Superfan Kenneth and I debrief about the past and present weeks of the Philadelphia Orchestra. We discuss last week's concert of Mendelssohn Piano Concerto and Symphonie Fantastique led by Herbert Blomstedt and his seating arrangement. 

We then discuss the week previous about the Orchestra's concerts that included music about "Famous Children's Stories" led by Stephan Deneve. 

Ken and I then chat about the week upcoming with works my Elgar, Britten and award winning composer Michael Daugherty. Daugherty presents an Organ Concerto performed by the fabulous Paul Jacobs!

Kenneth Hutchins and I sit down and talk about the recent happenings with The Philadelphia Orchestra.

2:05 - 17:20 - Tracy talks about her road from Chicago to NC Symphony and how that led to her podcast. She talks what the purpose of a podcast. Tracy speaks of important guests and interviews. We elaborate on podcasts in general.

17:25 - 23:20 - Tracy and I talk about social media and the Arts/Orchestra world - 23:25 - 32:00 - We discuss Tracy's program whereby she is guiding musicians with visibility and developing a wider audience. - Tracy talks about the mindset of breaking out of a certain "mindset" - We talk about her program with Jennifer Rosenfeld "Package your Brilliance"

32:01 - 37:27 - Tracy discusses her practice with her horn playing - We talk about the balance of family, life and practice

37:28 - 39:30 - We discuss our children and their learning and practicing instruments

40:00 - 48:10 - Tracy talks about her relationship to music as a listener - She talks about Miles Davis "58 Sessions" - We talk about potential music listener fatigue - Tracy talks about active versus passive listening - We talk about our musical tastes

In this episode, I have a wonderfully interesting conversation with long time member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Paul Arnold. Paul and I first debrief about Fantasia and the Orchestra. Paul goes in depth in his thoughts on the Philly Sound and speaks of former Concertmasters as well as other historical reasons for what made the Orchestra's sound. 

Paul talks of his journey in the Orchestra and his incredible interactions with former Music Directors Ricardo Muti and Wolfgang Sawallisch. 

He also speaks of violin soloists then and now as well as their instruments. 

Paul plays unaccompanied Bach in the bumper music on his previous "Rocca" violin.

We have a conversation with Adam Unsworth who is a professor of Horn at University of Michigan. He relays what his job is a professor each day as well as his teaching philosophy. Adam also talks of his previous days playing 4th horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra. In addition, Adam talks of his playing jazz and how that came to be. The first excerpt is Adam playing "Swing" and the second is the title track from his album "Excerpt This"

In this episode, we speak to Davyd Booth about the most recent "Glorious Sounds of Christmas" Concert with Bramwell Tovey. We talk about the different experiences with great piano soloists with the Philadelphia Orchestra over the years as well as current soloists. Davyd also speaks of what it is to be a pianist as well as a violinist with the Orchestra.

In this episode, we discuss the current week with the Orchestra playing Bach b minor Mass. We talk about playing Bach and playing Baroque music. Gloria shares her teaching philosophy. She also reflects on her time playing with the Depasquale String Quartet and playing with her late husband William Depasquale. Credits to Gloria for her performance of Bach in the beginning of the episode and to William (Strauss Four Last Songs) for the outgoing music.

In this episode, Chris talks of his journey to Principal Percussionist with the POA. He describes his audition strategy and how he was influenced by the book "Inner Game of Tennis" The bumper music includes two excerpts of his solo with the POA. She-e Wu also is the other percussionist in the clip.

In this episode, I interview Denise Tryon, former 4th Horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra while we are on Tour in Asia. She is also performing on this tour and we discuss how it is to be back playing with us for this tour. We also talk a bit of shop of the different roles of the horn in the orchestra. In addition, we speak of journey from learning as a student, being a performing musician, to her role as a teacher and her vast experiences through the years.