In Studio A with

Trumpeter Walter White was a little disappointed when the television show "Breaking Bad" starting becoming popular. 

White says that he used to be at the top of the Google searches for his name, or in second place after the longtime NAACP leader Walter Francis White.

After Mort Achter won a boxing competition at a sports camp in the summer of 1947, his parents were worried.

They told him he'd have to go to music camp at Interlochen the next summer. If he didn't like it, he could return to sports camp the following year.

Starting in 1948, Achter would spend every summer for over a decade at Interlochen's National Music Camp.

Although many classical guitarists wear funky socks that they show off while using a foot rest, Gohar Vardanyan isn't one of them. She usually performs wearing gowns, and socks don't exactly go with that wardrobe.

Vardanyan joined Classical IPR via Zoom from her home in New York City to discuss teaching during the pandemic.

Tom Rose has been spending a lot of time with his collection of 20 banjos lately.

Currently on furlough from his role as store manager of Interlochen's Scholarshop, Rose has been using his free time to record himself playing lots of music on his banjos.

Like a lot of professional musicians, Clara Warnaar has struggled to feel excited about performing music during these uncertain times.

Warnaar, who is a drummer, percussionist and composer/producer, has been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately.

Unexpectedly, she began finding musical inspiration in the sounds of the kitchen appliances, mixing bowls and pots and pans.

Jazz, new music, early music, standard orchestral repertoire: you name it, and cellist Christine Kyprianides has played it expertly.

She started as an Interlochen camper and Arts Academy student. Her mother, Lou Kyprie, was a camp nurse and director of counseling.

Early in her career, Christine studied new music with Earle Brown. She also performed at Tanglewood, where she won the Gregor Piatigorsky Prize.

Gunther Schuller then recruited her to attend the New England Conservatory, where she changed her focus to early music.

Carol Jantsch's cat Beauregard never wants to be left out of anything, unless Carol is playing the tuba.

Carol, the principal tuba player of the Philadelphia Orchestra, joined Classical IPR via Zoom from her home.

While Beauregard attacked a plant in the background, Carol told Classical IPR about several projects she has in the works. 

Sophie Haas hasn't been able to hug her father Jeff since the middle of March.

The two are keeping a safe distance from each other during the pandemic, maintaining contact with calls, texts and a weekly "window meeting."

They joined Classical IPR via Zoom to talk about what it's like being apart from each other right now. 

Many professional musicians wear black tie to their performances, but Casey Paulozzi sports a black tricorn hat, a waistcoat and a white powdered wig. 

Paulozzi is a member of the United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. 

He's performed for Presidential inaugurations, heads of state and even the Pope. 

There's not a lot of music out there for two solo violas to play, but mother and son violists Renee and Joseph Skerik found a duet to play just for IPR.

Joined by their relatively indifferent dog Zoey, the Skeriks played an arrangement of a duo violin sonata by Jean-Marie Leclair.

They also talked about what it's like living in a house with three classical musicians who need to practice all the time. 

Listen to their entire conversation and performance below. Then, scroll down to see video of their duet.

After she saw Itzhak Perlman playing the violin on Sesame Street, four-year-old Melissa White pestered her mother nonstop until she got her very own violin.

Now, Melissa is a member of the Harlem String Quartet, a solo artist and an entrepreneur.

Kevin LaRose loves his job as the third shift campus safety officer at Interlochen Center for the Arts. It's peaceful, he says, and it gives him lots of time to practice his many, many musical instruments.

For the last year, he has recorded a video series called "Thursday 3 a.m. Jams," where he plays a different musical instrument in a different location on the Interlochen campus during his nightly rounds. Watch the series here.

Sophia Bondi just got a great new apartment in New York's West Village, but due to the Coronavirus pandemic, she can't live there just yet.

Instead, Bondi, a freshman at The New School, is back at her parents' home in Seattle. She's taking her classes online and playing a lot of music.

She told Classical IPR that having all of her classes move online is "not so great," but she and her classmates are doing their best to make it work right now.

Flutist Adam Sadberry recently joined the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and he says the barbeque in Memphis is even better than the barbeque in Texas. (Just don't tell his family in Texas that he said that.)

Sadberry joined Classical IPR via Zoom. He talked about his time as a camper at Interlochen and why he may have missed his true calling as a professional kazoo player.

Bagpipes are the original tool for social distancing, according to Peter Deneen. He's band director at Traverse City East Middle School and Central High School as well as the Pipe Major of the Grand Traverse Pipes and Drums.

David and Joan Holland met at Interlochen in the 1970s, and they got together when they played a sonata for viola and harp by Arnold Bax.

Over 40 years later, they're still making music together. They joined Classical IPR via Zoom and played their own arrangement of a traditional gypsy air.

What does a cellist do when they're self-quarantined at home with just their cat for company? In Chas Helge's case, he's making recordings featuring five versions of himself.

This year the world celebrates the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven 250 years ago.

Violinist Ara Sarkissian and pianist Ya-Ju Chuang will give an all-Beethoven faculty recital in the Dendrinos Chapel Recital Hall at Interlochen Center for the Arts this Tuesday evening at 8:30. There is no cost to attend.

They visited IPR's Studio A to perform some of the repertoire from their upcoming concert. The musicians also discussed Beethoven and talked about working together.

Listen to the conversation and performance below.

The world-renowned duo of cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han are in Interlochen this week.

They’ve played for countless audiences for more than 30 years, formed the first musician-directed and internet-based classical recording company, were named Musical America’s Musicians of the Year and are the Artistic Directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. They will perform a concert tonight (February 4, 2020) in the Dendrinos Chapel and Recital Hall.

Audrey Jellett is a senior at Interlochen Arts Academy. She studies cello with Patrick Owen.

When Audrey visited Studio A at Interlochen Public Radio, she performed music of Lukas Foss with pianist Ya-Ju Chuang. She talked about the piece, and she also shared a bit about her time at school in Interlochen.

Hear Audrey and Ya-Ju's performance and our interview below.

In Studio A with Audrey Jellett was engineered by Brock Morman.

Dublin Guitar Quartet and Roomful of Teeth will perform in the Dendrinos Chapel Recital Hall at Interlochen tonight at 7:30 p.m. Information on tickets is available here.

The quartet visited Interlochen Public Radio's Studio A along with the artistic director of Roomful of Teeth, Brad Wells.

Hear the music and conversation below.

Percussionist Ruyi Yuan is a junior at Interlochen Arts Academy, with a focus on the marimba.

She recently visited Studio A to perform the second movement of the Concerto for Marimba and String Orchestra by Emmanuel Sejourne, with Ya-Ju Chuang at the piano.

Ruyi told IPR's Kate Botello about why she loves the marimba and about her fascinating storytelling technique for managing mallets.

Hear the full interview and performance below.  This Studio A broadcast was engineered by Michael Culler.

Yue Zhang is a double bassist studing with Derek Weller at Interlochen Arts Academy. This is his junior year.

Yue visited Studio A at Interlochen Public Radio. With pianist Ya-Ju Chuang, he performed two movements from the Koussevitzky Concerto for Double Bass.