

As always, we’d love to hear your opinions on the new features at feedback@kicknote.com

Also, don’t forget to check out the Kicknote Charts to see who’s hot this week!