Phillip Gainsley's Podcast

Daniele Rustioni is a major presence at leading opera houses and symphony halls. In 2022, the International Opera Awards named him “Best Conductor.” His opera repertoire numbers over 70 works spanning over centuries and ranging from Italian to French, German to Russian, and more. This coming season he concludes his eight-year tenure as music director of Opéra National de Lyon.   He was principal guest conductor of the Bavarian State Opera until October 2023.Daniele has led performances at the nearly all of the most important international opera houses and festivals, including Aix-en-Provence Festival, BBC Proms, Berlin State Opera, Dutch National Opera, Paris Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival, Teatro Real, Zurich Opera House and the Teatro alla Scala. In Italy, his homeland, he has also conducted at Opera di Roma, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Florence), Teatro La Fenice (Venice), Rossini Opera Festival (Pesaro) and Teatro San Carlo (Naples).He was recently named principal guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, and as we spoke, he was preparing his debut concerts with the New York Philharmonic.  

Jan Vogler’s distinguished career has brought him together with renowned conductors and internationally acclaimed orchestras around the world.In addition to his classical concert activities as a soloist, Jan is constantly looking for new ways to combine music with other arts. In February 2024, he gave a highly acclaimed concert with inaugural-poet Amanda Gorman, performing her contemporary poems with cello suites by J. S. Bach in the Isaac Stern Auditorium in Carnegie Hall. They appeared on the  ‘Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert’ in March 2024. He has also collaborated with actor Bill Murray for their joint musical-literary project “Bill Murray, Jan Vogler & Friends – New Worlds”. Under the artistic direction of Jan Vogler and conductor Kent Nagano, Wagner’s “Ring Tetralogy” will be performed in the artistic context of the period in which it was composed, based on the latest findings of research into Wagner and performance practice, and integrated into an extensive supporting program as part of the multi-year project “The Wagner Cycles” of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele from 2023 to 2026.“Die Walküre,” the second work in the epochal narrative will follow in 2024.Jan has recorded 20 Sony CDs. The most recent releases were with the cello concertos of Edouard Lalo and Enrique Casals in March 2023, The Dvorak Album in July 2022.Jan has been Intendant of the renowned Dresden Music Festival since October 2008 as well as Artistic Director of the Moritzburg Festival since 2001. In 2017 the Moritzburg Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary as one of the most established chamber music festivals internationally.In 2006, he received the European Award for Culture and in 2011 the Erich-Kästner Award for tolerance, humanity and international understanding. In June 2018 he received the European Award for Culture TAURUS as Director of the Dresden Music Festival. 2021 Jan Vogler was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Sharon Isbin was named Musical America Worldwide’s 2020 Instrumentalist of the Year, the first guitarist ever to receive the honor in its 59-year award history. She was inducted into the 2023 Guitar Foundation of America Hall of Fame and received its Artistic Achievement Award.   She is “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time”, the winner of Guitar Player magazine’s Best Classical Guitarist award, and numerous other awards. Sharon has appeared as soloist with over 200 orchestras and has given sold-out performances in many of the world’s finest halls across 40 countries, including New York’s Carnegie and Geffen Halls, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, London’s Barbican and Wigmore Halls, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Paris’ Châtelet, Vienna’s Musikverein, Munich’s Herkulessaal, Argentina’s Teatro Colón, and Madrid’s Teatro Real.  She has been acclaimed for expanding the guitar repertoire with some of the finest new works of our time, and has premiered over 80 works written for her by world-renowned composers, including more concerti than any other guitarist, as well as numerous solo and chamber works. Public television’s acclaimed one-hour documentary Sharon Isbin: Troubadour has been seen by millions on over 200 PBS stations across the U.S. and abroad.  Other recent national performances on PBS include the Billy Joel Gershwin Prize with Josh Groban, and Tavis Smiley.  And, she has a significant discography.   Sharon Isbin has been practicing Transcendental Meditation since age 17 and donates her time to perform benefits for the David Lynch Foundation, along with Katy Perry, Sting, Hugh Jackman, Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno, to bring TM to at-risk communities. We’ll talk about that and more in this inspiring conversation.

 “If I ever stop finding music challenging and life-altering, I’ll quit and become an accountant.”  Not to worry.  Pianist Jonathan Biss, a world-renowned educator and critically-acclaimed author, cannot stop finding music challenging and life-altering.  Listening to him speak about Beethoven — or even Verdi, one gleans an obsession with greatness.  At the age of 17, Jonathan attended the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Leon Fleisher, which proved a phenomenal learning experience.  While his life in music provides him with tremendous satisfaction, playing music remains ever a struggle. He regards it as a pleasure and privilege to live this struggle, and to share its results with other people.  As he puts it, “Doing justice to great music is an unattainable goal.”His audio book, Unquiet, My Life With Beethoven is a must-hear.Our conversation is as enlightening as it is entertaining.  Listen for yourself!