Speaking Soundly

Three-time GRAMMY Award-winning American mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard describes how she navigates the occasional chaos of backstage as she prepares to sing in the world’s greatest opera houses. She enjoys the challenge of finding emotional inroads to the operatic roles she’s portrayed, even if it's a love-stricken teenage boy.

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Photograph of Isabel Leonard by Sergio Kurhajec.

The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper.

Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman. 

This interview originally aired on September 26, 2022. It has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.

Episode copyright © 2022 Artful Narratives Media.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Conductor Joshua Weilerstein catapulted to international attention at a young age when he won first prize of the world-famous Malko Competition for Young Conductors with hardly any formal training. He discusses growing up in a musical family, how performing for thousands of youth who had never heard a live concert profoundly influenced his career, earning the trust and respect of musicians, and paying homage with his popular classical music podcast "Sticky Notes" to the late Leonard Bernstein.

Check out Joshua Weilerstein on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or the web and the Sticky Notes Podcast.

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Photograph of Joshua Weilerstein by Paul Marc Mitchell.

The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper.

Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman. 

This interview originally aired on November, 8, 2022. It has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.

Episode copyright © 2022 Artful Narratives Media.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The podcast is taking a short break while we work on new episodes. In the meantime, we're airing some of our most memorable episodes from the first season. Metropolitan Opera Orchestra trombonist Denson Paul Pollard had an unconventional path to the stage and credits his grit, determination, and humble roots for taking him from a small town in rural Georgia to Carnegie Hall. Paul's work ethic is inspiring as he describes the jobs he’s held from Iowa to Hong Kong and his daily commute from Indiana to New York City.

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Photograph of Denson Paul Pollard by Rose Callahan.

The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper.

Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman. 

This interview originally aired on September 26, 2022. It has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.

Episode copyright © 2022 Artful Narratives Media.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

American singer and actress Mandy Gonzalez has shaped some of Broadway's most well-known characters including Nina Rosario in Lin-Manuel Miranda's breakout "In the Heights," Angelica Schuyler Church in the Tony Award-winning show Hamilton, and the green witch Elphaba in Wicked. Mandy reflects on her 1,400 performances on stage for Hamilton and how she kept it fresh, discusses what happens when you make a mistake mid-show (the white room!), and shares what it's like to join a performance mid-run (the put-in rehearsal!). She tells David why starring with an all-Latino cast in a universal story is still near and dear to her heart, how her Jewish Bubbe sang with her as a child, reflects on her early start with Bette Midler, and explains why she launched her Fearless club.

Check out Mandy Gonzalez on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, or the web.

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Photograph of Mandy by Matthew Murphy.

The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper.

Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman. 

This interview has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.

Episode copyright © 2023 Artful Narratives Media.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Composer, author, lecturer, and performer Bruce Adolphe is a multifaceted artist. He’s known by millions of listeners for his ingenious Piano Puzzlers on public radio's Performance Today and his concert pieces are played worldwide by Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Joshua Bell. Bruce shares how he was inspired by Leonard Bernstein to educate and compose, his love of collaborating with scientists, and the importance of letting your mind wander. He reminisces about the first piece he composed at the age of ten and how his father nearly stole the applause, recounts hearing the shot that killed John Lennon, and discusses his opera-singing parrot Polly Rhythm. David asks about Inspector Pulse, a character Bruce created for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and how the clever Piano Puzzlers came to be. At the end, we leave you with a holiday puzzle—see how many operatic melodies and classic holiday tunes you can hear. 

Listen to Santa and Isolde, A Holiday Opera Fantasy by Bruce Adolphe as performed by The Metropolitan Opera Brass on Apple Music or Spotify.

Check out Bruce Adolphe on Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, or the web.

Don't miss Bruce's latest books Visions and Decisions and The Mind's Ear.

You can find more Piano Puzzlers on the web.

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Photograph of Bruce by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Santa and Isolde, A Holiday Opera Fantasy used with permission from 5th Show LLC

The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper.

Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman. 

This interview has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.

Episode copyright © 2023 Artful Narratives Media.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Grammy award winner, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Madison Cunningham folds together Folk, Americana, and Indie influences in her soulful music. She tells David about how she blends her voice with the guitar, reflects on how she physically held a full-size Taylor guitar at age six, and considers the first time she affected someone with her music and what that meant to her. Madison discusses the importance of sincerity in music vs. technical perfection, what it was like to direct a choir where the members were more than three times her age, and why being introduced to the music of the Beatles at age seventeen for the first time (and not earlier) was a gift. To finish out the episode, Madison talks about one of her "life highlights," a performance earlier this past year in New York City with Jacob Collier and Chris Thile.

Check out Madison Cunningham on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, or the web.

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Photograph of Madison by Todd Owyoung/NBC.

The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper.

Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman. 

This interview has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.

Episode copyright © 2023 Artful Narratives Media.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, and pianist Regina Spektor is an indie-pop icon with two albums that debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart. The Russian-born American musician tells David how difficult it was to leave behind her beloved childhood piano when her family immigrated to America, how she found her first piano teacher in the United States through a chance encounter between her father and a stranger on a train, and why she practiced on an imaginary piano. Regina reminisces about a trip to Israel when she was sixteen that sparked her career as a songwriter, reflects on a Carnegie Hall performance following her father's death, and reveals what she loves most about The Metropolitan Opera. To close it out, David and Regina compare notes about meeting celebrated soprano Renée Fleming!

Check out Regina Spektor on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or the web.

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Photograph of Regina by Shervin Lainez.

The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper.

Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman. 

This interview has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.

Episode copyright © 2023 Artful Narratives Media.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Grammy nominated Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero is celebrated for her exceptional musicality and her ability to improvise complex pieces on themes suggested by her audiences at live performances. The best-selling recording artist, Latin Grammy Award winner, and human rights activist discusses recording at Abbey Road Studios, seeing her album poster-size Tower Records near Lincoln Center, and what she discovered about her brain when she performs spontaneously. Gabriela reminisces about learning to play the piano at eight-months old, performing Haydn D Major at age nine, her desire to leave the piano behind in her early thirties, and her ultimate return to the instrument. She shares with David how her music influences her political activism and what it meant to her to perform with Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Anthony McGill at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Check out Gabriela Montero on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, or the web.

As discussed in the interview, you can see Gabriela perform Haydn D Major at age nine here.

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Thanks to our good friends at Ravinia for helping to make this interview possible.

Photograph of Gabriela by Anders Brogaard.

The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper.

Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman. 

This interview has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.

Episode copyright © 2023 Artful Narratives Media.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Swiss-American conductor, educator, scholar, and President of Bard College, Leon Botstein has dedicated his musical career to the performance of lesser known repertoire. Maestro Botstein candidly discusses the practical and emotional challenges a conductor faces while leading an orchestra and the importance of forgoing theatrical gestures. Leon reflects on how his choice to pursue music was a form of rebellion within his family of physicians and when he understood he wouldn't be a virtuoso. David and Leon talk about what makes a good leader of school, Leon's belief in a broad education (as opposed to that of a conservatory), the importance of an inquiring mind, and arts patronage.

Check out Leon Botstein on Facebook, Spotify, Apple Music, or the web.

Learn more about American Symphony Orchestra here, Bard College here, and The Orchestra Now here.

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You can find out more about Artful Narratives Media on Instagram and the web.

Photograph of Leon by Matt Dine.

The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper.

Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman. 

This interview has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.

Episode copyright © 2023 Artful Narratives Media.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MacArthur "Genius" Grant recipient, Avery Fisher Prize winner, and acclaimed pianist Jeremy Denk is also a New York Times bestselling author. He sits down with David to discuss his memoir Every Good Boy Does Fine, which was published to universal acclaim and how he managed to write the book with demanding concert and practice schedules. Jeremy recalls how his dad rescued a graffiti-covered piano from a burlesque house, getting beat up for blasting classical music with a boombox on his childhood school bus, and when he began to practice for the love of practicing. Jeremy shares lessons he learned from numerous piano teachers over the years and an early mistake he made when first starting out as a teacher himself. To close the conversation out, David and Jeremy share a laugh about the smell of the practice rooms on the fourth floor of Juilliard.

Check out Jeremy Denk on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, or the web.

You can order Jeremy's book Every Good Boy Does Fine here.

Follow Speaking Soundly on Instagram.

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You can find out more about Artful Narratives Media on Instagram and the web.

Thanks to our good friends at Ravinia for helping to make this interview possible.

Photograph of Jeremy by Shervin Lainez.

The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper.

Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman. 

This interview has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.

Episode copyright © 2023 Artful Narratives Media.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.