News Release

Back to Newsroom

---

10.22.09

Contact: Jessica Moore, jkmoore@emory.edu, 404-727-1687

From the Top Comes to Schwartz Center at Emory to Celebrate Ten Years on the Air
 
NPR Taping November 4 at 8 p.m., Emory University

Features 100-plus Young Musicians from Metro-Atlanta in the Emory Youth Symphony and Soloists from Marietta, McDonough, and Stockbridge, GA and Johnson City, TN

Atlanta - From the Top, the preeminent showcase for young musicians, comes to the Schwartz Center at Emory University on Wednesday, November 4 at 8pm to tape a radio broadcast and commemorate its tenth anniversary on the air. Hosted by acclaimed concert pianist Christopher O’Riley, From the Top on NPR is one of the most popular classical music series on public radio. Heard locally on Georgia Public Broadcasting and WABE-FM, the program celebrates the amazing performances and captivating personal stories of America’s best young musicians. Tickets are available at www.arts.emory.edu or 404-727-5050. This concert is part of the Emory Coca-Cola Artists-in-Residence Series.
 
Thepre-college musicians of the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra from metro-Atlanta, directed by Richard Prior will appear on the show along with 15-year-old double bassist Xavier Foley from Marietta, GA performing the first movement from Bottesini’s Concerto No. 2 in B minor, and the flute and piano duo “Music Two Share” featuring Hally Davidson,15, flute from McDonough, GA and Bryan Anderson, 16, piano from Stockbridge, GA. Hally and Bryan will perform Suite for Flute & Piano, Op. 34 by Widor. They will be joined by 14-year-old pianist Ming Wilson from Johnson City, TN, who is a recipient of From the Top’s $10,000 Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award.

The taping will also feature special guest Melissa White a concert violinist and member of the Harlem Quartet, who appeared on From the Top in 2001 when she was just 16 years old. Melissa’s appearance is part of a series of alumni spotlights that will air over the course of From the Top’s 10th Anniversary Season.
 
While in Atlanta, From the Top will conduct educational programs with middle school students at the Shamrock and Parks schools.
 
This episode will air nationally the week of December 7 and can be heard in Atlanta, Sunday, December 13 at 2:00pm on WABE 90.1fm and Monday, December 14 at 1:00pm on WABE Classical, and Sunday, December 13 at 1pm on Georgia Public Broadcasting.

What began as a radio experiment in 2000 quickly became one of the fastest growing and most popular weekly classical music programs on public radio. Broadcast on nearly 250 stations nationwide to an audience of more than 700,000 listeners each week, From the Top has been described by the Boston Globe as, “an entertaining, accessible and inspirational mix of outstanding musical performances, informal interviews, skits and games, the show is a celebration of extraordinary musicians who happen to be teenagers leading fairly normal lives.”
 
Annually, From the Top’s live tapings reach more than 20,000 live audience members of all ages. In conjunction with its national tour, the non-profit conducts classroom and community outreach programs leveraging the power of its performers as role models for younger students. In addition, From the Top and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation award more than $200,000 a year in scholarships to high achieving musicians with limited financial means. The program has invested more than $1 million in support for pre-college students since 2005. From the Top launched its Emmy Award winning PBS television series From the Top at Carnegie Hall in 2007 and both seasons of episodes are available in their entirety at pbs.org/fromthetop. In 2009, Telarc Records released From the Top at the Pops, featuring a bright and diverse group of young musicians from around the country performing with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra.
 
From the Top is made possible through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. It is also supported through the generous contributions of individuals and foundations as well as public radio stations. From the Top’s radio program is produced in association with WGBH Radio Boston and New England Conservatory of Music, its home and education partner.  

Learn more at www.fromthetop.org.

MEDIA/PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Interview, video, and photo opportunities may be scheduled with the performers in advance of the performance.

---

Back to top