Sounding Point Podcast

Roy Malan led the San Francisco Ballet as concertmaster for over forty years; a record for a concertmaster of a major American orchestra. Roy Malan studied with Efrem Zimbalist at Curtis Institute, and later wrote his official biography. In this episode we discuss Roy's book, his career, and stories of brushing shoulders with the greatest violinists of the past century.

Eric Silberger is a top prizewinner in both the Tchaikovsky International Competition and Michael Hill International Violin Competition. He is co-founder and artistic director of Hawaii International Music Festival and Executive Director of Classical Bridge Festival. I first met Eric at Lorin Maazel's Castleton Festival back in 2012, where Eric saved the day in a particularly uncomfortable situation... We start the podcast recalling this memorable event! We go on to discuss Eric's new album, exploring the compositions of Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani. ORDER HERE: https://manamusichawaii.com/store/mana-music-quartet-album-queen-liliuokalani We went on to discuss Eric's amazing performances of all 24 Paganini Caprices in one concert from memory, a feat he has pulled off at least 5 times to date. We discuss learning of repertoire, his experiences learning from Glenn Dicterow and Ruggiero Ricci, and thoughts about career/life balance. Violinists in particular will appreciate Eric's insights, but there is wisdom here for all walks of life. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!

-This episode is presented in loving memory of Philip Wang- Alyssa Wang recently graduated from New England Conservatory with master's degrees in violin performance and conducting. She is the violinist of Hub New Music, a mixed string and wind ensemble comprised of violin, cello, clarinet and flute. They recently released their newest album 'Soul House,' a new commission by composer Robert Honstein. ''Soul House' is a stunning composition with a fascinating concept: Each of the nine movements represents the composer's memories of a room in his childhood home. In the "Backyard" movement, the fleet canon represents a contentious sibling chase. "Secret place," the location of which is unnamed by the composer and, according to Alyssa, is kept secret even from Hub New Music, evokes feelings of solace, anxiety, and hope. That it made me feel nostalgic for my own childhood home speaks to the effectiveness of Honstein's emotive writing, and the superb performance delivered by Hub New Music. In this interview, Alyssa was kind and open enough to talk about her father's recent passing. I'm very grateful to Alyssa for being open enough to share her raw hurt, and complex feelings of grief and gratitude. I felt that Alyssa, in sharing her candid thoughts and feelings at this time, gave invaluable insights into what it means to grieve and to honor the memory of a loved one.

Daniel Lelchuk is assistant principal cellist of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. On his podcast Talking Beats, Lelchuk interviews world-class figures from a diverse field of disciplines. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-beats-with-daniel-lelchuk/id1515136246 Our conversation today came about because of Daniel's viral article in Quillette. https://quillette.com/2020/09/19/then-they-came-for-beethoven/?fbclid=IwAR3r6hzQP8cxZNxRMJvwX8U0xect7oCobhzPj5iv2ssYyJRMhqqn8QLu4f4 His article, in turn, responded to the recent controversial Vox article, 'How Beethoven's 5th Symphony put the classism in classical music.' https://www.vox.com/switched-on-pop/21437085/beethoven-5th-symphony-elitist-classism-switched-on-pop In our conversation we covered the main points of both articles, some historical context, and our feelings about Beethoven in the time of clickbait. Daniel received moving responses to his article from all over the world, several of which he shares in our interview. We agreed that the classical music industry faces many challenges, including the expansion of the repertoire to include more diverse composers and performers. However Beethoven's 5th Symphony, far from an elitist status symbol, is one of the most popular and adored pieces in the orchestral literature. It does more than most music to bring audiences together from varied backgrounds. It was a pleasure interviewing Daniel and I encourage you to follow the links above to find his podcast.