Congratulations to Rebecca Richardson, All Classical Radio’s Music Researcher & Digital Producer. She has been named a 2024 “Rising Star” by Current. The trade publication launched the honor to celebrate younger employees who are making a difference in public media. Rebecca was recognized for her work with All Classical Radio and the station’s children’s network, ICAN.
“Rebecca Richardson makes a difference for All Classical’s audience every day,” says Suzanne Nance, President and CEO of All Classical Radio, who nominated Rebecca for the honor along with her enthusiastic colleagues Riley Moore and Kristina Becker.
“Rebecca’s leadership and hard work have furthered All Classical Radio’s transformation into a comprehensive media arts network. Rebecca continues to build an incredible research database, spanning eras from Medieval to Modernism, and every composer she can find in between, which has deepened the information available to our on-air hosts and in-turn our audiences. She helped lead the creation of All Classical Radio’s Artist Anthology: 40 Creatives of the Pacific Northwest, a groundbreaking multimedia initiative to uplift artists. In addition, her blog posts and articles about classical music on All Classical’s website spark curiosity and enthusiasm for the artform. She’s dedicated, generous, and creative, and we are so lucky to have her on our team,” Nance adds.
Music has been a fundamental part of Rebecca Richardson’s life since her earliest memories. From a childhood spent in choirs, piano lessons, and musical theater productions to earning an Master of Music degree in voice performance, she has been guided by the call of classical music. A SoCal native currently settled in SE Portland, she spent nearly a decade writing and performing on the East Coast. She got her first taste of music research while working as a Music History T.A. in grad school, and ever since, has been obsessed with humanizing the names behind the music we all love so much.
When she’s not stooped over her desk, gleefully going down rabbit holes, you can find her on long, scenic walks with her husband and daughter, savoring a glass of Pacific Northwest wine, or immersed in a sturdy historical biography.
Current is a nonprofit news organization covering public media in the U.S for professionals in the industry. Leaders and staff at NPR, PBS, CPB, public radio and TV stations, independent producers, board members, and national policymakers rely on Current for information, inspiration and insights into this mission-driven field.
Current was founded in 1980 by the National Association of Educational Broadcasters, the historic forerunner of both PBS and NPR. For several decades, Current was managed financially by WNET, a leading national producer and PBS station that serves the New York City region.
John Pitman, All Classical’s Program Director, recently caught up with Hollywood actor and classical musician John Malkovich. Hear their hilarious chat about Malkovich’s The Music Critic, released last year from a recording made in 2020.
Malkovich shares what went into this funny and fascinating recording, based on the live show, where the actor reads actual (and unbelievably negative) contemporary reviews of Dvořák, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and other 20th century composers.
John (Pitman) had a blast talking with one of his favorite actors about the process, and their shared love of classical music. He hopes you enjoy it just as much!
In May 2024, pianist Christopher O’Riley was in Portland for a concert with his good friend, cellist Matt Haimovitz. All Classical Radio’s Program Director, John Pitman, invited Christopher for an interview in the Roger O. Doyle Performance Studio, the day before their concert.
Christopher shared his knowledge, talent, and insight about Bach and the upcoming album, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1. He performed two of the preludes and fugues in the studio, and – through interjected examples during their conversation – revealed hidden dialogues within Bach’s work. It was a very illuminating conversation, with powerful music by, arguably, one of music’s greatest composers.
Hear John Pitman’s conversation with Christopher O’Riley, as well as some highlights from his upcoming album:
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) Pride Month is observed each year in commemoration of the June 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York, a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. Nationally, Pride Month is observed in June. Locally, the city of Portland celebrates its queer community in July.
In honor of Pride Month, All Classical is shining a spotlight on musicians from the LGBTQI+ community who bring so much beauty and joy to listeners around the world. Join us in celebrating the musical contributions of five extraordinary contemporary LGBTQI+ artists who we love to play on air all year round.
Photo by Andrew Bogard; courtesy of Higdon’s website
JENNIFER HIGDON
Jennifer Higdon, a Pulitzer Prize and three-time GRAMMY award-winning composer and flutist, has proven herself a major figure in contemporary classical music time and time again. Higdon’s exquisite music encompasses a wide range of genres, from large-scale pieces for orchestra and stage to intimate songs for voice and piano. Among her many accolades, Higdon’s first opera, Cold Mountain, won the International Opera Award for Best World Premiere in 2016 (the first American opera to do so), and her GRAMMY award-winning recording of Percussion Concerto was inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2019.
Interestingly, Higdon had a relatively late start to music. At age 15, she taught herself to play flute, and she began formal studies in composition at 21. Nonetheless, Higdon’s path to a career in music has led her to become one of the most influential musical voices of our time. Her music is both distinct and accessible and has been praised as being “imbued with integrity and freshness.”
Together with her wife, Cheryl Lawson, the couple established their own publishing company, Lawdon Publishing (a fun combination of the couple’s last names), through which Higdon publishes all of her musical works. Fun fact – revered conductor Marin Alsop officiated the couple’s marriage in 2014.
Photo courtesy of Chee’s website
CONNOR CHEE
Navajo pianist and composer Connor Chee is best known for combining his Western classical training with his Native American heritage. Making his Carnegie Hall debut at just 12 years old after winning the World Piano Competition, Chee is no stranger to the music world. Exposed to traditional Navajo music from a young age, Chee’s classical piano training proved to be a perfect companion for fulfilling the musician’s artistic spirit while also serving as a vehicle to preserve the beloved music of his ancestry.
Chee primarily writes for the piano and incorporates traditional Navajo chants and songs, in addition to piano transcriptions of Navajo music. In fact, writing down music that had previously been exclusively communicated orally was what drew Chee to composition in the first place. Currently based in Phoenix, Chee continues to perform throughout the United States. Several of his studio albums have earned accolades, including Best Instrumental Recording at the 16th Annual Native American Music Awards for The Navajo Piano.
Photo by Jason Quigley
CAROLINE SHAW
Violinist, vocalist, and composer Caroline Shaw is well known to All Classical audiences, as well as countless listeners around the world. The youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music (she was 30 at the time), as well as the winner of several GRAMMY awards, Shaw has led an impressively prolific career—one that will undoubtedly continue to add meaningful works to the world’s musical vernacular. Her artistic collaborations include classical heavyweights such as Yo-Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, and Davóne Tines, as well as Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalía, French music video director Woodkid, and the American rapper Nas, not to mention a long list of films, video games, podcasts, ballets, and more.
Shaw’s music doesn’t adhere to strict genre guidelines but rather crosses over in unexpected ways, both in musical style and artistic collaboration. If you looked up the word “visionary” in the dictionary, Caroline Shaw’s name would come up. According to her official bio, through her music, Shaw is “trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed.”
In addition to Shaw’s extraordinary work as a composer, together with her partner Danni Lee, the couple created the band Ringdown, which they describe as “the love child of Johannes Brahms and Brandi Carlile—if they were born in the same century and if Brahms was a queer woman.”
New York-based composer Nico Muhly is at the forefront of American classical music. Best known for his acclaimed operas, including Two Boys and Marnie (both commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera), Muhly is an incredibly sought-after musical voice. In addition to The Met, Muhly has received commissions from Carnegie Hall, LA Phil, Tallis Scholars, and St. John’s College, Cambridge, among others. Muhly’s musical influences range from American minimalism to the Anglican choral tradition. In addition to writing works for the stage and concert hall, Muhly frequently collaborates with choreographer Benjamin Millepied. Adding to his extensive list of projects, Muhly has also scored several films and TV shows, including the Academy Award-winning The Reader, and the BBC mini-series Howards End.
Muhly is not afraid to address queer subject matter in his music, as seen in the opera, Two Boys, inspired by a true case involving a toxic teenage relationship and its tragic repercussions, and the oratorio Sentences, based on the life of Alan Turing. Rather, he leans into his commitment to spotlighting voices that have been historically underrepresented in classical music.
Photo by Frankie Tresser
JIMMIE HERROD
Powerhouse vocalist and songwriter Jimmie Herrod exploded onto the musical scene as a finalist on “America’s Got Talent,” and the world has been smitten ever since. Herrod has been a featured soloist with acclaimed orchestras nationwide, including Oregon, San Francisco, and Houston. Perhaps most notably, Herrod was a soloist for the globally televised PBS “Joni Mitchell Songbook” concert at The Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra, where he shared the stage with Renée Fleming, Lalah Hathaway, Raul Midón, and Aoife O’Donovan.
As a musician, Herrod’s musical style traverses many genres, including jazz, pop, and funk. A longtime resident of Portland, Herrod regularly tours with Pink Martini as a featured vocalist in addition to headlining his own shows. Praised for “a voice like a beacon of hope,” Herrod has a gift for piercing the hearts of his listeners and is changing today’s musical soundscape for the better.
In April, the Danish String Quartet performed the world premiere of a new work written for them by English composer Thomas Adès at Carnegie Hall.
For this edition of John Pitman’s Reviews, John has invited All Classical Radio host Warren Black to speak with the Quartet about the premiere and get a preview of their upcoming new album, Keel Road. The album features arrangements of folk music and more.
Hear Violinist Frederik Øland and violist Asbjørn Nørgaard tell Warren Black about some of the music on their new album, coming soon in the summer of 2024.
In May, All Classical Radio’s Christa Wessel hosted a special program performed by acclaimed vocalist Jimmie Herrod and celebrated pianist and composer Cédric Hanriot. A New Foray Into Fauré featured exclusive performances of works by Gabriel Fauré, as well as music by the “Dean of American Balladeers” John Jacob Niles, and composer Ned Rorem, in new arrangements by Herrod and Hanriot.
Before each piece, hear Herrod and Hanriot discuss the music and their creative process, as well as some insight into the original composers. This is a unique opportunity to experience the talents of these two extraordinary artists in an intimate setting.
JUST JIMMIE
The same week, Herrod was featured as the 28th creative profiled in All Classical Radio’s Artist Anthology, spotlighting 40 contemporary artists of the Pacific Northwest in honor of the station’s 40th anniversary. The spotlight takes viewers behind the scenes of Herrod’s artistry and career through an exclusive interview and photos.
On May 29, 2024, at 5:00 PM PT, Herrod was interviewed by aspiring young musician Jayden on ICAN BECOME. The International Children’s Arts Network program pairs youth hosts with their career heroes.
With “a voice like a beacon of hope” (Seattle Times), vocalist Jimmie Herrod brings singular power and expressivity to his globe-trotting career as a singer, songwriter, and entertainer on stage and screen. Herrod first came to worldwide prominence as a finalist on the NBC nationally broadcast television show, “America’s Got Talent,” earning the rare “Golden Buzzer” recognition from actress Sofia Vergara, and returning the following year on the “America’s Got Talent: All-Stars” series.
As a solo artist, Herrod has appeared to critical and audience acclaim with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and with the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Houston, and Oregon. Herrod was a soloist for the globally televised PBS “Joni Mitchell Songbook” concert at The Kennedy Center with the NSO, where he shared the stage with musical luminaries like Renée Fleming, Lalah Hathaway, Raul Midón, and Aoife O’Donovan.
Cédric Hanriot is a pianist, composer, arranger, sound designer, and music producer. Winner of prestigious scholarships and international awards, he is known worldwide for his collaborations with Herbie Hancock, Terri Lyne Carrington, Robert Glasper, Donny McCaslin, and other big names in the jazz world.
Cédric Hanriot served as pianist and sound designer on Dianne Reeves’s album “Beautiful Life,” which won the Grammy Awardfor Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2015.
In 2022, Cédric Hanriot released his last album, “Time is Color”, under his label Morphosis Arts, created in 2019. “Time is Color” is a singular work, a powerful mixture of jazz, hip-hop, and urban music– an album that resembles himself. The album has been the subject of several glowing reviews (Le Monde, Blues and Soul Magazine, The Jazz Shows with Jamie Cullum, among others). The album was quickly voted CHOC by Jazz Magazine, 5 stars by BBC Magazine, and ranked among the ten best albums of the year 2022 by the English magazine MOJO.
All Classical Radio congratulates on-air host Lynnsay Maynard, who is pursuing her passion for social work with a new position. We thank Lynnsay for her time with All Classical and wish her every success in her new role.
We will miss you, Lynnsay!
We look forward to continuing to celebrate the connections between music and literature with special programs coming up this summer. Stay tuned to learn more about our summer highlights, and more exciting radio programming to come in the year ahead.
As always, thank you for listening to All Classical Radio.
In honor of Asian American and Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and all year round, All Classical Radio is programming music by AANHPI composers and musicians on our playlist. We love sharing music richly and meaningfully woven with a diverse array of influences, as well as insight into the lives of artists you may not yet know about.
Keep reading to learn about six groundbreaking artists we’re featuring on air, and be sure to tune in to All Classical Radio on Saturday, May 18, 2024, at 7:00 PM PT for a special edition of The Concert Hall with John Pitman in celebration of AANHPI Heritage Month.
Kōsaku Yamada (1886-1965)
Japanese composer and conductor Kōsaku Yamada pioneered modern Japanese music influenced by European tradition. After attending the Tokyo Music School, Yamada studied composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. Following his education in Germany, Yamada sometimes used the name “Kósçak,” as a variation of his Japanese name, Kōsaku.
As a composer, Yamada was exceptionally prolific and wrote more than 1600 works, including opera, orchestral works, chamber music, and songs. Unfortunately, many of Yamada’s manuscripts were destroyed as a result of an air raid targeting Tokyo in May 1945. Listeners will hear the clear influence of German Romanticism in Yamada’s music; yet, he never lost touch with his Japanese identity.
Image courtesy of Li Dakangvia China Plus
Li Huanzhi (1919-2000)
Li Huanzhi has remained a significant figure among Chinese classical composers. Having grown up exposed to a wide variety of music, Li eagerly pursued a career in the art form from his teens. Despite interruptions to his studies due to war and family obligations, Li never strayed far from his desired path. Much of Li’s music was inspired by regional folk songs and nationalist sentiment. Perhaps most notably, following the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Li’s “The March of the Volunteers” was chosen as the new National Anthem.
Li wrote hundreds of compositions, from symphonic works and opera to songs and choral pieces. His Spring Festival Overture remains one of the most frequently performed Chinese works for orchestra.
Tōru Takemitsu (1930-1996)
Tōru Takemitsu was a largely self-taught Japanese composer whose music blends modernist Western styles with Japanese traditions and instruments. Takemitsu’s first encounter with Western music came about while serving in the Japanese military during WWII (Western music had been banned in Japan during the war). An officer played the French chanson “Parlez-moi d’amour,” which made a deep impression on Takemitsu and kicked off a lifelong love of music by French composers such as Debussy and Messiaen.
By the late 1950s, Takemitsu’s music began gaining international attention, including one famous incident where Stravinsky heard his Requiem for Strings and subsequently declared it a masterpiece. Also in the 1950s, Takemitsu co-founded the “Experimental Workshop” whose mission was to explore avant-garde multimedia projects.
He Zhanhao; Image courtesy of South China Morning Post
Chen Gang (b. 1935) & He Zhanhao (b. 1933)
Chen Gang and He Zhanhao are both musicians from China best known for co-composing the Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto. Born in Shanghai, Chen was the son of songwriter Chen Gexin and grew up learning piano and composition from his father. In 1955, Chen began studying composition at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he would eventually meet fellow student He Zhanhao.
He was born in Zhuji and began learning violin at 17 years old. His studies at the Shanghai Conservatory fortuitously overlapped with that of Chen, and the two would soon embark on a life-changing collaboration. In an experiment to adapt Chinese tunes for violin, Chen and He created the Butterfly Lovers’s Concerto, based on a centuries-old Chinese folk tale.
Photo by Hui Liu & Steve Zhao; Image courtesy of Warner Classics
Chen Qigang (b. 1951)
Born in Shanghai, Chen Qigang was introduced to music at an early age. Despite being imprisoned as a young teen amid the Cultural Revolution and undergoing “ideological reeducation,” Chen never lost his passion for creating music. The composer moved to Paris for graduate studies and shortly thereafter began working with Olivier Messiaen. Chen was Messiaen’s last student and studied with the French composer from 1984-88. Messiaen became a committed supporter of Chen’s music and praised Chen’s harmonious union of Asian and Western musical ideas. After receiving a doctorate in musicology from the Sorbonne in 1989, Chen remained in Paris and became a French citizen in 1992.
Chen’s music is performed all over the world, earning the composer countless honors and awards. Fun fact: Chen composed the official theme song of the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing called “You and Me.”
Image courtesy of ASCAP
Karen Tanaka (b. 1961)
Japanese composer and pianist Karen Tanaka began formal compositional studies at 10 years old. After receiving her undergraduate degree from the Tōhō Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Tanaka moved to Paris with the help of a scholarship from the French government to study with Tristan Murail and work at IRCAM. The recipient of several prestigious awards, Tanaka’s beautifully crafted works have been performed by distinguished orchestras all over the world, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Outside the concert hall, Tanaka has also written scores for films and documentaries–her score for Sister was nominated for the 92nd Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film.
In addition to being a freelance composer, Tanaka currently teaches composition and experimental sound practices at the California Institute of the Arts.
Learn More
To keep learning about AANHPI musical artists we love to play on air, check out these posts from the Arts Blog:
Lastly, you can now listen to All Classical’s recent album release as part of our Recording Inclusivity Project (RII), ELEVATE. This brand-new album featured works by pioneering Japanese composers Nobu Kōda and Yuko Uébayashi.
All Classical Radio’s Program Director, John Pitman, shares his recent conversation with two members of the Neave Trio. They speak about their latest recording titled “A Room of Her Own.” This is the second of their recordings amplifying the voices of women composers in classical music. Their first, “Her Voice,” was released in 2019.
Violinist Anna Williams and cellist Mikhail Veselov share their passion for performing chamber music masterpieces by Lili Boulanger, Cecile Chaminade, Germaine Tailleferre, and Dame Ethel Smyth. John learns not only about the music but also about the stories of the women who composed these trios.
Hear their conversation and excerpts from the album:
