Interview – All Classical Radio

John Pitman Reviews: Marc-André Hamelin’s ‘Found Objects / Sound Objects’

John Pitman — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Recorded in the All Classical Radio studios during his visit to promote his performance with Vancouver Symphony, pianist Marc-André Hamelin chats with Director of Music and Programming John Pitman about his 92nd (!) album, Found Objects / Sound Objects.

Host John Pitman and pianist Marc-André Hamelin

The new album includes works by 20th century icons such as John Cage, Stefan Wolpe, and Frank Zappa, as well as Marc’s friends John Oswald and Yehudi Wyner. The album concludes with a work by Marc himself, titled Hexensabbat, which is German for Witches’ Sabbath.

In their conversation, Marc gives insight into these fascinating, challenging and also charming 20th and 21st century works for piano.

Hear the conversation below:

Marc-André Hamelin’s Found Objects / Sound Objects is available now on Hyperion Records.

KGW’s Hello, Rose City: All Classical Radio celebrates 40 Years on the air

All Classical Radio — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 00:24:10 +0000

Thank you to KGW and host Lacey Evans, for having All Classical Radio’s President & CEO Suzanne Nance on Hello, Rose City! View the segment below or on the All Classical YouTube channel, to hear Suzanne discuss the station’s 40th anniversary, the upcoming move to KOIN Tower in Summer 2024, and the ground-breaking Artist Anthology.

Artist Anthology is a collection of forty of the Pacific Northwest’s trailblazing contemporary artists–the culture bearers of this region’s thriving arts community. Visit anthology.allclassical.org every week for the release of the most recent artist profile, culminating in a limited-edition book in mid-2024.

Learn more at anthology.allclassical.org.

Footage courtesy of KGW News/Hello, Rose City!
Host: Lacey Evans
Producer: Ellen Boynton

John Pitman Review: Carlos Simon’s ‘Together’

John Pitman — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 17:00:00 +0000

Composer Carlos Simon has received numerous awards and nominations for works such as 2021’s Requiem for the Enslaved. He recently spoke to All Classical Radio host John Pitman about his latest album Together, a 10-track project that came about from the desire to simply make music with friends and colleagues, after the long period of separation during the pandemic.

Among these friends is soprano J’Nai Bridges, who sings Simon’s arrangement of the hymn Near the Cross, as well as the opening track, Prayer. Carlos tells John “because…always begin with a prayer.”), Violinist Randall Goosby joins the composer in Simon’s achingly beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace.

Hear John’s full interview with Carlos Simon, woven with music excerpts from Together:

Together by Carlos Simon is available now on Decca Classics. Purchase the album and learn more at carlossimonmusic.com.

John Pitman Review: Eric Whitacre & Voces8 ‘Home’

John Pitman — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 17:00:00 +0000

All Classical Portland’s Program Director John Pitman recently spoke with American choral composer Eric Whitacre, who has a career now spanning over three decades, is one of the world’s most popular composers among audiences and choirs alike. Several of his works have been recorded multiple times, but even then, the composer sees opportunities when one special group comes forth to work with him.

The 8-voice British mixed choir, Voces8, renowned for their stunningly melded yet clear singing, collaborated with Whitacre on Home, which includes the very personal musical statement, The Sacred Veil. There are also several stand-alone works such as The Seal Lullaby, Go Lovely Rose…, and a world premiere: All Seems Beautiful to Me (with text by Whitman). John Pitman interviews Mr. Whitacre, and weaves in moments of musical magic as sung by Voces8.

Hear John’s conversation with Eric below:

https://soundcloud.com/all-classical-portland/john-pitman-review-eric-whitacre-voces8-home

Home is available now through Eric’s website, ericwhitacre.com.

John Pitman Review: Mao Fujita Takes On Mozart

John Pitman — Sun, 12 Mar 2023 18:58:39 +0000

Pianist Mao Fujita was born in Japan and now lives in Europe, where he is studying with Kirill Gerstein. Mao was invited to the renowned Verbier Festival in Switzerland a couple of years ago, on the strength of having a number of Mozart’s piano sonatas in his fingers. The Festival asked Mao if he could get the rest of them – 18 in all – ready for a live performance. Mao did so, and the result of that was a signing to Sony, and this new recording of the complete Mozart sonatas.

Mao takes an approach that would have been absolutely expected by Mozart and others of his time: not to play the sonatas “note for note”, but rather to bring something different each time the phrase came back. This fresh approach is just one of the attractions of Mao’s new recording, the other is the sense of familiarity and intimacy he has with the music, as though he’s known this music his whole life. And in some ways, he has…

Hear All Classical Portland’s Program Director John Pitman‘s conversation with Mao, and enjoy some musical excerpts:

https://soundcloud.com/all-classical-portland/john-pitman-review-mao-fujita-takes-on-mozart

Mao Fujita’s Mozart: The Complete Piano Sonatas is available now from Sony at prestomusic.com.

Black Renaissance Woman: Meet Musicologist-Pianist Samantha Ege

Emma Riggle — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 20:23:11 +0000

It is part of All Classical Portland’s mission to expand and advance knowledge of and appreciation for classical music. If you’re just starting to discover music outside the traditional classical canon, there’s no better composer to start with than that African American 20th-century composer Florence Price, whose music has been enjoying a recent resurgence in concert performances and recordings.

Dr. Samantha Ege of Oxford University is a leading specialist on Florence Price, whose work she has been studying since 2009. Dr. Ege is a researcher, a writer, and a pianist, and equally brilliant in all these areas of expression. In addition to her virtuosic technique and stylistic sensitivity, she brings a musicologist’s scholarly analysis to her interpretations of Florence Price’s piano music.

I met Dr. Ege last November at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, where she presented a lecture-recital and appeared as a panelist. As All Classical’s Music Researcher, I recently had the privilege of chatting with her about her her work on Florence Price and the artistic flowering of Black musical life in midcentury Chicago. Read on to learn about Dr. Ege’s career and research, and about her new album Black Renaissance Woman, coming out in March 2022.

Soprano Karen Slack and RII Advisor Mara Miller: A Conversation

Mara Miller — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 20:52:34 +0000

As part of All Classical Portland’s Recording Inclusivity Initiative, five pieces were recorded, including “Taking Names” by Jasmine Barnes. Soprano Karen Slack and pianist Yoko Greeney tackled this moving work for the official recording. Enjoy the conversation below as RII Executive Advisor Mara Miller and Slack speak about the importance of this piece, the inspiration behind it, the changing culture of classical music as new generations advance in the field, and more!

John Pitman Review: Berlin-based Seong-Jin Cho Returns to Chopin

John Pitman — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 22:41:11 +0000

John Pitman, All Classical Portland’s Director of Music and Programming, interviews pianist Seong-Jin Cho about the sixth and latest album. Returning to the music of Frédéric Chopin with Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2, Cho’s CD was recorded in April of 2021, in Hamburg and London. Seong-Jin shares with John the process, and the special challenges, of recording in a studio with an orchestra during the pandemic and offers his insight into the young Chopin’s approach to the concerto form, as well as to the four Scherzi, which were written at various stages in the composer’s life.

Purchase the album at ArkivMusic.

John Pitman Review: Roots: Debut recording by violinist Randall Goosby

John Pitman — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 00:25:50 +0000

John interviews Randall Goosby, whose debut on the Decca label, “Roots,” was released this summer (and is being played on All Classical Portland regularly). The disc is an exploration of music written by Black composers and of composers inspired by Black American culture. Randall tells John Pitman about the importance and responsibility of bringing underrepresented composers into the repertoire, finding balance between violin study and sports; and the mentorship of the great violinist Itzhak Perlman, whose summer camp in New York is on, naturally, Shelter Island.

Buy “Roots” at Arkivmusic

Get to know Composer in Residence Lauren McCall

Kristina Becker — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 21:15:41 +0000

This summer, All Classical Portland welcomes three new Composers in Residence: Lauren McCall, Jasmine Barnes, and Keyla Orozco! These residencies are co-hosted by N M Bodecker Foundation as part of the Recording Inclusivity Initiative, a program designed to change America’s playlist by recording classical works by composers from historically excluded communities.

The station’s three resident composers and their musical works were nominated by community members and selected from nearly 100 submissions!

We recently welcomed Lauren McCall to Portland for her week-long, in-state residency. A composer and educator based in Atlanta, Georgia, Lauren has had compositions performed around North America and in Europe. Watch the video below to hear more from Lauren about her piece “A Spark and a Glimmer,” her sources for inspiration, what she would share with young composers, and more, as she chats with All Classical Portland’s Artist in Residence, flutist Adam Eccleston.

Stay tuned for more behind the scenes footage, and to meet our other two Composers in Residence, Jasmine Barnes and Keyla Orozco, next month!