Dialogue on Disability: Celebrating Abilities

Since 2003 WXXI and the Al Sigl Community of Agencies have worked together with the Herman and Margaret Schwartz Community to help break the ingrained stereotypes about individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities. The year-round project called MOVE TO INCLUDE, is designed to motivate individuals to take action and include more people with disabilities in the workplace, in schools, neighborhoods and in all aspects of society. Dialogue on Disability, a week-long spotlight initiative takes place every January, and is supported by the Fred L. Emerson Foundation with additional support from The Golisano Foundation.

From the Top presents two programs featuring young musicians with disabilities, 3/2 & 3/23 @ 5pm

Classical 91.5 WXXO-FM

Published February 25, 2025 at 10:59 AM EST

Blind tenor Noah Carver is a student at the Eastman School of Music. He reads music in braille. Funds from two scholarships have allowed Carver to purchase equipment and software to aid in braille notation, translation, composition, and printing.

young man sitting with many choral students, reading braille music

3/2 This week we meet blind tenor Noah Carver from the Eastman School who performs Music for a While by Purcell; violinist Samuel Igbo who plays music by Florence Price; violinist Amelia Cannavo who plays a Rhapsody by Jessie Montgomery; and the award-winning teenage Aurelian Sax Quartet performing Phantom Dance by Yosuke Fukada.

3/9 We hear cellist Sara Flexer who performs the first work Brahms wrote for a solo instrument; a stunning Wieniawski Polonaise played by violinist Neal Eisfeldt; baritone Raghav Ramgopal who has been drawn to community activism since childhood; guitarist Jack Davisson plays an arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie’s Night in Tunisia; and pianist Xinran Shi shares a tip she got from piano superstar Lang Lang.

3/16 Pianist Tinashe McGowan plays Chopin’s Scherzo No. 1; violinist and composer Cyrano J. Rosentrater plays his own composition, Morphologies: A Violin Fantasy; the Hansen and Alexis Piano Duo plays Sabre Dance by Khachaturian; cellist Katherine Lu plays Silent Woods by Dvořák; saxophonist Ayden Garcia plays Come as You Are by From the Top alum Steven Banks; and pianist Anna Bray plays a Sonata by Haydn.

3/23 MTI - Celebrating Musicians with Disabilities From the Top alum Julia LaGrand co-hosts this special episode dedicated to celebrating the stories and performances of disabled and neurodivergent musicians. Julia, who is blind, also interviews special guest Itzhak Perlman. We’ll meet double bassist Joshua Thrush who began studying music when spina bifida made it difficult to keep up with youth sports leagues; pianist Tristen Chen who uses Braille scores to learn his repertoire; cellist Adam Mandela Walden who believes his musical skills are sharpened by his autism; and pianist Grace Novacheck with Escobar Syndrome who shares her journey to millions on social media. They perform works by Grieg, Liszt, and more.

3/30 Violinist Tokuji Miyasaka plays La Ronde des Lutins by Antonio Bazzini; guitarist Anika Gupta plays a Nocturn by Francesco Molino; cellist Jesse Krentz plays a portion of Gaspar Cassadó’s Cello Suite; double bassist Anderson Widjaja performs a movement from Vilmos Montag’s Sonata; and composer Brannon Warn-Johnston and the Seattle Symphony perform Warn-Johnston’s Misty Oasis in Scorching Heat, recorded at the Young Composers Workshop Concert.