Boston…From the Top, the preeminent showcase for young musicians, will return to its home at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall on Saturday, February 6 at 7:30pm to tape a radio broadcast and commemorate its tenth anniversary on the air. Hosted by acclaimed concert pianist Christopher O’Riley, From the Top on NPR is one of the most popular classical music series on public radio.

Boston, MA, August 2009. Hosted by acclaimed concert pianist Christopher O’Riley, From the Top on NPR is one of the most popular classical music series on public radio.  It is the preeminent showcase for young pre-collegiate musicians.  The program celebrates the amazing performances and captivating personal stories of some of America’s most talented young musicians.

by Marvin J. Ward

No. Adams, MA, July 2009. Bang on a Can was founded in NYC in 1987 by a triumvirate of composers, David Lang, Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe, who wanted to provide an outlet for composers and musicians that sought to create and perform music outside the works offered by the mainstream classical music organizations, namely those of the Classical, Romantic, and Late-Romantic periods, for which all major music schools train their students.  During the initial discussions, Wolfe quipped that they were a bunch of composers sitting around banging on a can.  This made all 3 laugh uproariously, and they immediately settled on the name.

by Thomas Healy

Lisa Bielawa, composer and vocalist, was born in San Francisco.  She moved to New York after completing her B.A. in Literature at Yale University in New Haven.  In 1992, Ms. Bielawa began touring with the Philip Glass ensemble, and, in 1997, co-founded the MATA festival.

The following interview with Lisa Bielawa took place on 15 May 2009, 1 week before the première of her Concerto for Orchestra In medias res by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project in the New England Conservatory of Music’s Jordan Hall on 22 May (See a review of this concert elsewhere in our pages).  That date also marked the end of her 3-year appointment as Composer-in-Residence with BMOP.  Ms. Bielawa was recently named the recipient of the 2009 Rome Prize in Musical Composition, a fellowship that will allow her to spend a year at the American Academy of Rome.