Kathleen Marshall

Kathleen began her Broadway career as an assistant to her brother Rob, the choreographer of Kiss of the Spider Woman, in 1993. The two also collaborated on She Loves Me, Damn Yankees , Victor/Victoria and Seussical. She was the artistic director for the Encores! series of staged musical revivals from 1996 through 2000. During that time, she choreographed The Boys from Syracuse, Li'l Abner and Call Me Madam and she directed and choreographed Babes in Arms and Wonderful Town.

She also directed and choreographed the Broadway revival of Grease.  

I was fortunate enough to catch the Encores! production of Wonderful Town when it transferred to Broadway.

Kathleen was also the director and choreographer of the Broadway revival of Pajama Game which opened in February 2006 and which was the Broadway acting debut of Harry Connick Jr.  I’m happy to report I was there too!

More pertinent, Kathleen directed and choreographed a Broadway revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes in 2011, with Sutton Foster as Reno Sweeney.  The show ran at London’s Barbican Centre in 2021 and was recorded for television (BBC) by Ross MacGibbon, later picked up by PBS in America.  Kathleen’s production is as close to perfect as can be. In fact, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer. 

Stephen Ridley

In 2021 Steve joined Kathleen as music supervisor and music director of Anything Goes at the Barbican.  He was also music supervisor of Oklahoma! at Wyndham’s Theatre.  Steve conducted the highly-acclaimed Broadway transfers of The King and I at The London Palladium and the Dominion Theatre and An American in Paris at the Dominion Theatre, and he was the music director of the Olivier Award winning revival of Ken Ludwig’s Crazy for You at the Novello Theatre.  He later was music supervisor of Kiss me, Kate at the Barbican, now being shown on PBS throughout the U.S.

Steve is a music director, conductor and pianist based in London. He was born in Middlesbrough and is a graduate of the Royal College of Music. 

I’m thrilled that he joined us for this exciting episode!

Daniela Candillari grew up in Serbia and Slovenia.  She holds a Doctorate in Musicology from the Universität für Musik in Vienna, a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and a Master of Music and Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from the Universität für Musik in Graz.

She is also a Fulbright Scholarship recipient.

Daniela is in her fourth season as principal conductor at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. In celebration of its 50th anniversary season, she is conducting the company’s 44th world premiere, This House, with music by Ricky Ian Gordon and libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage and her daughter, Ruby Aiyo Gerber.

Daniela made her New York Philharmonic debut in its inaugural season in the new David Geffen Hall, conducting cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Elgar’s Cello Concerto.  And she made her “Carnegie Hall Presents” debut leading the American Composers Orchestra in a program of premieres.  Other engagements include debuts with the Metropolitan Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin, and productions with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Minnesota Opera, Detroit Opera, Orchestre Métropolitan Montreal, and Classical Tahoe Festival.

Finally, Daniela has been commissioned by established artists including instrumentalists from the Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh Symphonies, as well as the three resident orchestras of Lincoln Center: the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the New York City Ballet. She is deeply involved with Music Academy of the West’s programming for young artists and she recently participated in master classes and discussions at DePaul University, Chicago Humanities Festival, and Valissima Institute.

It's a pleasure to have her with me on this episode.

Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo began performing professionally at the age of 11 and has since appeared in opera, concert, recital, film, and on Broadway. He has performed in the world’s great opera houses and symphony halls.

In June 2024, he began his tenure as the general director and president of Opera Philadelphia.

His most recent album, Anthony Roth Costanzo & Justin Vivian Bond: Only an Octave Apart was released in January 2022. His first solo album, ARC was released in September 2018 and nominated for the 2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. He also stars on the Metropolitan Opera’s recording and DVD of Akhnaten which won the 2022 GRAMMY award for best opera recording.

Anthony was the recipient of the 2020 Beverly Sills Award from the Metropolitan Opera, a winner of the 2020 Opera News Award, and the 2019 Musical America vocalist of the year.

He graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University where he was awarded the Lewis Sudler Prize for extraordinary achievement in the arts, and where he has returned to teach.

Freya’s music is characterized by contrasts between earthy rhythmic play and fragility, luminous spaces, and a sense of the otherworldly. She has been commissioned by numerous institutions and ensembles

Her current season includes Mother Tongue, a new four movement work for the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Ed Gardner; a new work for the Archipelago Collective’s 10th anniversary festival on San Juan Island WA; and a new work for classical orchestra for the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in response to Fanny Mendelssohn’s Das Jahr. Also upcoming is the release on NMC of Waley-Cohen’s Debut Disc, Spell Book, with performances from the Manchester Collective as well as Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Ann Beilby, Nathaniel Boyd, Hèloïse Werner, Fleur Barron and Katie Bray.

Other recent successes include the world premiere of Pocket Cosmos, premiered in June 2022 by commissioners London Chamber Orchestra and directed by Pekka Kuusisto, and staging of Freys’s contemporary dramatic song cycle Spell Book at Longborough Festival Opera and Waley-Cohen’s first opera WITCH, commissioned in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Royal Academy of Music.

Freya was the 2019/20 Associate Composer at Wigmore Hall, which held a day of concerts in March 2023 focused on her music. She was also Associate Composer of St. David’s Hall’s contemporary music series, ‘Nightmusic’, from 2018 – 2021. Winner of a 2017 Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, Freya Waley-Cohen held an Open Space Residency at Snape Maltings from 2015 – 2017 and was 2016 – 2018 Associate Composer of Nonclassical.

I spoke to Freya from her home in London.

Peter Boyer is one of the most frequently performed American orchestral composers of his generation. His works have received over 800 public performances by more than 300 orchestras, and tens of thousands of broadcasts by classical radio stations around the world/

Listen, as we discuss Peter’s major work Ellis Island: The Dream of America, for actors and orchestra. It has become one of the most-performed American orchestral works composed in the last 25 years, with over 300 performances by 125 orchestras since its 2002 premiere.

Peter has received commissions from several of the most prestigious American institutions and ensembles, including the United States Marine Band, which commissioned and premiered his Fanfare for Tomorrow for the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

In 2010, Peter was chosen for the Boston Pops 125th anniversary commission, honoring the legacy of John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy.  His The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers was narrated by actors including Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, and Alec Baldwin, and was conducted by Keith Lockhart.

In 2019, Boyer received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, which is officially recognized by Congress as one of the most prestigious American awards, and has been presented to seven U.S. Presidents, as well as U.S. Secretaries of State, Supreme Court Justices, members of Congress, military leaders, and prominent Americans from many fields. Past medalists in the arts have included Renée Fleming, Quincy Jones, Rita Moreno, Gregory Peck, Itzhak Perlman, Chita Rivera, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Simon.  

In addition to his work for the concert stage, Peter’s career has included work in the film and television music industry. He has orchestrated more than 35 feature film scores from all the major movie studios, for leading Hollywood composers.

Peter Boyer is one of the most frequently performed American orchestral composers of his generation. His works have received over 800 public performances by more than 300 orchestras, and tens of thousands of broadcasts by classical radio stations around the world.

Listen, as we discuss Peter’s major work Ellis Island: The Dream of America, for actors and orchestra. It has become one of the most-performed American orchestral works composed in the last 25 years, with over 300 performances by 125 orchestras since its 2002 premiere.

Peter has received commissions from several of the most prestigious American institutions and ensembles, including the United States Marine Band, which commissioned and premiered his Fanfare for Tomorrow for the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

In 2010, Peter was chosen for the Boston Pops 125th anniversary commission, honoring the legacy of John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy.  His The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers was narrated by actors including Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, and Alec Baldwin, and was conducted by Keith Lockhart.

In 2019, Boyer received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, which is officially recognized by Congress as one of the most prestigious American awards, and has been presented to seven U.S. Presidents, as well as U.S. Secretaries of State, Supreme Court Justices, members of Congress, military leaders, and prominent Americans from many fields. Past medalists in the arts have included Renée Fleming, Quincy Jones, Rita Moreno, Gregory Peck, Itzhak Perlman, Chita Rivera, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Simon.  

In addition to his work for the concert stage, Peter’s career has included work in the film and television music industry. He has orchestrated more than 35 feature film scores from all the major movie studios, for leading Hollywood composers.

Brent Assink served as executive director of the San Francisco Symphony for 18 years, a term during which the symphony significantly grew its artistic profile and community engagement.  His creative partnership with then-Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas produced celebrated projects such as the American Mavericks festivals, the Keeping Score multi-media series and SFS Media, the first orchestra-run record label in the U.S.

Brent joined the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s artistic operations department in 1981. Six years later, he became the SPCO manager, and in 1995, its president.  He is currently the interim president of the Minnesota Orchestra, while it searches for a permanent president/CEO.

The King's Singers have represented the gold standard in a cappella singing on the world's greatest stages for over fifty years. They are renowned for their unrivalled technique, versatility and skill in performance, and for their consummate musicianship, drawing both on the group's rich heritage and its pioneering spirit to create an extraordinary wealth of original works and unique collaborations.

Kathleen van Bergen is in her 14th season as CEO and president of Artis—Naples.  In that time, she has been recognized throughout Southwest Florida and the greater arts community as an example of leadership geared toward prudent growth and relationship building. 

Named one of Musical America’s “Top 30 Professionals of the Year” in 2019, she is described as “a woman with a mission, a vision and a board to support both.” In 2022, she was named among Gulfshore Life magazine’s “Forces of Philanthropy,” a select few leaders of Southwest Florida who “propel the philanthropic community into the future through mentorship, collaboration and camaraderie.”

From the beginning of her tenure, she has made balanced budgets and operational surpluses a priority: The balance sheet has more than doubled over the last decade, and, as of 2021, the organization is debt free.  On her watch, its endowment has surpassed $150 million. 

Kathleen’s vision for multidisciplinary thematic planning has allowed Artis—Naples to leverage its unique resources in order to enhance patron experiences with the visual and performing arts.

The diversity of artistic excellence and world-class programming is one reason The Wall Street Journal said Artis—Naples has ushered in “an impressive new phase” for classical music in Southwest Florida.

In 2022, Kathleen was a recipient of the Eastman School of Music’s Centennial Award, given in honor of its 100th year to 100 individuals who exemplify the school’s mission and legacy through their artistry, scholarship, leadership, community engagement and philanthropy

Music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, Gianandrea Noseda is also one of the world’s most sought-after conductors, recognized equally for his artistry in  the concert hall and the opera house.

Gianandrea’s award-winning recordings are distributed by LSO Live, for whom he also records as principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.  His discography spans over 80 recordings.

He became general music director of the Zurich Opera House in September 2021 and he reached an important milestone in May 2024, conducting two highly praised complete Ring Cycles.

In the summer of 2024, he led an international festival tour with European Union Youth Orchestra which took them to the Edinburgh Festival and the Lucerne Festival. In 2019, he was appointed the founding music director of the Tsinandali Festival and Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra in the village of Tsinandali, Georgia.

A native of Milan, Gianandrea is Commendatore al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, marking his contribution to the artistic life of Italy. He has been honored as Musical America’s Conductor of the Year (2015) and International Opera Awards Conductor of the Year (2016). In 2023, he received the Puccini Award, joining the likes of Maria Callas, Birgit Nilsson, and Luciano Pavarotti.