In Studio A with

This weekend, the five members of Canadian Brass will perform in person together for the first time since COVID-19 halted their touring schedule this past March.

They'll be following strict safety protocols, trumpeter Caleb Hudson told Classical IPR.

For example, he joked, each member will play inside their own separate bubble on stage.

When he was a teenager, Ken Fischer got to visit the White House and play music for President Kennedy.

But he almost missed out on the opportunity.

At Interlochen's National Music Camp in the summer of 1962, Fischer was sixth chair in the orchestra's horn section.

Violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson will perform this weekend at the Great Lakes Center for the Arts in Bay Harbor.

The duo talked with Classical IPR ahead of their trip to Northern Michigan.

They discussed performing for an in-person audience for the first time since venues around the world closed because of Covid-19.

Chris Thile has won Grammy Awards, hosted his own radio program and received a MacArthur Fellowship (unofficially known as a "genius grant"). 

Since Chris has so many accomplishments under his belt already (and he's not even 40 yet), Classical IPR thought we'd ask our listeners to provide the interview questions for him.

After he recovered from COVID-19 this spring, Brian Stokes Mitchell sang "The Impossible Dream" out the window of his New York home every night at 7 o'clock.

But it wasn't a performance, he says. Instead, it was "a song of gratitude for the essential workers." That's why he didn't sing any other songs. To him, "The Impossible Dream" most accurately captured the experiences of the doctors, nurses and other first responders who were hard at work during the pandemic.

When Toni Trucks learned she'd be going on tour with the USO last summer, she thought she'd need to prepare a song and dance routine to perform for the troops. 

That wouldn't have been a stretch for her. After all, Trucks studied musical theater at Interlochen Arts Camp and Academy as well as the University of Michigan.

Her first role on stage was at the Ramsdell in Manistee, where she sang in the chorus of "Sweet Charity" at the age of seven.

Barrett Foa has portrayed the character of Eric Beale on "NCIS: Los Angeles" since 2009, but acting is just one item on a long list of his skills.

In addition to being a TV star, Foa is also a singer and a dancer who has appeared on Broadway hundreds of times.

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.