From the Top

We meet an imaginative 13-year-old oboist who draws on colors, shapes, and stories in her performance of Marcello’s Oboe Concerto. An 18-year-old violist draws on his multicultural background in his performance of Bach and shares how he’s using music to help others. A 17-year-old guitarist showcases her adept technical skills and describes how volunteering with animals has impacted her musicianship. 

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

A teenage violinist compares the power of persuasion in oral debate and musical performance and a 17-year-old flutist shares the lyrical beauty of Georges Hüe’s Fantaisie. Young musicians from the San Diego Youth Symphony and the Sinfónica Juvenil de Tijuana conclude the program with a powerful cross-border collaboration.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

We meet a 13-year-old violinist with a passion for studying the connection between music and the brain. Next a 16-year-old clarinetist delivers an elegant Mozart Rondo and a teenage percussionist blends classical, Latin, and jazz influences.


See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Sparks fly when 9-year-old pianist Alexander Zhou takes the keys. Orli Shaham hosts this episode where we also hear from a teenage violist performing Rebecca Clarke’s beautiful viola Sonata.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Orli Shaham collaborates with a teenage pianist on a Mozart Sonata for four-hands. We also hear from a trumpeter who plays Gershwin and a 17-year-old violinist performing Beethoven.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Grammy Award-winning bass player Victor Wooten joins us for our exciting musical journey out of Nashville. A talented teen flutist plays an elegant Bach Sonata and then improvises on that same work with Victor Wooten and Peter Dugan. We meet the drum major from Tennessee State University’s Aristocrat of Bands and hear selections from their Grammy Award-winning album. And if that’s not enough, we are treated to a special collaboration between our hosts!

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Grammy Award-winning bass player Victor Wooten joins us this week as we celebrate great music out of Nashville! We hear an electric performance on violin, imitating sounds from Jimi Hendrix’s guitar, by a teen musician who already holds a real job in an orchestra. We meet a talented pianist who performs Beethoven. And a teen bluegrass mandolin player with a career on the rise performs solo and collaborates on a toe-tapping tune with Victor Wooten and Peter Dugan.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

We hear the From the Top premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Fantasy for Solo Violin, who is the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in music. It’s performed by a teen violinist passionate about championing classical music. We meet a flutist determined to make a difference in the world. And our flashback finale features the 2016 performance by Claire Wells, who just recently was named a Young Concert Artist Jacobs Fellows.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

We’re speaking with young musicians about vulnerability and risk-taking, overcoming nerves, and how they draw inspiration from other passions like ballroom dancing. Plus, we are treated to incredible performances of a Turina piano trio, a Barber cello sonata, and a Chopin nocturne.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

We’re coming from Minnesota Public Radio in the Twin Cities with guest host Orli Shaham. We hear from a pianist/composer who performs a musical letter to his younger self, and an autodidactic teen violinist wows us with his journey.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy