PODCAST · music
Classical Classroom
by Dacia Clay
There is a rumor going around that classical music is hoity toity. At Classical Classroom, we beg to differ. Come learn with classical music newbie Dacia Clay and the music experts she invites into the Classical Classroom.
Episodes
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Classical Classroom Episode 220: Cello, Is It Me You're Looking For? with Joel Dallow
Some musicians slide right into a symphony orchestra position like [insert image of smiling child on slide]. Joel Dallow is not one of those musicians. It took him five years of intense work (on top of all of the work he'd already done as a student at the Peabody Conservatory and as a freelancer,...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 219: Arranged and Deranged with Joe Burgstaller
Joe Burgstaller may seem like a perfectly normal guy who just happens to have been playing trumpet since he emerged from the womb. But do not be fooled, dear listener. Something is clearly amiss. (See: Joe's music videos, particularly the video we talk about in this episode which took 26 trips...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 218: Peter Dugan on the Magic of Collaboration
When pianist Peter Dugan performed on NPR's From the Top at the age of 18, he had no idea that he would one day host the show. In this episode, Peter talks about how he came to be at the helm of a show that's been going for 25 years juuust before a pandemic began. He also teaches us about love…
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Classical Classroom, Episode 217: A Brassy, Classy, Yuletide Concert
Ginger Turner is--excuse us--a brassy broad. She was in the Army and the US Army's Field Band for 27 years. So when it came time to put on the annual Holiday Brass Concert for the International Women's Brass Conference (IWBC) during the pandemic, she did not shrink away from the challenge. She...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 216: Merry Melodica Men-mas!
We hope that yule enjoy this holiday-ish show with Tristan Clarke, one half of YouTube sensation, the Melodica Men. In this episode, learn how two Juilliard- and Peabody-trained brass musicians took a detour from their traditional classical music work to play toy instruments on street corners…
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Classical Classroom, Episode 215: Très Bien! Stéphane Denève Teaches the History of French Music
Conductor and music director Stéphane Denève is a busy guy. He's got at least four jobs on two different continents. But thanks (?) to the pandemic, we caught him sitting still for long enough to teach us the ENTIRE HISTORY of French classical music! He starts at the very beginning with chant…
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Classical Classroom, Episode 214: The Harp Will Go On with Yolanda Kondonassis
When it comes to the harp, Yolanda Kondonassis is kind of a big deal. She's literally written the book on the topic. In this episode, she teaches all about the history of the harp, describes the different kinds of harp, its mechanics, its repertoire, and about harp music being written today. She...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 213: Orli Shaham Talks Piano (Man)
The piano. A seemingly normal instrument. But where did it come from, and how did it get here? Is it a percussion or a string instrument? Is it safe for young people, or will it influence your child to become interested in (gasp!) music, like it did one Orli Shaham? In this episode, Shaham...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 212: All Together Now with Lisa Bielawa
Composer, producer, and vocalist Lisa Bielawa wants you for her project, Broadcast from Home! She's often incorporated community-making and experimental elements into her compositional work, but this project is next level: each week during the pandemic, Bielawa is creating a "chapter"--a piece of...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 211: Music for (Sacred) Space with Michael Whalen
Have you ever wondered what the atmosphere of a space sounds like? Well look no further! In this episode, Emmy Award winning film and TV composer Michael Whalen teaches all about the history of ambient music. He talks about its classical music roots, how circuits and tape collages and German...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 210: Derek Bermel on Travels with Bartok
Academy Award-winning composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel does a lot of traveling, soaking up the musical traditions as he goes. His recent album, Migrations, received a Grammy nomination in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category. In this episode, Bermel teaches about composer…
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Classical Classroom, Episode 209: Alexander Pushkin in Opera, Pt. 2
Dramaturg and Seattle Opera Podcast host, Jonathan Dean has come back to the Classroom for this epic two-episode series about the bazillion operas based on the writing of the Russian author Alexander Pushkin. In part one, we talked all about who Pushkin was, painting a word picture of what a…
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Classical Classroom, Episode 208: Alexander Pushkin in Opera, Pt. 1
Weeell, we figured that right about now would be a great time to put out some new episodes of the podcast. We hope that all of you out there in the weirdness are staying nice and safe and quarantined, and that these episodes will be a tiny ray of indoor sunshine for you all. Dramaturg and Seattle...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 207: Rachel Barton Pine Gets Folksy with Dvorak and Khachaturian
Violinist and Classical Classroom mascot Rachel Barton Pine is back to teach all about the violin concertos of Czech composer Antonin Dvorak and Soviet-Armenian Aram Khachaturian. Learn about their lives and music! Get lost with Dvorak in New York City! Hear about Khachaturian becoming a new...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 33: Cracking "The Nutcracker" with Michael Remson and Shelly Power (RERUN)
No tickets to see The Nutcracker this year? No problem! Experience basically almost the entire thing in this episode from the Classroom Wayback Machine with musical expert Michael Remson (San Diego Youth Symphony, formerly of AFA) and dance expert Shelly Power (Pennsylvania Ballet, formerly of...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 206: John Luther Adams Walks Through "Become Desert"
With Become Desert, composer John Luther Adams is done "Become"-ing (learn why in this episode). First, there was the Pulitzer- and Grammy-winning Become Ocean. Then, there was Become River. Finally, in 2019, Adams put his feet on solid ground, in a terrain he's much more comfortable with. And…
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Classical Classroom, Episode 205: Nicholas McGegan on Rameau and Music that Stands the Test of Time
Conductor Nicholas McGegan, of San Francisco Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra fame (and so much more) is an expert in conducting Baroque music. To some of us at the podcast, this sounds as obscure as being a modern day village cobbler or ironing one's hair with an actual iron. But in this episode,...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 204: A Peculiar Harry Partch Primer, with John Schneider
Guitarist John Schneider is clearly obsessed. In the best, passionate-music-geek kind of way. And the thing is that the object of his obsession - Harry Partch and his work - just engenders that kind of response in people. It probably comes from the fact that Partch himself who was monomaniacally...
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Classical Classroom Special Assembly with Itzhak Perlman
Going to class is a major part of being a classical musician. But have you heard of a "master class"? One student at a time gets up and performs a piece in front of a class, and then the "master" leading the class critiques said performance. Sounds nerve-wracking (read: ...like the stuff of...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 203: Jason Vieaux and Jonathan Leshnoff, Musical Frontiersmen
Jason Vieaux is not just a Grammy-winning classical guitarist - he's a pioneer, taking on new works that have never been performed or recorded before, like those of composer Jonathan Leshnoff. Leshnoff is an adventurer, too, writing virtuosic material for instruments he's never played, like the...
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Classical Classroom, Ep 137: Summer Music – Music Academy Of The West! The Second Nature Of Matthew Aucoin (Rerun)
In our second annual Classical Classroom Summer Music Festival Series, we hit the (sound)waves at the Music Academy of the West in sunny Santa Barbara, California! The third installment of our MAW series features composer, conductor, and pianist, Matthew Aucoin. Aucoin is a resident at that Music...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 202: It Was All New Music Once, with Richard Scerbo and David Alan Miller
There's a reason that great works in classical music have stuck around for so long. Once upon a time, it was all music composed by groundbreaking artists, churning out new sounds and ideas never heard before. But at some point, it's like someone somewhere decided that the canon was complete. Why?...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 75: The Democracy of Chamber Music with Cantus (Rerun)
One of the distinguishing characteristics of chamber music is its inherent "democracy" – each part is of equal importance. Aaron Humble and Paul Rudoi of the Cantus Vocal Ensemble explain how it works when everyone involved in making the music is a special snowflake. Audio production by Todd "Sir...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 201: Practicing Rachmaninoff in Public with Tiffany Poon
There's a good chance that you've heard of Yale School of Music grad student and rising classical pianist, Tiffany Poon. Her YouTube vlogs have over 11 million views. In them, she talks casually with fans as she travels to gigs and invites them into the practice room. Her openness about her…
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Classical Classroom, Episode 84: JoAnn Falletta Shares Scheherazade (Rerun)
JoAnn Falletta is celebrating her 20th anniversary as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, so we've gotta give her a shout out with this old gold from the Classroom vault! By the way, did you know that a 2014 survey found that in a list of the 150 top conductors in the world…
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Classical Classroom, Episode 200: Top 10 Countdown!
It's been nearly six years since we started the Classical Classroom podcast in a small shed that also housed producer Todd's lawn mower. Since then, a lot has happened. We've learned so much from our amazing guests, traveled to music festivals, had parties and game show quizzes, talked to the…
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Field Trip to the Opera: Carmen in 3D
When you think of opera, words like "grandiose," "extravagant," and "whoa" come to mind. Those words all describe Georges Bizet's Carmen. Singing, dancing, costumes, sets, orchestras, fight scenes, wigs, drama! How on Earth does something with so many moving parts even get to the stage? Much…
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Classical Classroom, Episode 16: From Schubert to Gaga, the Unfinished Symphony with Jade Simmons (Rerun)
We love celebrating our alumni here at Classical Classroom, and Jade Simmons is one of our faves. This episode is from way back in 2013 when Jade was merely a very successful woman. Now, she's the host of iTunes #1 music podcast, Decomposed. A podcast rock star. We couldn't be more stoked for…
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Classical Classroom, Episode 89: Awadagin Pratt on Brahms, Brunge, and Beards (Rerun)
We're rerunning this episode with Awadagin Pratt basically because we felt like it. But we don't think you're going to mind, as he is awesome. Let his dulcet tones wash over you as Pratt teaches you all about why Brahms is one of the Big Daddies of classical music, what it has to do with Edith...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 79: The Women of Classical Guitar with Valerie Hartzell (Rerun)
April is International Guitar Month! In honor of that, we're bringing back this episode with one of our fave guitarists, Valerie Hartzell, creator/director of the Classical Minds Festival and Competition. Valerie talks about the ladies of classical guitar. Who are they? Why did their numbers...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 199: Jack of All Emotions - the Music of Elliott Carter with the JACK Quartet
"Classical music is relaxing." "I listen to classical music because it's soothing." "I turn on classical music when I want to concentrate." These are all things we're guessing very few people have said about the composer you're going to learn about in this episode. Elliott Carter's music is about...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 198: Music Education Month - Idyllwild Arts
In the beautiful San Jacinto Mountains, southeast of Los Angeles, is a place that is basically the ultimate experience in music and arts education: Idyllwild Arts Academy. It's a residential arts high school where young people are immersed in their chosen practice every day. Here, music students...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 197: Music Education Month - The Village School
Neither Sarah Perkins nor Michael Barber ever intended to become music and arts educators. No, they both had their sights set on the Big Time - performance and Broadway. But life presented each with opportunities to teach music to young people, and before they knew it, they Sarah and Michael were...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 40: Simone Dinnerstein Goes Bachpacking (Rerun)
March is Music Education Month on the Classical Classroom, but it's also Bach's birthday month. So, it's obviously the perfect time to revisit this episode with Simone Dinnerstein in which we discuss a music education program she started about the music of Bach. (Bam. Venn diagram intersection =...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 196: Joyce DiDonato - When Musical Worlds Collide
People are pretty much never just one thing. Each person is made of the stuff in their individual history, including the music. That includes Grammy-winning opera singers. Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato recently completed a project that brought the disparate parts of her own musical history…
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Classical Classroom, Episode 195: Music Education Month - Washington Performing Arts
March is Music Education Month! This month, we'll look at a range of people and institutions throughout the music education world in search of the real scoop: Is music ed, along with the rest of arts education, being eaten alive by STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), thereby…
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Classical Classroom, Episode 194: Mason Bates on the Opera-fication of Steve Jobs
Grammy-nominated composer Mason Bates is also a bona fide DJ. As DJ Masonic, he brings classical music and electronica together on the dance floor. As a composer, he brings the sounds of electronica to classical music in places like the Kennedy Center. So it's fitting that Bates' first opera is...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 193: Bach in the Underground with Cellist Dale Henderson
To get ready for Bach's March birthday, we bring you the fascinating story of a man on a mission to bring Bach to the people. Bach's music changed cellist Dale Henderson's life. Though the concert hall was a fab venue for sharing this music, Dale wasn't satisfied to stop there. Bach's music, he...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 192: The Hilarious History of Classical Music with Igudesman and Joo
Aleksey Igudesman and Hyung-ki Joo make up the classical music comedy duo, Igudesman and Joo. And though they will crack you up with their performances (which you can watch on their YouTube channel along with millions of other viewers), when they talk about why they do what they do, the two...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 191: Talkin' About the Blues (Dialogues) with Rachel Barton Pine
Violinist (and veteran Classical Classroom guest) Rachel Barton Pine talks all about her Music by Black Composers initiative, a project that's been in the works for 15 years, and the companion album she recently released called Blues Dialogues, Vol. 1. She discusses why projects like this are...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 190: Piazzolla Party! with the Neave Trio
Astor Piazzolla was a bandoneon player and a composer in Argentina who lived during the 20th century. He changed both classical music and tango music by bringing the two together. The Neave Trio, who recently came out with an album of Piazzolla's work, teaches all about who he was and how his...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 76: MusicWorks - How Sonya Got Her Opera On (Rerun)
We love it when Classroom alums get recognized for their awesomeness. Such is the case for soprano Sonya Yoncheva. In addition to receiving the Opera Award by the Chilean Art Critics Circle, Sonya is on the cover of the Metropolitan Opera's wall calendar this year. We thought this was a great...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 189: Once More with Healing feat. Brooklyn Rider
String quartet Brooklyn Rider has a new project called Healing Modes which they're currently touring. While they were in Seattle, we coaxed them into the KING FM studio with the promise of snacks. Just kidding! They came in willingly like most of our guests. In this episode, they talk about...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 188: Paddling to the Sea with Third Coast Percussion
Third Coast Percussion makes amazing music by hitting stuff. Okay - it's a little more complicated than that. But the Grammy-winning ensemble does spend a lot of time, both at Home Depot and with percussion mentors from other countries, searching for things to hit, bash, tap and so on. Their…
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Classical Classroom, Episode 187: Rachel Barton Pine Talks Bruch and Elgar
What do Max Bruch and Edward Elgar have in common? Violinist Rachel Barton Pine! In this episode, RBP talks about the two composers and their very different violin concertos. Discussed herein: Did Edward Elgar invent Post It Notes? How is Max Bruch like Milli Vanilli and Iron Maiden? And, who was...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 112: The Ugly Christmas Sweaters Of Classical Music, With Alecia Lawyer (RERUN)
It's Christmas Eve. Chances are, you've heard a lot of beautiful music. If you're looking for more of that, you've come to the wrong place. Welcome to Jingle Hell, where bad songs are born, and good songs come to die. Alecia Lawyer, founder, artistic director, and principal oboist of River Oaks...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 186: Kim Kashkashian on the Persistence of Bach
We know what you're thinking: Another episode about Bach?! That's what we said! In fact, in this episode we ask Grammy-winning violist Kim Kashkashian to explain why classical musicians play and record the same music repeatedly, and specifically, why it's often the music of Bach. Her answer is...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 185: On Discovering Hidden Classical Gems with Marc-André Hamelin
Marc-André Hamelin is many things: a renowned pianist, a composer, an Officer of the Order of Canada, and a record collector of major proportions. The hands-on, no robots or algorithms, no safety net, digging in dusty bins in record shops variety. In fact, hunting for classical music diamonds in...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 184: Working Hard with Hilary Hahn
Violinist Hilary Hahn has achieved more at just 39 years old than most of us will in a couple of lifetimes: multiple Grammy awards, 1594 concerts (so far), 20+ albums, 2 episodes of the Classical Classroom podcast, 2 kids, and a talking violin case. In this episode, Hahn talks about how much...
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Classical Classroom, Episode 183: All-Star Ashley Bathgate's Primer on New Classical Music
If you've ever wondered how playing bowls of water is related to traditional classical music, this is the episode for you. Cellist Ashley Bathgate (of Bang on a Can All-Stars fame) was classically trained at Yale University School of Music, educated in the structured musical worlds of Bach,...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Classical Classroom have?
Classical Classroom currently has 285 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Classical Classroom about?
There is a rumor going around that classical music is hoity toity. At Classical Classroom, we beg to differ. Come learn with classical music newbie Dacia Clay and the music experts she invites into the Classical Classroom.
How often does Classical Classroom release new episodes?
Classical Classroom publishes regularly with 285 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Classical Classroom?
You can listen to Classical Classroom on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Classical Classroom?
Classical Classroom is created and hosted by Dacia Clay.
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