NPR's From the Top features amazing performances and captivating personal stories of extraordinary classically-trained young musicians from across the country.
Each weekly one-hour broadcast features virtuosic performances with pre-collegiate musicians, along with pre-produced segments and lighthearted sketches that reveal the heart and soul of these amazing kids.
Hosted by pianist Peter Dugan, along with a team of regularly appearing co-hosts, From the Top delights listeners of all ages and backgrounds with its good humor and its inspiring young people. Peter Dugan collaborates with the young musicians at the piano and his co-hosts — including violinist Vijay Gupta, violinist Tessa Lark, clarinetist Alex Laing, pianist Orli Shaham and violinist Charles Yang — widen the musical perspective of the program both in performance and conversation.
An on-site live performance of From the Top is a "complete package" demonstrating the power of classical music through broadcasts, live events, education programs, and more. Rochester has hosted From the Top three times and we are always excited when students from the greater Rochester area appear on the program.
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Recently Time for Three performed in the 101st season opener of the RPO. Now you can hear violinist Charles Yang (pictured center) working with young musicians. -
The Black Lives Matter movement has inspired many, including a harpist whose organization exists to empower artists of color and advocate for justice, a pianist who shares a story of commissioning of a brand new work, and a cellist who shares his experience as a black musician in classical music. -
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Singer-songwriter, pianist and composer Elisa Kain Johnson hails from Seattle, Washington. Elisa’s music, which often explores elements of social justice and identity, has been performed by several student and professional performers, including members of the Seattle Symphony, and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble. In 2021, she was selected as one of six national fellows by the New York City based Luna Composition Lab run by Missy Mazzoli and Ellen Reid. -
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Izabella (Izzy) Tu hails from Las Vegas, Nevada, and has been the principal harpist for Las Vegas Young Artists Orchestra for the past four years. Izzy not only plays harp; she also plays piano, Chinese harp (guzheng), ukulele, the kalimba, and the ocarina. -
The Door of No Return (Ouidah) is a sonata for solo instrument & piano by composer Althea Talbot-Howard, that charts the abduction of slaves by rival nations from elsewhere in the African continent; the march to the Slave Coast; the sometimes-lethal journey across the Atlantic; and forced labor on the island of Antigua. It also recognizes the work of late Congressman John Lewis in the Civil Rights movement. He visited the Door in 2019.
