Con Fuoco: A Podcast about Classical Music and its Future

Con Fuoco: A Podcast about Classical Music and its Future

By Daniel ChoMusicMusic Commentary
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Con Fuoco: A Podcast about Classical Music and its Future episodes

  • How can classical music confront its own history of exclusion? with Dr. Philip Ewell (Season Finale)

    Dr. Philip Ewell is an Associate Professor of Music Theory at Hunter College of the City University of New York, where he serves as Director of Graduate Studies in the music department. His specialties include Russian music and music theory, Russian opera, modal theory, and critical-race studies. He received the 2019–2020 “Presidential Award for Excellence in Creative Work” at Hunter College, and he is the “Susan McClary and Robert Walser Fellow” of the American Council of Learned Societies for 2020–2021. In August 2020 he received the “Graduate Center Award for Excellence in Mentoring,” which recognized his “ongoing, long-term, commitment to students at all stages of graduate research.” He is also a “Virtual Scholar in Residence” at the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music for 2020–2021. As a result of his ACLS award, he is currently working on a monograph—to be published by the “Music and Social Justice” series at the University of Michigan Press—combining race and feminist studies with music and music theory. Finally, he is under contract at W.W. Norton to coauthor a new music theory textbook, “The Practicing Music Theorist,” which will be a modernized, reframed, and inclusive textbook based on recent developments in music theory pedagogy.

    The Question of the Week is, "How can classical music confront its own history of exclusion?" Dr. Ewell and I discuss his experience presenting his paper on race, how classical music and institutions operate through a white racial frame, his advice on how to approach those who do not want to discuss issues in classical music, the inclusive theory textbook he and his colleagues are currently formulating, and his recommendations on those who want to learn more about diversity and equity in classical music.

    Dr. Ewell's website - http://philipewell.com
    Dr. Ewell's presentation Music Theory and the White Racial Frame - https://vimeo.com/372726003

    Fact Check - At the end of our conversation, I refer to three recent police shootings and mistakenly called thirteen-year old victim, Adam Toledo, African-American when he is actually Mexican-American. Dr. Ewell corrected me and I wanted to include a fact check note in the show notes to verify this correction.

    This Season Finale episode of Con Fuoco is dedicated to George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 - May 25, 2020)




    59 min
  • Should understanding the body be a priority in music education? with Vanessa Mulvey (Rebroadcast)
    This week, we have a rebroadcast of my conversation from September of 2020 with performer and educator Vanessa Mulvey. The Question of the Week we discussed was, "Should understanding the body be a priority in music education?" Ms. Mulvey and I discuss how everything in our body is connected, how modernity encourages us not to use or understand our bodies, the disconnect between good and bad performances, and how all music performance revolves around movement. Truly understanding the bod...
    51 min
  • What are the characteristics of a strong organization in classical music? with Simon Woods
    Simon Woods joined the League of American Orchestras as President and CEO in 2020. Born in London, England, Mr. Woods earned a degree in music from Cambridge University and a diploma in conducting from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. From the late 1980s to the late 1990s, he worked as a record producer at EMI Classics in London, where he initiated and produced recordings at Abbey Road Studios and on location with many of the world’s foremost classical artists and ensembles....
    46 min
  • How does music affect the human brain? with Dr. Nina Kraus
    Dr. Nina Kraus is Hugh Knowles Professor of Communication Sciences, Neurobiology, and Otolaryngology at Northwestern University. She is a scientist, inventor (holder of several patents), and amateur musician who uses hearing as a window into brain health. She began her career measuring responses from single auditory neurons and was one of the first to show that the adult nervous system has the potential for reorganization with learning; these insights in basic biology galvanized her to invest...
    48 min
  • Why is a lack of diversity harmful to classical music? with Afa Dworkin (Rebroadcast)
    This episode is a rebroadcast of my conversation with President and Artistic Director of the Sphinx Organization, Afa Dworkin. Afa Dworkin is the President and Artistic Director of the Sphinx Organization, where she oversees all fundraising, strategic, and artistic initiatives. Founded in 1997, the Sphinx Organization has four program areas - Education and Access, Artist Development, Performing Artists, and Arts Leadership - which form a pipeline that develops and supports diversity and ...
    47 min
  • What defines a successful partnership between performer and composer? with Ben Yee-Paulson
    Ben Yee-Paulson is an internationally recognized American composer, who's music has been premiered at Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, Harvard University, Curtis Institute, Warwick Castle in England, La Schola Cantorum in Paris, the DiMenna Center in New York City, and the world opening of Microsoft’s flagship store in New York City. Nationally, Ben’s music was awarded first-place in the Costello Competition, both a Merit Award and “Emerging Composer” status from the Tribeca New Music Festival, ho...
    30 min
  • How can classical musicians be effective collaborators with others? with Ming Luke
    With the “energy, creativity and charisma not seen since Leonard Bernstein” and “vibrant,” “mind-blowing,” and “spectacular” conducting, Ming Luke is a versatile conductor that has excited audiences around the world. Highlights include conducting the Bolshoi Orchestra in Moscow, performances of Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella at the Kennedy Center, his English debut at Sadler’s Wells with Birmingham Royal, conducting Dvorak’s Requiem in Dvorak Hall in Prague, recording scores for a Copp...
    48 min
  • How can classical musicians encourage healthy relationships with one another? with Liana Branscome
    My guest this week is violinist, Liana Branscome! Liana is the first prize winner of the Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota Competition Junior Division (2015), Boca Raton Symphonia Concerto Competition (2014), the Ars Flores Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition (2014) and second prize winner of the New World Symphony Young Artist Competition (2014). She has appeared as soloist with the Vidin Philharmonia in Bulgaria, Palm Beach Atlantic Symphony, the Ars Flores Symphony Orchestra and the T...
    41 min
  • Do classical musicians really understand our own history? with Jan Swafford
    Jan Swafford is an author and composer. His musical works range from orchestral and chamber to film and theater music, including four pieces for orchestra, Midsummer Variations for piano quintet, They That Mourn for piano trio, and They Who Hunger for piano quartet. His music has been played around the U.S. and abroad by ensembles including the symphonies of Indianapolis, St. Louis, Harrisburg, Springfield, Jacksonville, Chattanooga, and the Dutch Radio. His degrees are from Harvard and the Y...
    45 min
  • Does the field of classical music focus enough attention on its audiences? Pt. 2 with Donato Cabrera
    Donato Cabrera is the Music Director of the California Symphony and the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and served as the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and the Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2009-2016. Since Mr. Cabrera's appointment as Music Director of the California Symphony in 2013, the organization has reached new artistic heights by implementing innovative programming that emphasizes welcoming newcomers and loyalists alike,...
    1 hr 2 min

About Con Fuoco: A Podcast about Classical Music and its Future

From the publisher's feed

Con Fuoco is a podcast about the field of classical music and its future. The objective of the podcast is to discuss the current state of the field of classical music and where it is headed in the…