4/2 From the Top celebrates National Disabilities Awareness Month. Peter Dugan hosts with co-host Julia LaGrand, a teen violinist and Disability Advocate, and special guest Itzhak Perlman. This episode will feature four talented young musicians, ages 14-26, who are disabled and/or neurodivergent. Performers include Joshua Thrush, a 15-year-old double bassist from Vienna, VA, who began studying music when spina bifida made it difficult to keep up with youth sports leagues; Tristen Chen, a 14-year-old pianist from San Jose, CA, who uses Braille scores to learn his repertoire; Adam Mandela Walden, a 26-year-old cellist from Los Angeles, CA, who believes his musical skills are sharpened by his autism; Grace Novacheck, a 16-year-old pianist from Westlake, TX, who shares her journey with music and Escobar Syndrome with more than 105k TikTok followers.
4/9 We’ll hear pianist Brandon Hwang perform Chopin; bassoonist Nathan Shepherd plays Saint-Saëns; oboist Spencer Rubin plays Bach with guest co-host Tessa Lark; violinist Bobby Boogyeom Park performs Bartók and gets some tips from Lark; and guitarist Daniela Santiago Martinez plays an arrangement for guitar of music by Giuliani.
4/16 Pianist Nathaniel Zhang performs Chopin; violinist Kei Obata plays Grasse; Carrera Stamile plays Bach on mandolin; cellist Danielle Yoon plays Beethoven; flutist Julin Cheung plays Barber; and pianist William Gannon performs music by Franz Schubert.
4/23 A late Beethoven piano sonata is performed by a pianist Tyler Kim; the string quartet “The Stars Aligned Siblings” performs music by Florence Price; violinist Hannah Park plays a Polonaise by Wieniawski; flutist Rodrigo Rodriguez plays Patiño; and cellist Christy Choi shares a moving performance of Rachmaninoff.
4/30 This week we hear violinist Dexter Doris perform music by George Enescu; pianist Jordan Manasse plays Prokofiev; violist Iris Hur performs Hindemith; and we hear a work by young composer Yuri Lee.
