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From the Top is an independent nonprofit organization known best for its longstanding NPR radio and PBS television programs with the same name. Co-founded by Gerald Slavet and Jennifer Hurley-Wales in 1995, the organization showcases and develops emerging classical musicians through live events, radio and video broadcasts, scholarships, and arts education programs aimed at empowering young citizen-artists.
From the Top is America's largest national platform celebrating the stories, talents, and character of young classically trained musicians. Through a unique balance of storytelling and musical performance, From the Top has made its mark, sharing stories and music of more than 3,000 emerging artists to a national audience.
From inception through the Oct. 22, 2018, episode, it was hosted by pianist Christopher O'Riley. [1] Pianist and alum Peter Dugan, who had been a guest host during the 2018–2019 season, is the permanent host for its nationally distributed NPR radio program, starting with the 2020–21 season. Joining Dugan is a distinguished group of musicians as co-hosts and creatives including Vijay Gupta, Alex Laing, Tessa Lark, Orli Shaham and Charles Yang. [2]
From the Top received two daytime Emmy Awards in 2007 and 2008 for its PBS series, From the Top Live at Carnegie Hall.
Since 2006, From the Top and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation have awarded over $3 million in scholarships to exceptional young musicians with financial need through the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award Scholarship.
In addition to providing young artists with an opportunity to perform on From the Top's national broadcasts, recipients are awarded up to $10,000 to help offset the costs of studying classical music at a high level.
Each year, From the Top chooses approximately 20 exceptional pre-collegiate musicians ages 8–18 to receive the award.
From the Top has featured over 3,000 diverse musicians who now perform professional in the nation's top orchestras, enjoy solo careers, educate, study astrophysics, and work to employ music as a tool to improve their communities.
Alumni news, stories and other information is shared via social media and the From the Top website.
The decision to not renew Christopher O'Riley's contract as host in 2018 provoked a number of negative reactions. Norman Lebrecht dubbed the press release [3] by the organization announcing the change "patronizing." [4]
Lawrence Christon after noting the stated desire of the organization to embrace the expanding media landscape averred, "The truth is however that [From the Top] doesn’t know exactly what it wants to do or how it’s going to do it. And clearly they don’t know what the art of the interview consists of and what intangibles O’Riley has brought in the tender levity of his conversations with [From the Top] kids, the impeccable musicianship which made him their ideal dance partner, and the unique tone he contributed to help define the show." [5]
Mike Janssen reports O'Riley rebuffed the offer of a bonus recognizing his work with From the Top (the organization) and quotes O'Riley as stating, "I am From the Top. For the intents and purposes of the perception of the audience, meaning stations and the kids who have been on the show, it’s not the organization. It’s me.” [6]
Longtime Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor responded upon news of the change, "This was one of the best shows on radio. What a shame. Public radio management seems to be in a KGB mode. I’m grateful I had a career before the curtain fell." [7]
O'Riley on his website has asserted, "... I believe I was dismissed ... largely because of my political social media engagement being perceived as inappropriate." [8]
O'Riley in a November 5, 2019 Facebook post noted, "This week I also heard of a recent guest host interviewing a young pianist and saying 'Cool!' 17 times in the course of their brief conversation; the host, not the kid (we would never seek to limit the expressions of our guests). Quite the clownshow over there, I guess. From the Big Top?" [9]
Margaret Marian McPartland OBE, was an English–American jazz pianist, composer, and writer. She was the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio from 1978 to 2011.
Christopher O'Riley is an American classical pianist and public radio show host. He was the host of the weekly National Public Radio program From the Top. O'Riley is also known for his piano arrangements of songs by alternative musicians.
Christian McBride is an American jazz bassist, composer and arranger. He has appeared on more than 300 recordings as a sideman, and is an eight-time Grammy Award winner.
Orli Shaham is an American pianist, born in Jerusalem, Israel, the daughter of two scientists, Meira Shaham and Jacob Shaham. Her brothers are the violinist Gil Shaham and Shai Shaham, who is the head of the Laboratory of Developmental Genetics at Rockefeller University.
Performance Today is a Peabody Award-winning classical music radio program, first aired in 1987 and hosted since 2000 by Fred Child. It is the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the United States, with 1.2 million listeners on 237 stations. The program builds its two-hour daily broadcast from live concert performances from around the world. Performance Today is based at the American Public Media (APM) studios in Saint Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country.
KQAC is an American classical radio station licensed to serve the community of Portland, Oregon. KQAC is owned by All Classical Public Media, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. This classical music service is broadcast 24/7 in the Portland metro area at 89.9, at 88.1 at the Oregon Coast and in the Columbia Gorge. It is available worldwide via the Internet.
Malek Jandali is a Syrian-American composer and pianist. whose music integrates Middle-Eastern modes and Arabic Maqams into Western structures of classical music.. He is the founder of the nonprofit organization Pianos for Peace, which aims to build peace through music and education. Jandali immigrated to the United States and studied music in North Carolina. Since then, he has performed with orchestras across the world and composed a number of modern classical works. His music was described as "a major new addition to the 21st century symphonic literature" by Fanfare Magazine with "heart-rending melodies, lush orchestration, clever transitions and creative textures", according to American Record Guide. Jandali's music ranges from chamber works to large symphonic compositions integrating Middle-Eastern and Western influences.
NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music discovery. NPR Music offers current and archival podcasts, live concert webcasts, reviews, music lists, news, studio sessions, and interviews to listen to from NPR and partner public radio stations across the country, as well as an index of public radio music stations streaming live on the Internet. There have been two blogs: "Monitor Mix" by Sleater-Kinney musician Carrie Brownstein and the All Songs Considered Blog by Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton.
Alissa Musto is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. As a child prodigy, she won piano competitions while placed in older divisions and debuted on the national series America's Most Talented Kid at nine years old. She is best known for being crowned Miss Massachusetts 2016 and competing at the 2017 Miss America Pageant, where she placed in the top 15.
William McGlaughlin is an American composer, conductor, music educator, and Peabody Award-winning classical music radio host. He is the host and music director of the public radio programs Exploring Music and Saint Paul Sunday.
Young Concert Artists is a New York City-based non-profit organization dedicated to discovering and promoting the careers of talented young classical musicians from all over the world. The competition, founded in 1961, allows artists from all over the world to compete as individuals or in a chamber group, such as a string quartet. The number of winners varies from year to year, as there is no specified limit to the number of participants who can win.
Lara Melda Ömeroğlu, known professionally as Lara Melda, is a British-Turkish concert pianist.
(Le) Poisson Rouge is a music venue and multimedia art cabaret in New York City founded in 2008 by Justin Kantor and David Handler on the former site of the Village Gate at 158 Bleecker Street. The performance space was designed and engineered by John Storyk/WSDG. It has become known for its focus on artistry, bringing contemporary classical music into the club setting, and offering a variety of set ups so that a seated classical performance can be followed by a standing set by a rock band or a DJ. Responding to a performance of Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time featuring pianist Bruce Brubaker at LPR, The Wall Street Journal reported: "The crowd – many of whom wouldn't even have known who Messiaen was – sat in rapt silence, and roared their approval at the end."
Nadia Azzi is an American classical pianist of Lebanese-Japanese origin. Fluent in Japanese and English, she began playing piano at age four and a half and has won many awards since then. She currently resides in Los Angeles.
Keitaro Harada is a Japanese conductor and music and artistic director of Savannah Philharmonic. Harada is a former Associate Conductor of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Arizona Opera, Richmond Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of Sierra Vista Symphony Orchestra. He has been Music Director & Conductor of the Phoenix Youth Symphony, Assistant Conductor of Macon Symphony Orchestra. In 2013, he was featured in the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview by the League of American Orchestras. In 2023, he received The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award from the Solti Foundation U.S.
Jordannah Elizabeth is an American journalist, lecturer, music critic, author and screenwriter.
Vincent Accettola is an American producer and arts administrator who previously served as Managing Director of the National Youth Orchestra of China.
Anna Ji-eun Lee, known professionally as Anna Lee, is an American concert violinist of Korean descent. She made her professional orchestral debut at the age of 6 with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
Nahre Sol is a Korean-American composer, pianist, and YouTuber.
Sophia Agranovich is a Soviet-born American classical concert pianist, Centaur Records recording artist, music educator and artistic director. She holds Bachelor and Master degrees from the Juilliard School, where she taught piano as a teaching fellow. She continued her doctoral studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her live performances and discography have won top international awards and critical acclaim. Her albums are charting in top 10 across all musical genres on One World Music Radio and on World Top Radio Airplay Charts. A Steinway Artist, she is concertizing at major venues worldwide, and has been described by Fanfare Magazine as "a bold, daring pianist in the tradition of the Golden Age Romantics" and praised by the American Record Guide for her "magnificent shading and superior musicianship."
The 2018–2019 recording season is the first without long-time host Christopher O'Riley, who made his last recording on June 5, 2018.
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