Classical Classroom

Sometimes composers just make stuff up. That is the lesson that Grammy-winning, super duper famous violinist Joshua Bell teaches in this episode of Classical Classroom. He also talks about how this is not just okay - it can be great, as it is in the piece "Scottish Fantasy" by composer Max Bruch. Learn about who Bruch was and where this piece came from (spoiler alert: not Scotland).

Music in this episode:

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

Composer, conductor, and librettist Daron Hagen recently created a new magic trick: An opera that's not an opera about the director Orson Welles (Citizen Kane) but not necessarily about Orson Welles which may be performed in a different way every time it's performed and, according the website, "may, in fact, not exist at all, except as a set of options."

Hagen's opera Orson Rehearsed has a lot to teach us about the use and usefulness of operatic structure and about the creative process. Welles, who was an actual magician, loved the process of creating. Hagen makes that process part of the performance of Orson Rehearsed by placing each performance in the hands of an appointed person (the opera's "Magician") who makes decisions about the opera from a set of sound collages that they can dictate the order and placement of as it's happening. And it all takes place in the last hour of Orson Welles' life, as Hagen has envisioned it.

Honestly, you're just gonna have to listen, people.

Music in this episode:

Live recording of Chicago performance of his opera

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

Cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir is from the once-isolated island country of Iceland, a land of ice and snow and geothermal power and awesome music. In this episode, Sæunn tells the unique history of Icelandic classical music (or "music," as they call it there), including how the long-term relative isolation of the country lent to its unique approach to music, and tells what Bjork's favorite food is. Just kidding! But she does talk about Iceland's important composers and musical luminaries and says a lot of really cool-sounding Icelandic words.

Music in this episode:

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

Life isn't always puppies and kittens (she stated sagely). Sometimes, it can be downright tough - maybe your family is falling apart and you're a famous composer and you're going deaf. We've all been there, amiright? In this episode, John Largess and Joshua Gindele, members of the Miro Quartet, talk about Beethoven's Opus 131 string quartet and that it's one example of how composers use the string quartet to tell their own stories. They also talk about what was going on in Beethoven's life that he may have been working out in this piece.

Music in this episode:

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

Arguably, Anne Akiko Meyers is darn admirable herself. The violinist has scads of fans. She's been Billboard's #1 classical artist. I mean, she's been on Morning Edition AND All Things Considered. But in this episode, Meyers is the fan rather than the star. She tells stories about getting to work with composers she idolizes, and what happened when she did - and didn't - dare to ask them to do things differently. Valuable life lessons, people.

Music in this episode:

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

Hold on to your hats, people: This episode with multi-Grammy Award winning classical guitarist Sharon Isbin covers a lot. Because how often do you get to talk to Sharon Isbin?? Learn about everything from the David Lynch Foundation and Transcendental Meditation, to Spanish art song, to astronauts, and how Isbin got started playing guitar at the age of 9. It's a veritable cornucopia of information. (Side note: Are any cornucopias not "veritable"? Do fake, poser cornucopias exist?)

Music in this episode:

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

Composer Jono Hill was given a unique task: to compose the score for a film about a classical musician. The movie As Far as the Eye Can See (directed by David Franklin and written by Paden Fallis) follows Jack Ridge, a now 40-year-old former Van Cliburn Competition winner who is more or less hiding out on his family's land in Texas. In this episode of Classical Classroom, Hill talks about the unique process of composing for film, and about the special challenges of composing for a movie with classical music at its center.

Music in this episode:

• Tubaluba presents "Tubaluba Tidal Wave" featuring Janet Schwab
• Brahms Six Piano Pieces, Op. 118 Intermezzo in A Minor Murray Perahia, piano

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

Pianist Angela Draghicescu never meant to become a classical music investigator. But a simple desire to play good music led her to an unavoidable conclusion: some very important composers were grossly underrepresented in classical music repertoire. But...why?, she wondered. Authorities seemed stumped and inquiries into the whereabouts of these composers' work turned up only dead ends. And thus began Angela's emotional journey to find answers. That search resulted in the creation of her project, Women Who Score. It also took Classical Classroom down a terrifying rabbit hole full of twists, turns, and questions as we, too, tried to find out what happened to the music of women composers throughout history.

Music in this episode:

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

Anne Midgette, chief classical music critic at the Washington Post, recently wrote an article that caught our attention called, "A beginner's guide to enjoying classical music. No snobs allowed." We figured that she must have been listening to Classical Classroom, so we invited her on to chat. In this episode, Midgette discusses the pointers in her article (gems such as, "Classical music can do things no other music can"), talks about her own circuitous path to classical music critic stardom, and recommends some pieces of music to get you on your way to learning to love classical music more.

Music in this episode:

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

The Classical Classroom is back! But from where?? Hear host Dacia Clay recount the epic, harrowing tale behind the show's hiatus in this teaser episode. New full, real episodes will be out any day now. Dacia will be asking even more, even dumber questions about classical music. Come learn with us. Again.