Interview – All Classical Radio

John Pitman Reviews: ‘Terra Infirma’

John Pitman — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0000

John Pitman’s latest conversation is with two artists who knew each other’s work, but who had not worked together, before this project. In this bold new work, with a title taken from a poem by Robert Walters, the harp symbolizes the protagonist Earth, both fragile and powerful.

Terra Infirma was directly inspired by the experiences of its creative team. Composer Reena Esmail, who resides in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Altadena, was forced to evacuate her home during the catastrophic fires of January 2025. Harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, a committed advocate for the environment, is founder and director of the non-profit organization Earth at Heart.

The towering instrument is moved choreographically by Kondonassis across the stage as she journeys through various arrays of suspended percussion. In the composer’s words, the work is “part virtuoso concerto, part performance art, and part theater.”

Hear John Pitman’s interview with Kondonassis and Esmail about their new joint project, Terra Infirma below:

Terra Infirma by harpist Yolanda Kondonassis and composer Reena Esmail is available now on Azica Records.

Lisa Lipton Spotlights PSU’s ‘Spring Awakening’

Lisa Lipton — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Lisa Lipton by Christine Dong

All Classical Radio host Lisa Lipton sat down to chat with Zach Galatis, flute section member, piccolo soloist with the Oregon Symphony, and Assistant Professor of Flute at Portland State University (PSU) to hear more about his role as music director behind PSU’s first ever full-scale musical production, Spring Awakening.

Best known in the region for his dynamic work as a performer and educator, Zach shares how he brings his deep musical insight to this Tony Award–winning rock musical that explores adolescence, identity, and the struggle to be heard. In their conversation below, we hear them dive into what makes this milestone production so meaningful for PSU’s School of Music & Theater and how the cast and creative team are bringing this bold, coming of age show to life.

Based on a play by Frank Wedekind, and directed by Theresa Robbins Dudeck, PSU’s production of Spring Awakening runs February 27 – March 7, 2026, at Lincoln Performance Hall. Tickets and more at pdx.edu.

Host Lisa Lipton Interviews Oregon Symphony’s Paul Snyder

Lisa Lipton — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 20:00:00 +0000

JUST ANNOUNCED: The Oregon Symphony has named Paul Snyder as the orchestra’s next President and Chief Executive Officer. Snyder had been appointed Interim President and CEO in July 2025.

As the strategic and operational leader of the Oregon Symphony, Snyder will oversee the artistic, financial, and administrative aspects of the organization, working in close collaboration with Jean Vollum Music Director David Danzmayr to support his artistic direction and creative vision for the orchestra. Drawing on his service on the Oregon Symphony Board of Directors, Snyder brings a deep understanding of the Symphony’s culture and long-term direction. He began an organization-wide strategic planning process in 2025 that engaged board members, musicians, staff, and other stakeholders in shaping a bold and vibrant future for the Symphony.

All Classical Radio host Lisa Lipton spoke with Paul about the future of the Oregon Symphony and arts in Portland. Hear their conversation below:

Learn more at orsymphony.org.

Stay tuned for All Classical Radio’s Oregon Symphony broadcasts beginning in December 2025.

Brandi Parisi Interviews Opera in the Park’s Ashley Clark

All Classical Radio — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Ashley Clark, photo by Rebecca Zeller

Opera in the Park has featured free world-class opera performances for the Portland community for over two decades. They recently announced the appointment of their first-ever Executive Director, Ashley Clark.

Ashley has a very special relationship with the organization. All Classical host Brand Parisi spoke with Ashley about her new role, and Opera in the Park’s upcoming production of Bizet’s Carmen on Sunday, July 27, 2025, at Portland’s Peninsula Park. Learn more at operaintheparkportland.org.

All Classical Radio is the Official Media Sponsor for Opera in the Park.

Hear Brandi’s conversation with Ashley below.

Host Brandi Parisi Interviews poets Dao Strom & Alicia Jo Rabins

Brandi Parisi — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 16:00:00 +0000

April is National Poetry Month. All Classical Radio host Brandi Parisi recently spoke with Portland-based songwriters, composers, and poets Dao Strom and Alicia Jo Rabins about their new collaborative project/album, Wild Nights.

Hear their interview, including details about the multi-year project, their music choices of folk and Americana, and the poetry of Emily Dickinson below:

Host Brandi Parisi Interviews Eugene Symphony’s Alex Prior

All Classical Radio — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Alex Prior, the newly appointed Music Director of the Eugene Symphony, speaks with All Classical Radio host Brandi Parisi. In this wide-ranging discussion, they talked about Alex’s phenomenal career (he was Assistant Conductor of the Seattle Symphony at age 17!), universality in music, the importance of outreach and community, his love of the Pacific Northwest, and his interest in geographic elevation facts.

Conductor and Composer Alex Prior (b. 1992) brings over 19 years of international and critically acclaimed experience to his appointment as Music Director-designate of the Eugene Symphony. His tenure with the Eugene Symphony will begin in fall, 2025. Alex has earned a reputation since early childhood for his profound and visionary music making which he has had the opportunity to share with some of the world’s greatest soloists, orchestras, and opera companies.

Alex began his post-secondary studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory at the age of 13 with a dual major in conducting with Alexander Alexeev and composition with Boris Tishchenko. He made his professional conducting debut at 14, conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride and graduated with top honors at the age of 17 – a feat only matched by Sergei Prokofiev. Immediately thereafter he was appointed by the Seattle Symphony as an Assistant Conductor.

He will take the artistic helm at the Eugene Symphony for their 60th anniversary 2025/26 season.

Learn more at eugenesymphony.org

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!

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!

Recording Inclusivity Initiative: Lauren McCall interviewed by Adam Eccleston

The Magic of Radio: Behind the Scenes with Chief Engineer Mike Alston

Kelly Lantz — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 20:02:39 +0000

National Radio Day crackles to life on August 20^thevery year in the United States for us to celebrate the miracle of sound waves travelling to our ears from far and wide. The history of National Radio Day is about as fuzzy as an untuned radio though, with rumors of its beginnings lying somewhere in the early 1990s. The purported seed of this holiday is the WWJ radio station in Detroit, Michigan, who began its daily broadcasts as the “Detroit News Radiophone” on August 20, 1920, as one of the first pioneers of commercial radio (via Wikipedia).

In honor of National Radio Day, All Classical Portland Intern Kelly Lantz interviewed our Chief Engineer Mike Alston on what it’s like to run the technical magic behind the music. Mike has a vast wealth of knowledge and experience in this field and is an excellent storyteller, so if you’re curious about how you’re able to hear the dulcet tones of All Classical Portland on your own radio, read on!