A couple of weeks ago, I had a delightful time being interviewed on the phone by Chris Johnson from KUHF, Houston public radio, about my book, and more generally about the future of classical music. We talked for 35 minutes, he’s since told me, and he thought he’d only be able to use a small part of that.
Which of course would be normal, and hardly a surprise to me. What did surprise me, though, was Chris’s news this week. He’d talked to me for an arts magazine they broadcast, called “The Front Row,” and the program’s executive producer just loved the interview. So now they’re broadcasting lots of it, over three days, starting today, as follows, with my remarks edited, and grouped into topics:
- today, Tuesday, 8/29: “The Classical Music Crisis is Real/How We Got Here”
- Wednesday: “All Kind of Changes Need to Occur. . .”
- Thursday: not yet determined, when last I heard, but they were expecting 10 to 12 minutes of me
I’m very flattered, needless to say. But what’s most important is that this topic–the future of classical music, the crisis we’re in, the changes that have to happen (and in fact are happening)–means a lot to many people. I think the classical music world is changing faster than any of us really know, something I’ll post more about very soon.
“The Front Row” airs at 3:00 PM, on KUHF, 88.7 FM in Houston, with the broadcasts also available on the Web.
Many thanks for this Chris, and congrats on making it such a success.
(I’ll also be on “Soundcheck“–the daily music talk show on WNYC, New York’s public radio station–at 2 PM this Friday, discussing pop/classical crossovers. Subjects for discussion might include Sting’s upcoming John Dowland CD, and a really absorbing disc of lieder, rendered–quite wonderfully–in jazz style by a sax and piano duo.)