Interplay: Conversations in Music with Michael Shapiro

On this week’s INTERPLAY, conductor Arthur Fagen is featured in a vibrant talk. Music Director of the Atlanta Opera and professor of orchestral conducting at Indiana University, Maestro Fagen has conducted throughout the world and is highly regarded as one of the great conductors of his era. This Conversation in Music reveals his unique perspectives on the art of conducting combined with his wit and unique storytelling. A total joy for this musician to talk to this brilliant man.

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Arthur's website: www.arthurfagen.com

Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung are remarkable musicians and a wonderful couple to talk to about music. Each a great pianist, they often join forces to play four-hand and two piano works. Those joint performances are magical as two unique players join forces to create something quite special. Their joint and solo repertoire is vast and thrilling to encounter. Their new festival in Siena is only one of the highlights of their international career. Please join us for a moving Conversation in Music in which they talk about their marriage in life and art!

Find out more at www.michaelshapiro.com

Alessio's website: www.alessiobax.com

Lucille's website: www.lucillechung.com

This week’s Interplay is a Conversation in Music with a miraculous musician, Eric Jacobsen. Founder with his brother Colin of The Knights, music director of symphonies in Bridgeport and Orlando, and a superb cellist, everything Eric touches sounds fresh and new. I first heard Eric conduct a Brahms orchestral work, and it sounded as if it was the premiere. Eric’s musicianship is exemplary and totally natural, like the man. I know you will enjoy our talk as much as I did. Cannot wait to attend another concert with Eric Jacobsen conducting.

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Eric's website: www.jacobseneric.com

Tim Fain is the most remarkable musician I have ever worked with as a composer and conductor. There Is simply no one like him in my experience. Tim has performed all over the world as a soloist with orchestra, chamber musician with Simone Dinnerstein, in a duet with Philip Glass, been our Artist-in-Residence in Chappaqua, recorded my *Peace Variations* and *Second Sonata* for violin and piano with the equally incredible pianist Steven Beck, and played in three Oscar-winning films (*The Black Swan*, *Moonlight*, and *Twelve Years a Slave*). In addition to unique playing and film making, he is a composer and a prophet with a searing artistic vision. I even wrote a new violin concerto for him called 'At the Shore of the Sea' which will be premiered and recorded in coming seasons. Please welcome Tim Fain to this new episode of INTERPLAY, Conversations In Music!

Find out more at www.michaelshapiro.com

Tim's website: www.timfain.com

This week’s Interplay is a Conversation in Music with conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya, music director of Chicago Opera Theater, and a remarkable force in the production and presentation of music theater. A fiercely committed advocate for Russian masterpieces, operatic rarities, and new works, Lidiya is that rare person, warm, highly skilled and insightful, with a personal commitment to truth and free expression. It was inspiring talking to Maestra Lidiya Yankovskaya!

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Lidiya's website: www.lidiyayankovskaya.com

This week’s INTERPLAY is a Conversation in Music with our remarkable leader in American music, Marin Alsop, in which we share insights from our longtime friendship and her unique passion for justice and the expansion of the repertoire. A thrilling experience from Marin’s new home in Vienna!

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Marin's website: www.marinalsop.com

This week’s Interplay, Conversations in Music, is with the remarkable and innovative conductor David Leibowitz, Music Director and Founder of the New York Repertory Orchestra. Maestro Leibowitz is deservedly recognized for his programming of not only the so-called traditional repertoire but of much other music that deserves a hearing and gets it in his orchestra’s vibrant repertory structure. David’s dynamic and insightful observations are a must!

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David's website: www.nyro.org

Michael Shapiro talks to the extraordinary Jan Swafford whose remarkable biographies of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Ives are irreplaceable. No one can talk like a great biographer, and when that writer is also a fine and highly expressive composer, there is simply nothing like it. Not to be missed!

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Jan's website: www.janswafford.com

This INTERPLAY features cellist Maya Beiser. Passionately forging her artistic path through uncharted territories, Maya Beiser has been captivating audiences worldwide, bringing a bold and unorthodox presence to contemporary classical music, experimenting with various musical styles, and defying conventional norms with her boundary-crossing performances. There is simply no one like the unique and captivating Maya Beiser, an extraordinary musician and world force for good.

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Maya's website: www.mayabeiser.com

This Interplay digs into the remarkable work being done by five extraordinary conductors at our universities: James Tapia (Syracuse University), Mathias Elmer (Virginia Tech), Carolyn Watson (University of Kansas), Kevin Suetterlin (Concordia College), James Allen Anderson (University of Delaware). Our talk is a big longer than usual, but these five maestri have insights and an attention for what they do that is infectious and soul redeeming. I just love these fine musicians for their creativity and caring - a special Conversation In Music!

Find out more at www.michaelshapiro.com