The Forte Podcast

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, as a member of the all-star SFJAZZ Collective, pianist Edward Simon has been a Guggenheim Fellow along with being awarded multiple composition grants  as part of the Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works initiative. Simon,  a Yamaha artist, has recorded 16 albums as a leader or co-leader; his  latest is 25 Years, released via Ridgeway Records in October  2020. This follows Simon’s 2016 album Latin American Songbook, with the  four-and-a-half-star DownBeat review praising its “grand and  sophisticated” sound. Latin American Songbook also won Simon an NAACP  Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album. The New York Times has praised  Simon’s “light, warm touch” as a pianist, while Jazz Journal  International singled out “his deep emotional statements” as a composer  and improviser.

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Trombonist Phillip Williams is a student at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studies Classical Trombone Performance. 

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Anne Midgette was the classical music critic of The Washington Post for 11 years, from 2008 to 2019. Before that, she was for seven years a regular contributor of classical music and theater reviews to The New York Times. She has also written about music, the visual arts, dance, theater and film for The Wall Street Journal, Opera News, The Los Angeles Times, Town & Country, and many other publications, reviewing and interviewing everyone from Spike Lee to Twyla Tharp, Marina Abramovic to Plácido Domingo. At the Post, she oversaw every aspect of classical music coverage, offset her music writing with occasional visual art reviews, and posted online as The Classical Beat. A graduate of Yale University, where she majored in Classical Civilization, she lived in Germany for 11 years, writing for a range of publications about music, the visual arts, theater, dance and film; editing a monthly magazine; working as a translator; and writing several travel guidebooks.

BRANDON'S DEBUT ALBUM IS OUT NOW ON ALL PLATFORMS- 

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/j-s-bach-boulez-aho-prokofiev-flute-sonatas-solo-works/1529663533

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1PjM7pLn3o2kDum6jP6Xqs?si=jmkyXVBnRriWGnPX0HnQ8Q

Amazon (hard copy) : https://www.amazon.com/Flute-Sonatas-Brandon-Patrick-George/dp/B08DSZ33WM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1S4MBANWJHRJ8&dchild=1&keywords=brandon+patrick+george&qid=1600750237&sprefix=Brandon+Patrick+%2Caps%2C190&sr=8-1

Brandon Patrick George is the flutist of the Grammy®-nominated Imani Winds, and has performed with many of the world’s leading ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). He has appeared at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, Elbphilharmonie, the Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dresden Music Festival, and the Prague Spring Festival. An avid chamber musician, Brandon has collaborated with members of the Gryphon Trio, New York Philharmonic, Jasper String Quartet, and has performed live on New York's WQXR with harpist Bridget Kibbey. He has been hailed by The New York Times as “the elegant Brandon Patrick George”, as a “virtuoso” by The Washington Post, and called a “knockout musician with a gorgeous sound” by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

THE BIKE PIECE WE TALKED ABOUT:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCO7FG4KsSs

Celebrating their 10th anniversary, the Akropolis Reed Quintetwas founded in 2009 at the University of Michigan and is the first ever ensemble of its makeup to win seven national prizes including a Fischoff Gold Medal (2014) and Fischoff Educators Award (2015). Hailed by Fanfare Magazine for its “imagination, infallible musicality, and huge vitality”, Akropolis has performed from Juneau to Abu Dhabi and delivers more than 120 annual performances and workshops annually. A maverick of new wind music, Akropolis has commissioned over 70 reed quintet works and recorded three albums, including its 2017 release, The Space Between Us, which the San Francisco Chronicle calls, “pure gold”. Akropolis has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs & Chamber Music America for their adventurous artistry and compelling community programming in Detroit, MI.

CHECK OUT POST-CLASSICAL ENSEMBLE'S NEWEST FILM THAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT IN THE EPISODE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gnQakMpj4g

Joseph Horowitz is currently the Executive Producer of Washington DC's cutting-edge classical music group, the PostClassical Ensemble. The Ensemble, called “one of the country’s most innovative music groups” by The Washington Post, plays music in new and creative spaces, actively working to end the marginalization of the 21st Century listening experience. Horowitz also served as Executive Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic and music critic for The New York Times. In addition to his work at PostClassical, Horowitz keeps up a busy touring schedule where he produces innovative and out-of-the-box concerts for orchestras around the United States.

Taylor Rossi is a digital marketer for classical musicians where she does web design, social media management, branding, marketing strategy, and photography. She currently works with the marketing agency NR Media.

Cellist Ken Kubota is a graduate of The Juilliard School of Music in New York City, where he holds a Bachelor's and Master's Degree. He is the Founder and Director of JHM Jams, a video series that does covers of pop songs with a rotating 270-person roster of professional classical and jazz musicians. The JHM Jams YouTube Channel has over 35,000 subscribers and 4,000,000 total views, and their covers have been seen by artists Demi Lovato and Charlie Puth, among several others.

Drew Alexander Forde (aka ThatViolaKid) is an Instagram and YouTube Personality, where he makes vlogs, how-to videos, and hosts Q&A sessions for musicians and music lovers. Drew holds a Master's Degree in Viola Performance from The Juilliard School, where, during his time there, he created several behind-the-scenes videos about Juilliard and its audition process, several of which have over 100,000 YouTube views. Drew aims to be the Neil deGrasse Tyson of classical music, where he works to end the stigma associated with the genre and make it exciting and accessible to all. Drew is also the co-host of the Faking Notes Podcast, which is available on every major podcast platform.

ThatViolaKid on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ThatViolaKid

ThatViolaKid on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatviolakid/?hl=en

FAKING NOTES PODCAST: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/faking-notes-podcast/id1467641031

Listen to the full episode here: 

https://anchor.fm/fortebyclarinetandfriends/episodes/Veronica-Leahy-on-the-dangers-of-social-media--overcoming-jazz-stereotypes--and-the-voice-of-protest-coming-through-in-music-egbbkr/a-a2kl6ai

The GRAMMY-Nominated woodwind quintet, Imani Winds, has been at the forefront of a creative revolution in the performing arts. The ensemble frequently commissions new works from a diverse body of composers to reflect historical events and the times in which we currently live. Imani Winds regularly performs in top concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Their touring schedule has taken them throughout the Asian continent, Brazil, Australia, England, New Zealand, and across Europe.

Bass Trombonist Ehren Valmé is currently a senior at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. He is the Bass Trombonist of the Montclair Orchestra, and has performed with the Philadelphia Wind Symphony, The American Brass Quintet, and the United Nations Chamber Music Society. In this episode, Ehren talks about his ideas on bringing diversity and open-mindedness to the arts, designing a new instrument, and the challenge of refreshing the orchestral establishment.

From performing at Carnegie Hall to playing on NPR, Raymond McLain is one of the most accomplished musicians and educators in the country. In this episode, Raymond shares the story of how his family's world-famous bluegrass band, The McLain Family Band, got started, as well as his philosophies about music and teaching.