On Deck with Young Musicians
Saturdays at 5pm PT
On Deck with Young Musicians is an inspirational weekly interview segment that celebrates and showcases the incredibly talented young musicians who live and perform in the Pacific Northwest: the young people who are shaping the future of classical music. Created and hosted by Christa Wessel, select episodes of On Deck are also hosted by Adam Eccleston, Raúl Gómez-Rojas, and Lisa Lipton.
Tune in Saturdays at 5:00 PM PT, and revisit past interviews using the links below or by following On Deck on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
If you know of a young musician who should be profiled for On Deck, please email Christa Wessel at christa@allclassical.org.
On Deck with Young Musicians is made possible in part by support from the Metropolitan Youth Symphony.
April 22, 2017
On Deck with Aaron Greene
Aaron Greene is a 15-year old high school sophomore who plays violin with the Portland Youth Philharmonic, and has won a spot on this year’s MetroArts Young Artists Debut concert (May 9th at Lincoln Hall). In this episode of “On Deck,” Aaron talks about a recent transformative moment with PYP, as well as a funny… More
April 15, 2017
On Deck with Natalie Tan
Natalie Tan is a 15-year old pianist and high school freshman who has won several competitions recently, including a spot on this year’s MetroArts Young Artists Debut concert. Interestingly, though, she insists she isn’t very talented, which sparked a fascinating conversation about talent, practice and determination. You can hear more from Natalie on her YouTube channel…. More
April 8, 2017
On Deck with Fumika Mizuno
Fumika Mizuno is an 18-year old violinist and high school senior who has won a spot on the MetroArts Young Artists Debut concert for the second time. We last talked with Fumika during her freshman year; in this episode we’ll see what has changed in her life since then. Here’s a video of Fumika -and… More
April 1, 2017
On Deck with Rebecca Yakos
Rebecca Yakos was one of the very first young musicians Christa ever featured “On Deck”; they originally chatted –on episode #4 of the show– back in the fall of 2013. Now that Rebecca has won a spot on this year’s MetroArts Young Artists Debut concert (her second win, by the way – she also appeared on… More
March 25, 2017
On Deck with Tara Palazuelos
If Tara’s name sounds familiar, it’s probably because she was interviewed less than a year ago when she came to Christa’s attention as a member of the Pacific Youth Choir. Tara has now, though, won a spot on this year’s MetroArts Young Artist Debut concert, which means we have the opportunity to catch up with her… More
March 18, 2017
On Deck with Jenny Yu
15-year old high school sophomore Jenny Yu is a pianist, a violinist, and a four-time national medalist in ice-dancing. Jenny actually started playing piano in order to add musicality to her skating. Jenny is the second in a series of nine profiles on the winners of this year’s MetroArts Young Artist Debut concert. Below are… More
March 11, 2017
On Deck with John Fawcett
With this episode of “On Deck” we begin a series of nine episodes featuring the winners of this year’s MetroArts Young Artist competition. Meet 16-year old violinist John Fawcett… or rather, re-meet him: he actually won a spot on this same concert two years ago. We’ll chat with him about that performance (when he was just 14),… More
March 4, 2017
On Deck with Tommy Cohen
The Metropolitan Youth Symphony has provided 17-year old cellist Tommy Cohen with seven years of wonderful experiences, but two specific events rank as his most memorable: one was a trip to China, and the other was an interaction with Yo-Yo Ma that led to the famous cellist actually playing Tommy’s cello. In this episode of “On… More
February 18, 2017
On Deck with 300 Watts String Trio
300 Watts String Trio consists of three siblings: 16-year old violist Shania Watts, 14-year old cellist Jonathan Watts, and 12-year old violinist Darah Watts. In the four years they have been playing together as an ensemble, they’ve created a number of their own arrangements born of improvisation and their varied musical interests (jazz, latin, and… More
February 11, 2017
On Deck with Josephine West
Josephine West is an 18-year old pianist, violinist and singer who got her start with music by singing and chanting in her family’s Greek Orthodox Church. During her sophomore year, Josephine started an early-college program. Josephine now has her Associate’s Degree and will be attending Portland State University in the Fall of 2017 to pursue… More
