MUSIC

Media Reviews

• Event Name: From the Top - Live NPR Taping
  Article: From the Top: 10 Years of Classical Kids
  NPR Weekend Edition - Sep 15, 2009
  By NPR Weekend Edition Sunday with Liane Hansen

  Nearly a decade ago, a noble experiment was broadcast on public radio. From the Top was launched as a showcase for pre-college classical...
  Expand

  Nearly a decade ago, a noble experiment was broadcast on public radio. From the Top was launched as a showcase for pre-college classical musicians.
  
  Today, the program is heard by about 700,000 weekly listeners on NPR stations, and this year's tour will reach more than 20,000 live fans. The show's host is the amiable pianist Christopher O'Riley, known for playing Bach and Rachmaninoff, as well as his adventurous transcriptions of songs by the British rock band Radiohead.
  
  The success of From the Top, O'Riley says, is due solely to the young musicians who appear on the show.
  
  "They become the best emissaries I can imagine for classical music," O'Riley says. "They are not yet doing it for a living, so they can just go with their heart. It's not a pragmatic decision; it's really doing what comes most passionately and easily with them."
  
  Some of that passion includes skateboarding — as when O'Riley allowed a young guitarist to take a spin on the stage of Davies Hall in San Francisco during a show.
  
  For the 10th anniversary of From the Top, the show has invited back some alums from the early days.
  
  NPR's Liane Hansen interviews host Christopher O'Riley, and From the Top alumni William Harvey and Maya Shankar.
  Collapse

Member Reviews

Add review/comment

• Event Name: From the Top - Live NPR Taping
  "Not bad, but..."
  Review posted by: Wallace Feldman from Waltham MA, Oct 09, 2009
  

  The performances themselves were, as usual, excellent, and the choices of music interesting. On the other hand, the interview with the first performer, the cellist, was overly long and oh, so... Expand

  The performances themselves were, as usual, excellent, and the choices of music interesting. On the other hand, the interview with the first performer, the cellist, was overly long and oh, so serious. Collapse

• Event Name: From the Top - Live NPR Taping
  "To the top with from the top"
  Comment posted by: Anna Greenlaw from Stratham, New Hampshire. , Oct 09, 2009
  

  Dear Reader, I traveled "all the way from New Hampshire" to experience From The Top live after hearing it for many years. I was awed by the venue, had never been there before and the participants... Expand

  Dear Reader, I traveled "all the way from New Hampshire" to experience From The Top live after hearing it for many years. I was awed by the venue, had never been there before and the participants were worthy of their surroundings. Spectacular every one of them. Do not want to single out individuals as each of them were inimically unique. It was a musical treat. Collapse

more [+]