In Studio A with

Each year, Interlochen Arts Academy presents an evening called, “Collage.” The event is exactly what it sounds like - a collection of performances from students demonstrating work from all the different disciplines of the Arts Academy.  To give you a little taste of what the show is like, we invited a couple of students who are represented the piano to come in and play for us.

First, we met Duoduo Xue, and heard her play Sergei Prokofiev's Etude in D minor, Op. 2 No. 1.

Then, Yungyi Chen performed the Etude-tableau in D minor, Op.39 No.8 by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

This Sunday afternoon, Encore Winds is presenting a concert called The Spirit of the Land. The concert will feature clarinetist Anne Bara in the Concertino by Carl Maria von Weber. Anne Bara visited Studio A to play some music and discuss the upcoming concert. She was joined by her colleagues from the NEO Trio, pianist and harpist Jason McKinney and flutist Sam Clark.

Oboist Angela Lickiss Aleo has written a book of oboe etudes that will be published later this year. The book focuses on techniques for music of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Cellist Naseem Alatrash brings his performances of traditional Arabic music to audiences around the world. His playing incorporates traditional melodies and improvisation. He stresses the importance of improvisation for all musicians saying, "Being unable to improvise is like being unable to hold a casual conversation." Naseem Alatrash and Crispin Campbell collaborated on two selections and discussed communication and connecting through music. Listen to In Studio A with Naseem Alatrash and Crispin Campbell.

The Bellini Opera Company will perform at City Opera House in Traverse City tomorrow night at 7 p.m. They are presenting a tribute to the legendary tenor Enrico Caruso as part of the Sixth Annual Traverse City Wine and Opera Festival.

The Benzie Area Symphony Orchestra is performing a concert this weekend called "Burnished Brass." The centerpiece of their concert is the trumpet concerto by Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Jim Bekkering will be the soloist in the Hummel concerto. He stopped by IPR's Studio A to give a preview of the concerto. He spoke with IPR's Amanda Sewell about how his love for orchestral music began at Interlochen in the 1950s and why it's never too late for anyone to pick up a musical instrument. Hear the entire performance and conversation below.

Alon Golstein is the piano soloist with the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at Interlochen this Sunday, July 30th. On Friday he stopped by Studio A and shared music by Domenico Scarlatti, Alberto Ginastera, and Claude Debussy. 

The sixteenth annual Baroque on Beaver Music Festival gets under way this week. Between July 28 and August 6, you can travel to Beaver Island and hear concerts featuring many different kinds of music. One ensemble that will be performing several times during Baroque on Beaver is the Metallurgy Brass Quintet.

Violinist Simone Porter will be the soloist with the World Youth Symphony Orchestra this Sunday evening. Conducted by Carlos Kalmar, Porter and WYSO will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 3.

Simone Porter stopped by Studio A at Interlochen Public Radio for a conversation and to perform music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Manuel de Falla. She was joined by collaborative pianist Tim Plambeck.

The Gryphon Trio is performing a concert tonight in the Concert Hall of the former Holy Rosary School/Sala Koncertowa in Cedar as part of the Leelanau Summer Music Festival. Violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon, cellist Roman Borys and pianist Jamie Parker talked with Kate Botello and performed works of Beethoven and Astor Piazzolla.

This weekend, Chas Helge will perform as the soloist in Antonin Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with the Benzie Area Symphony Orchestra. Helge, who grew up in Manistee and also attended camp at Interlochen, is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Oklahoma. He visited IPR’s Studio A to perform some music and to talk about his Northern Michigan roots.

  On Friday, May 5 at 7:30 PM, the Interlochen Arts Academy Jazz Ensemble will present “A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald.” Ella Fitzgerald, also known as “The First Lady of Song,” would have turned 100 last month.

The concert features two guest artists, jazz pianist and composer Gary Motley and singer Carmen Bradford. Motley and Bradford visited IPR’s Studio A to perform some music and to talk about the legacy of Ella Fitzgerald.

 Classical guitarist Matthew McAllister will present a recital tonight at 7 PM in the Dendrinos Chapel and Recital Hall. McAllister is Classical Guitar Tutor and Lecturer in Music at the University of St. Andrews and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Libor Ondras has served as the music director of the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra since 2013. He also is a gifted violist, and he will present a recital on Sunday, March 26 as part of the GLCO’s Sunday Series.

This Friday, March 17, the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra will feature performances by the concerto competition winners. Chea Young Kang, a senior from South Korea, visited IPR's Studio A recently for a performance and conversation.

Ms. Kang won the concerto competition singing “Una Voce Poco Fa” from Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville. She sang the piece in IPR's Studio A. 

This Friday, March 17, the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra will feature performances by the concerto competition winners. Ailun Zheng, a senior from Shanghai, visited IPR's Studio A recently for a performance and conversation.

Grammy-award winner Bob James is well known for his jazz music, but recently just premiered his new piano concerto. Since December, he has had his piano at Interlochen Public Radio. That’s because he recorded a new album with Nancy Stagnitta, flute instructor at Interlochen. The duo is about to premiere their new work at a concert in the Dendrinos Chapel and Recital Hall here on the Interlochen campus. Fittingly, the album is called, “In the Chapel in the Moonlight.”

Bob and Nancy joined Kate Botello in Studio A to give us a preview. The concert will be held March 4 at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. For tickets, visit tickets.interlochen.org or call the Interlochen box office at 231-276-7800.

Music has been part of singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan’s life and career aspiration from her earliest days. The Irish-American musician was born to two Boston-based musicians and spent her summers in Ireland with her cousins.

As a part of Interlochen Arts Academy’s ongoing partnership with the New York Philharmonic, four Philharmonic musicians, all Interlochen alumni, visited campus for a week of master classes, lessons and mock auditions. Two musicians, violinist Kuan Cheng Lu and bassoonist Roger Nye, visited IPR’s Studio A for exclusive performances and interviews.

Violinist Kuan Cheng Lu first heard the New York Philharmonic as an 18-year-old high school graduate in his native Taiwan. Lu was captivated not by classical masters on the program, but his own nation’s national anthem. Lu’s mother, noticing her son’s reaction, said, “I think you’re going to be in there some day.”

Just five years later, Lu’s mother’s prediction came true. Lu won a position in the Philharmonic’s violin section at 23 years of age, making him the first-ever Taiwanese musician to play with the Philharmonic. “The best part is meeting guest artists and playing with my colleagues,” he told IPR’s Kate Botello.

Lu’s Philharmonic colleague, bassoonist Roger Nye, first discovered his instrument as a child. “The bassoon really ‘chose’ me,” he said. Nye heard the bassoon on Bugs Bunny cartoons and fell in love with the instrument’s timbre and singing quality. Years later, Nye was able to study with the same man who played the music he so admired.

Nye stopped by Studio A to chat with Amanda Sewell about the collaboration between Interlochen Arts Academy and the New York Philharmonic, the art of reed-making and his favorite repertoire for bassoon.

Sarah Jarosz has come a long way from the Friday night bluegrass jams of her youth.

Jarosz has swapped her mandolin for a guitar and is now a Grammy-nominated artist. But before pursuing her career as a bluegrass musician, Jarosz enrolled at the New England Conservatory to study contemporary improvisation and learn about other styles of music.

Pianist Jeffrey Biegel - the first ever pianist chosen to record on the Steinway & Sons label - is in town  to perform a concert with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra - a new work, the “Concerto for Simply Grand Piano and Orchestra,” by Peter Schickele, otherwise known as PDQ Bach. He dropped by Studio A to give us a taste of the concerto - and to help us get the jokes!

A few years ago, a video titled “Asian guy shreds on ukulele” was uploaded to YouTube. The video showed an unnamed man playing a virtuosic cover of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” on the ukulele.

Today, Jake Shimabukuro’s fans know his name and his vast repertoire, which ranges from Schubert to flamenco to Queen. Shimabukuro started learning ukulele from Roy Sakuma at age 6. Since then, he has transformed into a captivating performer who appreciates space and silence as much as speed.

Shimabukuro joined Kate Botello in Studio A to give our listeners an introduction to the ukulele and a sampling of some of his most-shared hits.

Jay Ungar and Molly Mason visited IPR's Studio A today for an interview and performance. The two will perform tonight at Milliken Auditorium in Traverse City as part of the Dennos Museum Concert Series. 

For many performers, making your way in music is all about finding your niche.

That’s what makes Conrad Tao’s musical multitasking so unique. Tao doubles as both a concert pianist and a composer, with repertoire ranging from Ravel and Rachmaninoff to modern compositions, including his own. Unlike many of his peers, Tao has never felt the pressure to choose one path—in part because he realizes that the choice to pursue composition or performance does not have to be either-or.