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Classical Classroom There's 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. This podcast is produced in partnership with Classical KING FM.
Classical Classroom

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Classical Classroom

Classical Classroom

From Houston Public Media News 88.7

There's 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. This podcast is produced in partnership with Classical KING FM.

Most Recent Episodes

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 music--based on the written and recorded submissions she gets from people all around the globe about their current experience. In this interview, Lisa teaches about other music made in times of plague, and talks about her crazy-ambitious creative process for Broadcast from Home, as well as how you can be a part of it!

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 composers had a part in its evolution, and how Brian Eno changed everything. He also talks about his own new album of music for sacred spaces.

Classical Classroom, Episode 211: Music for (Sacred) Space with Michael Whalen

Listen · 33:22

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 Bela Bartok who inspired one of the pieces on the album. Bartok moved from his native Hungary to New York City at the outset of World War II, and while a lot of great music came out of his journey, his is also a really human story about being a stranger in a strange land. Bermel also talks about the migration of his own European Jewish family and how it influenced his work.

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 major impact his work had on...everything. In part two, learn about just some of the operas that Pushkin's work inspired! Also, please keep yourselves safe, and support your local arts organizations as you are able. They love you and so do we!

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 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. Even though Pushkin died in his early 30s, he was massively, hugely influential. We're talking Shakespeare level. His writing not only solidified the Russian voice and inspired other writers, it inspired lots of other art, including so much opera. In this first episode, we talk about who, what, where, and when Pushkin was (setting the stage for episode 2, which is about just some of the operas his stories inspired). Just a note: We recorded this two-episode series well before any pandemics happened, when the Opera was still putting on live shows with audiences and planning for the season to come. There are some Seattle Opera events that Jon alludes to that are no longer happening, though I'm guessing that you could figure that out! Also, though we say this in the episode, it bears repeating: it's SO IMPORTANT to support your local arts organizations right now. Don't ask for ticket refunds, donate if you can, buy merch! Okayloveyoubye!

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 father! Find out who threw shade at Dvorak and mucked up his whole concerto composing process, and how Khachaturian wrote his concerto in a blissed-out creative flurry. Also, learn about what makes "folk music" folksy and other music...not.

Classical Classroom, Episode 207: Rachel Barton Pine Gets Folksy with Dvorak and Khachaturian

Listen · 36:10

Classical Classroom, Episode 33: Cracking "The Nutcracker" with Michael Remson and Shelly ...

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 Houston Ballet Academy). Hear the music and the story and learn all about the history of dance and behind the scenes tricks of the trade as you listen. It's like four levels of entertainment at once. Just like Tchaikovsky intended*. *We assume.

Classical Classroom, Episode 33: Cracking "The Nutcracker" with Michael Remson and Shelly ...

Listen · 40:11

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 now there's Become Desert. Here, Adams talks about what the deceptively simple pieces of the Become trilogy are, both musically and conceptually, about Desert in particular, and about why music > politics will ever be at saving the world.

Classical Classroom, Episode 206: John Luther Adams Walks Through "Become Desert"

Listen · 38:27

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, McGegan explains his love for this music and why it - and other kinds of music - will continue to be relevant for centuries to come. He illustrates his point by teaching about an opera by the composer Rameau with a snarky text (aka, libretto) by Voltaire which is still making audiences laugh today. Ch-check it out. All music in this episode from Rameau: Le Temple de la Gloire, released July 2018 on Philharmania Baroque Productions.

Classical Classroom, Episode 205: Nicholas McGegan on Rameau and Music that Stands the Test of Time

Listen · 17:07

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 focused: he was so absorbed with the idea that music should be more than just the traditional twelve notes that he invented new musical notation, new notes, new instruments to play said notes, and new music for those instruments. In this episode, John Schneider of the Grammy award-winning PARTCH Ensemble teaches all about the adventurous life and obsessions of Harry Partch, and talks about the PARTCH Ensemble's latest release, Sonata Dementia. Music in this episode:

Classical Classroom, Episode 204: A Peculiar Harry Partch Primer, with John Schneider

Listen · 35:58

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