Classical Classroom

Astor Piazzolla was a bandoneon player and a composer in Argentina who lived during the 20th century. He changed both classical music and tango music by bringing the two together. The Neave Trio, who recently came out with an album of Piazzolla's work, teaches all about who he was and how his genre-hopping changed music.

Music list:

Special thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

We love it when Classroom alums get recognized for their awesomeness. Such is the case for soprano Sonya Yoncheva. In addition to receiving the Opera Award by the Chilean Art Critics Circle, Sonya is on the cover of the Metropolitan Opera's wall calendar this year. We thought this was a great occasion to rerun her episode of Classical Classroom and to say, "You go, gworl."

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In our first MusicWorks episode (that's our storytelling-centered subseries), soprano Sonya Yoncheva tells the story of how she happened upon her passion – singing opera – by being true to herself (and listening to her mother) and by practicing her buns off. This put her in a position to be ready when she got that call from the Met to fill in at the last moment. And the rest, as they say, is in the podcast.

Audio production by Todd "Totally" Hulslander with awesomeness by Dacia Clay.

Music in this episode:

• Giacomo Puccini: La Boheme – Donde lieta usci
• Charles Lecocq: Les Cent Vierges, Act III, No. 10 Je soupire et maudis le destin
• Giuseppe Verdi: La Traviata – Sempre libera
• Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea – "Pur ti Miro" (Sonya Yoncheva & Max Emanuel Cencic)
• W. A. Mozart: Il Re Pastore – "L'Amero saro costante" (Sonya Yoncheva & Marc Minkowski)
• Charles Gounod – Faust Final Trio – Anges Purs – Sonya Yoncheva, Joseph Calleja & Bryn Terfel

Learn about composer George Heathco's piece, "ReGifting Lions", part of our MusicWorks intro, and oh-so-much more about him at www.georgeheathcomusic.com.

String quartet Brooklyn Rider has a new project called Healing Modes which they're currently touring. While they were in Seattle, we coaxed them into the KING FM studio with the promise of snacks. Just kidding! They came in willingly like most of our guests. In this episode, they talk about Beethoven's Opus 132, the piece at the center of this project, and about the 5 new pieces they commissioned to play alongside it. They also talk about why music is healing, and why we need it to do its magic now.

Music in this episode:

Special thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

Third Coast Percussion makes amazing music by hitting stuff. Okay - it's a little more complicated than that. But the Grammy-winning ensemble does spend a lot of time, both at Home Depot and with percussion mentors from other countries, searching for things to hit, bash, tap and so on. Their latest project, Paddle to the Sea, is a beautiful and moving distillation of all of that searching and bashing - one that has a rich history, dating back to a children's book of the same name from 1941. In this episode, Third Coast's Sean Connors and Peter Martin talk about Paddle to the Sea and what exactly a percussion ensemble is.

Music in this episode:

Special thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

What do Max Bruch and Edward Elgar have in common? Violinist Rachel Barton Pine! In this episode, RBP talks about the two composers and their very different violin concertos. Discussed herein: Did Edward Elgar invent Post It Notes? How is Max Bruch like Milli Vanilli and Iron Maiden? And, who was the mystery woman to whom Elgar dedicated his violin concerto (hint: it wasn't his wife!)? And so much more.

Music in this episode:

Special thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

It's Christmas Eve. Chances are, you've heard a lot of beautiful music. If you're looking for more of that, you've come to the wrong place. Welcome to Jingle Hell, where bad songs are born, and good songs come to die. Alecia Lawyer, founder, artistic director, and principal oboist of River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) talks about the worst musical offerings of the season, and what makes them so bad. Songs that include entire scales? Check. Songs with completely bizarre lyrics that we sing along with anyway? Check. Wookiees? Yeah. This episode has all of that and oh so much more. Listen if you dare! And, uh, merry Christmas. You're welcome.

Music in this episode:

• "Dominick the Donkey." Ray Allen, Sam Saltzberg and Wandra Merrell.
• "I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas." John Rox. Performed by Gayla Peevey.
• "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." Randy Brooks. Performed by Elmo and Patsy.
• "White Winter Hymnal." Written and performed by Fleet Foxes. From their self-titled album.
• "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." By John Frederick Coots. Performed by the Cheeky Monkeys.
• "Ding​-​a​-​ling​-​a​-​ring​-​a​-​ling." Written and performed by Sufjan Stevens. From Silver and Gold.
• "Baby It's Cold Outside." Frank Loesser. Performed by Zooey Deschanel & Leon Redbone. From the Elf movie soundtrack.
• "Vader Did You Know?" Vic Mignogna.
• "What Can You Get a Wookiee for Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb?)." From Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk.
• "Mary, Did You Know?" Lyrics written by Mark Lowry and music written by Buddy Greene. Performed by Pentatonix.
• Greensleeves. London Festival Orchestra.
• "Joy to the World." Isaac Watts.
• "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen." Performed by the Bach Choir.
• "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." Performed by Celtic Woman.
• "Good King Wenceslas." John Mason Neale.
• "Angels We Have Heard on High." Performed by Sandi Patty.
• "The Cherry-Tree Carol." Performed by King's College Choir.

Audio production by Todd "Good King Wencelastodd" Hulslander with two eyes made out of coal by Dacia Clay and editing by Mark DiClaudio.

Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

We know what you're thinking: Another episode about Bach?! That's what we said! In fact, in this episode we ask Grammy-winning violist Kim Kashkashian to explain why classical musicians play and record the same music repeatedly, and specifically, why it's often the music of Bach. Her answer is totally fascinating! We also address the elephant in the room, i.e., whether or not it would have been okay with Bach that she played his Cello Suites on viola on her new album.

Music in this episode:

Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

Marc-André Hamelin is many things: a renowned pianist, a composer, an Officer of the Order of Canada, and a record collector of major proportions. The hands-on, no robots or algorithms, no safety net, digging in dusty bins in record shops variety. In fact, hunting for classical music diamonds in the rough is part of his creative process, and he loves bringing lesser-known works that he finds out into the light before audiences. In this episode, Hamelin talks about how (and why) he finds music that's new to him, about a few pieces he's found that he loves, and gives advice on how you, too, can go a-(record)hunting.

Music in this episode:

https://youtu.be/ZlrHX8muIYA

https://youtu.be/qnzjGbhPpfI

Aurea Carmina Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

Violinist Hilary Hahn has achieved more at just 39 years old than most of us will in a couple of lifetimes: multiple Grammy awards, 1594 concerts (so far), 20+ albums, 2 episodes of the Classical Classroom podcast, 2 kids, and a talking violin case. In this episode, Hahn talks about how much practice it actually takes to be her, her #100daysofpractice challenge on Instagram, and about how much work went in to her latest album, Hilary Hahn Plays Bach: Sonatas 1 and 2 Partita 1.

Music in this episode:

Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.

If you've ever wondered how playing bowls of water is related to traditional classical music, this is the episode for you. Cellist Ashley Bathgate (of Bang on a Can All-Stars fame) was classically trained at Yale University School of Music, educated in the structured musical worlds of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. But today, she moves in a tangent universe of the classical music world, filled with effects pedals, prepared instruments, living composers, and sometimes members of indie rock bands. In this episode, she talks about what took her on this path, and in doing so, gives a legit primer on contemporary classical music [<-- working title].

Music in this episode:

Special Thanks to Todd Reynolds for his music, Taskforce: Farmlab from Outerbourough.