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This episode is brought to you by the Alexander & Buono Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping promising classical musicians launch and sustain their careers while cultivating new audiences for classical music.

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Pianists Anna and Dmitri Shelest of the Shelest Piano Duo join Maestro Michael Hall, Artistic Director of the Brandywine Valley Symphony, for a conversation about music, collaboration, and the upcoming U.S. premiere of Ukrainian composer Oleh Bezborodko’s Steel, Violet, Rage.

On October 18, the Shelest Piano Duo will perform with the Brandywine Valley Symphony Chamber Orchestra at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. The concert opens Razom for Ukraine’s fourth annual Ukrainian Cultural Festival, taking place across New York City from October 18 through November 6.

The program also features Valentyn Silvestrov’s The Messenger, Philip Glass’s Tirol Concerto, and Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings.

In this episode, Anna, Dmitri, and Maestro Hall discuss the ideas connecting these works, the unusual demands of performing a concerto for piano four hands and orchestra, and what music can preserve and communicate during a time of war.

This episode is presented with the support of the Alexander & Buono Foundation.

CONCERT INFORMATION

Sunday, October 18, 2026, at 1:00 p.m.

Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall

🎟️ Get Your Tickets

PERFORMANCE EXCERPTS

• Leonard Bernstein: Overture to Candide, arranged for piano four hands by Charlie Harmon — Anna and Dmitri Shelest

• Valentyn Silvestrov: The Messenger, piano solo version — Anna Shelest

• Oleh Bezborodko: “Steel” from Steel, Violet, Rage — Anna and Dmitri Shelest

• Philip Glass: Truman Sleeps from The Truman Show — Anna Shelest

Please note: Truman Sleeps is included as an additional performance excerpt and is not part of the October 18 concert program.

LEARN MORE

🎹 Anna Shelest and the Shelest Piano Duo: HERE

🎻 Brandywine Valley Symphony: HERE

🇺🇦 Ukrainian Cultural Festival 2026: HERE

🇺🇦 Razom for Ukraine: HERE

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Here is the trailer for Steel, Violet, Rage at Carnegie Hall, a special Season 7 Alumni Episode of The Piano Pod.

Pianists Anna and Dmitri Shelest of the Shelest Piano Duo join Maestro Michael Hall, Artistic Director of the Brandywine Valley Symphony, to take us behind their October 18 performance at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

The concert opens Razom for Ukraine’s fourth annual Ukrainian Cultural Festival and features the U.S. premiere of Ukrainian composer Oleh Bezborodko’s Steel, Violet, Rage—a concerto for piano four hands and orchestra.

📺 Watch the full episode beginning Tuesday, October 6, at 8:00 p.m. ET: https://youtu.be/G-TaXMoWDu0

🎟️ Concert tickets: https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2026/10/18/shelest-piano-duo-with-the-brandywine-valley-symphony-chamber-orchestra-michae-0100pm

This special episode is brought to you by the Alexander & Buono Foundation: https://www.alexanderbuono.org/

LISTEN TO OUR SEASON 7 PLAYLISTS

Explore the piano works mentioned throughout Season 7 of The Piano Pod.

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6eSQjDR7tMVdeicHO23FwV

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQF8HfwotO3k

#ThePianoPod #ShelestPianoDuo #MichaelHall #UkrainianMusic #CarnegieHall #CultureAndCourage

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Season 7 begins with Yamaha Artist, composer, author, and UCLA professor Inna Faliks.

In this conversation, we explore her recent album Stranger Things: Piano Works from a Young Refugee’s Backpack, the childhood compositions she carried with her from Odesa, her 2024 album Manuscripts Don’t Burn, her relationship with literature and contemporary music, Gabriel Prokofiev’s Minimoog concerto, her memoir Weight in the Fingertips, and the teachers and experiences that shaped her artistic voice.

From memory and migration to artistic curiosity and reinvention, Inna’s story opens our Season 7 theme: Culture & Courage.

🎧 Sounds of Inspiration — Season 7 Playlist: Listen to music mentioned throughout Season 7, including selections from Inna Faliks’s latest album, Stranger Things, on YouTube or Spotify

[Inna Faliks]

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[The Piano Pod]

📩 Subscribe to The Piano Pod newsletter and receive our free PDF, 12 Lessons from Season 6.

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From childhood compositions carried out of Odesa to performing a concerto on Minimoog, Inna Faliks has built an artistic life around memory, curiosity, and reinvention.

What happens when the music you wrote as a child returns decades later?

Here’s the trailer for the Season 7 premiere of The Piano Pod: Carrying Memory Forward, featuring Yamaha Artist, composer, and author Inna Faliks.

We talk about her latest album, Stranger Things: Piano Works from a Young Refugee’s Backpack, her other boundary-expanding recordings, memoir, and collaboration with Gabriel Prokofiev.

🎹 Premieres Tuesday, September 22 at 8 PM ET.

▶️ Set a reminder for the premiere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIHO7Swp5Aw

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Welcome to Season 7 of The Piano Pod: Culture & Courage.

After six seasons and more than 100 episodes, the show is entering a new chapter. In this short introduction, host Yukimi Song shares what is changing, why the podcast is moving to a monthly schedule, and how her own evolving identity and work inspired this season’s theme.

What remains unchanged is the heart of The Piano Pod: thoughtful, authentic conversations that look beyond professional biographies to discover the people and stories behind the work.

Season 7 officially begins on September 22 with Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks.

Follow The Piano Pod on your favorite podcast platform and join us for the season ahead.

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Know someone who embodies Culture & Courage?

I'm currently curating Season 7 of The Piano Pod and looking for musicians, educators, composers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and creative leaders who are expanding what it means to be an artist today.

If someone comes to mind—or if that person is you—I would love to hear from you.

Please submit your nomination here:

Nominate Guest Here

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How do we bring our full musical selves to the stage?

In this Season 6 finale of The Piano Pod, concert pianist, composer, arranger, educator, and artistic leader David Berry joins host Yukimi Song for a rich and deeply personal conversation on virtuosity, improvisation, composition, contemporary music, artistic identity, and the connections that unite seemingly different musical worlds.

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and The Juilliard School, Berry has built a multifaceted career as a performer, educator, curator, and advocate. Equally at home with Liszt, George Walker, James P. Johnson, contemporary composers, and his own original works, he embodies the spirit of this season’s theme: Creativity and Connection.

Throughout the episode, listeners will hear excerpts from Berry’s own compositions and arrangements, including Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho and Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.

Featured Music & Recordings

• Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho
• Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
• Danse Andalouse by Joaquín Nin
• James P. Johnson: Yamekraw – A Negro Rhapsody
• Adolphus Hailstork: Chamber Works Featuring the premiere recording of Hailstork’s Piano Quintet Detroit with The Harlem Chamber Players. Spotify
• Tiny Glass Tavern — Let Us Dance, Let Us Sing Featuring David Berry’s performance of Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho. Spotify

Publications

• Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho for solo piano
• David Berry, Since Jesus Came Into My Heart: 10 Stylish Arrangements for Solo Piano Lillenas Publishing Company, 2024

David Berry

• Website
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The Piano Pod

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• Season 6 Piano Music Playlist
• Nominate Guests for Season 7: Culture and Courage HERE

#DavidBerry #ThePianoPod #PianoPodcast #ClassicalMusic

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🎙️ SEASON 6 FINALE TRAILER

How do we bring our full musical selves to the stage?

In the Season 6 finale of The Piano Pod 🎙, host Yukimi Song sits down with concert pianist, composer, arranger, educator, and artistic leader David Berry for a rich and deeply personal conversation on virtuosity, improvisation, composition, contemporary music, and artistic identity.

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and The Juilliard School, Berry has built a multifaceted career as a performer, educator, curator, and advocate. Equally at home with Liszt, George Walker, James P. Johnson, contemporary music, and his own original works, he embodies the spirit of this season's theme: Creativity and Connection.

Join us as we explore what it means to bring heart, soul, and one's authentic musical self to the stage.

🎧 Spirit, Body, and Soul: Pianist David Berry on Virtuosity, Creativity, and Artistic Identity

📅 Premieres Tuesday, June 16, 2026, at 8 PM ET

▶️ Watch on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMkiqc0BoAQ

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#DavidBerry #ThePianoPod #ClassicalMusic #PianoPodcast #ConcertPianist #Composition #Improvisation #CreativityAndConnection #EastmanSchoolOfMusic #Juilliard

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What does it mean to become a "Sound Liberator"?

In this episode of The Piano Pod, pianist, composer, educator, filmmaker, scholar, and advocate Joe Williams joins host Yukimi Song for a wide-ranging conversation on artistry, legacy, belonging, improvisation, education, and the evolving landscape of concert music.

Currently pursuing a PhD in composition at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Williams has built a multifaceted career championing composers of African descent while developing his own distinctive creative voice. From premiering new works and producing documentary films to contributing scholarship on Florence Price and composing music rooted in liberation, spirituality, and human connection, Williams exemplifies what it means to be a 21st-century artist.

Throughout the episode, listeners will hear musical excerpts featuring works by Florence Price, Maria Thompson Corley, Richard Thompson, Brian Raphael Nabors, and Joe Williams himself.

🎹 Featured Music & Performances

• Brian Raphael Nabors – Piano Sonata No. 2
• Brian Raphael Nabors – Sonata for Cello and Piano (Sterling Elliott, cello; Joseph Williams, piano)
• Florence Price – Fantasie Nègre in E Minor
• James Lee III - Album for the Young at Heart
• Maria Thompson Corley – Lucid Dreaming

👤 Joe Williams

Instagram: @soundliberator

🎙️ The Piano Pod

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• 🎙 Nominate Guests for Season 7 HERE
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#JoeWilliams #ThePianoPod #FlorencePrice #BrianRaphaelNabors #MariaThompsonCorley #ConcertMusic #ContemporaryClassical #Juneteenth #PianoPodcast #ClassicalMusic

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🎙️ NEW TRAILER: Sound Liberation

What does it mean to be a Sound Liberator?

In our upcoming episode of The Piano Pod, pianist, composer, educator, and scholar Joe Williams reflects on artistry, identity, freedom, Black excellence, and the power of music to preserve histories and connect communities.

“My responsibility is really to free people through my art.”

A powerful conversation on belonging, authenticity, representation, and what it means to move through the world on your own terms.

🎧 Sound Liberation: Joe Williams on Black Artistry, Legacy & Belonging in Concert Music

📅 Premieres Tuesday, June 2 at 8 PM ET

🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zogy7Vs75mo

#ThePianoPod #JoeWilliams #SoundLiberation #Juneteenth #BlackArtistry #ConcertMusic #ContemporaryClassical #Pianist #Composer #ClassicalMusic