CAN SOMEONE GIVE ME AN A?: A Richmond Symphonicast

To celebrate the end of our first season, we are featuring our best guest yet…YOU!!! That's right, prepare yourself for the STREETCAST! With nothing more than a 1/64-size violin, a whiteboard, and a few microphones, we set up shop in Carytown hoping to chat with passers-by about the wild world of symphonic music. And we couldn't be more thrilled with the results! We ended up chatting with six wonderful guests, who shared everything from their experience with classical music to their hot...

To celebrate the penultimate episode of our first season, we bring you a chat with Director and Conductor of the Richmond Symphony Chorus, Dr. Erin Freeman! Erin is also the Artistic Director of Wintergreen Music Festival, Directory of Choral Activities at VCU, and Resident Conductor of the Richmond Ballet. And yes, just to confirm, she is only one person with no magical powers (that we are aware of...). Highlights include: a very nerdy discussion about overtones, a run-down of Erin's celebri...

TWO amazing episodes in the span of two weeks??? We are seriously on our game this month. And so is this week's guest, Principal Horn, DOMINIC ROTELLA! With previous gigs in Louisville, KY, Miami Beach, FL, and even Santiago, Chile, Dominic is basically an international rock star. Highlights include Dominic's takeaways from his recent visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a spirited discussion of Fantasia 2000, and our favorite moments from Ottorino Respighi's EPIC "Pines of Rome".&n...

Folks, do we have a treat for y'all today or WHAT? The number 7 is said to be lucky, and we were very lucky indeed to snag an interview with none other than the trumpet queen herself, Mary Elizabeth Bowden! (Brass aficionados, you're welcome.) You MIGHT know Mary from her extensive solo career.....OR from her touring with the Kassia Ensemble....OR from her popular Instagram account, @marytrpt.....OR from.....(Okay, we'll stop now. You'll have to listen to the full episode to hear about her 34...

Howdy, Y'all! Did you miss us? Well, you're in luck because for the first time EVER we are coming to you IN-PERSON from the studio! And who better to kick off this new phase of the podcast than Richmond Symphony Principal Violist, Molly Sharp? In this episode, we hear from Molly about her various pet projects and spend some time hangin' with our good old friend Sergei Prokofiev via his prolific "Romeo and Juliet". Highlights include the real difference between violinists and violists, t...

Get ready for some seriously hot takes with Principal Trombone, Evan Williams. One of the newer members of the Symphony family, Evan has already established himself as an incredible asset. Whether it's playing in a Masterworks Concert, completing a 100-day challenge on his Instagram, or creating extra digital content for the Symphony, Evan always has something new he is working on. This episode also serves to shine a spotlight on one of Evan's favorite composers, Johannes Brahms, through his ...

Matt and Zoe are joined by RSO Principal Flute, Mary Boodell, who has been playing with the Symphony for 30 years (!) Mary walks the duo through her musical beginnings, details why she loves playing in the RSO wind section, and gives an impromptu lesson on historical flutes. There might even be a spontaneous recording of Mary performing solo...This episode also highlights Vitezslava Kapralova's Suita Rustica, as performed by the Richmond Symphony in 2018. Want to be featured on Question...

This week, Matt and Zoe are hangin’ with RSO staff member and self-avowed choir nerd Victoria Cottrell to chat about composer Reena Esmail’s “She Will Transform You”. If you’re a fellow fan of choral music, you’re going to LOVE this piece, which was commissioned by the Symphony in 2018. Afterwards, Matt challenges Zoe and Victoria to a few rounds of classic music trivia, brought to you by Treesa Gold and her acclaimed “Treesa Ruins Classical Music” class. Play along with us and see how many y...

Thank you so much to everyone who tuned in to our first episode last week. We are so grateful for all of your feedback. In this episode, Matt and Zoe are back once again with guest Susanna Klein, professor of Violin at Virginia Commonwealth University and Section Violinist with the Richmond Symphony. Susanna shares her experience as a musician, teacher, researcher, writer, and “practice guru”. The team then takes a deep-dive into Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, “Eroica” just in time fo...

Welcome to the premiere episode of CAN SOMEONE GIVE ME AN A?!: A Richmond Symphonicast. Hosts Matt Gold and Zoe Thomas are joined by Richmond Symphony's own Principal Piano and Celeste, Russell Wilson, to discuss Undine Smith Moore's Scenes from the Life of a Martyr, the 16-part oratorio composed in 1981 to commemorate the life and death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Russell recalls his path to Richmond: from attending school in Memphis to working with Moore herself! Get to know Russell...