Phillip Gainsley's Podcast: Recent Episodes
Phillip Gainsley
Described by The New York Times as “one of America’s finest artists and singers,” Frederica von Stade continues to be extolled as one of the music world’s most beloved figures. She has enriched the world of classical music for three decades. Her career has taken her to the stages of the world’s great opera houses and concert halls. She began at the top, when she received a contract from Rudolf Bing during the Metropolitan Opera auditions, and since her debut in 1970 she has sung nearly all of her great roles with the Met. We talked about her signature role, Mozart’s Cherubino, her love of Broadway, her respect for Placido Domingo and their Merry Widow performances, and her recent recording, with Thomas Hampson, Richard Danielpour’s Elegies, a tribute to her father whom she never met.
Ira Siff is a native New Yorker, who grew up on the standing room line of the old Metropolitan Opera, worshiping the famous singers of the 60s. A graduate of the Cooper Union, with a degree in Fine Arts, Ira studied voice, and made his debut as a tenor in 1970. For the next decade, he performed roles in opera, operetta and musicals in New York, at The New York Shakespeare Festival, Circle in the Square, Playwrights Horizons, and other venues. Turning to cabaret, Ira created an act using vocal parody of opera, jazz, and other styles of music, gaining critical acclaim, and a loyal following. He has also given master classes in bel canto and verismo for the Metropolitan Opera Guild since 2008, and has presented sold-out lectures for the Met Guild on a variety of opera topics. Since 2007 he has served as commentator on the Met's Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts.
Anna Clyne was described as “fearless” by NPR. After sampling her works you'll know why. She is one of the most in-demand composers today, working with orchestras, choreographers, filmmakers, and visual artists around the world. Anna was named the 8th most performed contemporary composer in the world and the most performed living female British composer, in 2022.
Mattias Schulstad is a Swedish classical guitarist, whose playing is described by Gramophone magazine as “refined, intelligent and highly musical.” He has made recordings, performed as soloist with orchestra, and developed the guitar’s repertoire.
Mattias’s recent single, Johann Sebastian Bach's prelude BWV 999 features, according to Pulitzer-winner Tim Page, “immaculate and sensitive playing that takes a listener to the heart of Bach's music.”
His full-length recording debut Invocación introduced the notion in recent history that Frédéric Chopin influenced the guitar as we know it today. The recording explores Chopin's influence on the modern classical guitar’s central figure, Spanish composer Francisco Tárrega.
With his last-minute stand-in in the acclaimed new production of Salome at the Berlin State Opera, Thomas Guggeis caused a sensation internationally. As Staatskapellmeister of the Staatsoper Berlin since 2020/21 has conducted, or is due to conduct, Falstaff, Lohengrin, Samson et Dalila, Hansel and Gretel, Don Giovanni, Jenufa, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Elektra. His debut at the Vienna State Opera were Salome and Die tote Stadt. He will soon give symphony concerts around the world, including with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker.
From 2018-2020, as Kapellmeister at the Stuttgart State Opera, he had already performed works such as La Bohème, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Madama Butterfly, Der Prinz von Homburg and Der Freischütz.
Based in Brooklyn, New York and Minneapolis, Minnesota, David has performed off-broadway and around the country at American Conservatory Theatre, The Guthrie, Baltimore Center Stage, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Florida Repertory Theatre, Theatre Latte Da, and many others. He is the author of several musicals including The Passage, which has been developed at the NAMT Festival, Village Theatre, and beyond. He is also studying at New York University Tisch School of the Arts.
Richard Russell is general director of Sarasota Opera. He performed with the company for four seasons beginning in 1989 as an apprentice artist, studio artist, and principal. During his tenure as general director, Sarasota Opera increased individual giving by over 50%, more than doubled its endowment, and completed its world-renowned Verdi Cycle. Richard managed the construction and fundraising for the new Steinwachs Artist Residences for Sarasota Opera, which encompasses 30 units housing up to 70 artists.
David is a Canadian psychiatrist, professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, author, lecturer and mental health advocate. He most recently served from 2003-2022 as the Senior Medical Advisor of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and a psychiatric consultant. Beyond his mental health work, he is a member of the board of the Royal Conservatory of Music. He has also chaired the board of governors of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada as well as chairing the board of directors of the Off Centre Music Salon, a professional chamber music ensemble. David served on the board of directors of the Glenn Gould Foundation.
Whether as Beethoven, Gershwin, Berlin, Tchaikovsky, or Bernstein, Hershey Felder introduces us to these men of music in a way never before presented. He becomes these composers. Here him in this episode become Lorenzo da Ponte, Mozart's librettist for The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Cosi fan tutti.
Duane Schuler is a preeminent theater, opera and ballet lighting designer who has taken his art to a new level by working with architects and engineers in the lighting of new and restored structures. Duane comes from a long line of theatrical lighting designers going back over 50 years. Enjoy our enlightening conversation!
Mona Golabek's 2002 book, The Children of Willesden Lane, a True Story of Hope and Survival, chronicles her mother’s experience with the Kindertransport. Mona is a celebrated concert pianist for whom the expression "Hold on to your music" has a deeply personal meaning. Our conversation was truly moving.
Some time in the spring of 1970, after seeing the Broadway musical, “Company,” I wrote its composer/lyricist, Stephen Sondheim, simply to tell him how highly I thought of his show.
That began 51 years of correspondence between us.
I might write a letter of a few paragraphs and he would respond with a sentence. But what a sentence. Each word had meaning. And there nearly always was a response.
In 1971, I mentioned to him how unfortunate it was that the original cast recording of “Follies” didn’t contain all of the show’s songs. In response, he sent me, on two cassette tapes, the entire show, made with a recorder he personally planted on the stage, out of sight.
In 2002, the Lyric Opera of Chicago invited me to interview him when “Sweeney Todd” opened there. On that cold November night there was a line out the door of the Cultural Center. One of the city’s newspapers, reviewing our conversation, called me “the right man for the job.” In fact, it was Stephen who made it work. He was gracious, humorous, forthcoming and quite revealing about his art. It was the first I knew of his admiration of the works of Bernard Herrmann including the score for the 1945 movie “Hangover Square”which influenced “Sweeney Todd.” Attached is our interview, courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago.
A few months later, for the New York City Opera I hosted a panel with him at the Guggenheim Museum to discuss his “A Little Night Music.” He didn’t want to be there. A water pipe had just burst in his apartment, and the damage was consequential, especially to his antique puzzle collection. In the green room, knowing I was an attorney, he asked me about insurance coverage, deductibles and subrogation, a far cry from “Night Music.”
I remember two "Sondheimisms" from that night: First, when we were introduced and took our places, he whispered, in a good-natured attempt to fluster me, “Remember, Phil, this isn’t ‘Sweeney Todd’.” And when the discussion was ending, and I was thanking the panel-members and saying “good night,” he so adroitly bent my ear, “Thank the pianist.” He sensed that I would have overlooked him, and he was right. He saved me from an embarrassment.
There are very few people in one’s lifetime who leave their mark. And to get to know them personally is a high honor. Stephen Sondheim left his mark, and for that I will be forever grateful. His last words to me were on a video he sent me a year ago: “Happy Birthday, Phil, and keep doing it ‘til you get it right.”
He always got it right.
A deeply personal and often humorous conversation with the famed actor and author of a memoire, "Lilyville: Mother, Daughter, and Other Roles I've Played"
An insightful and colorful conversation with the internationally known oboist, and founder of the Minnesota Bach Ensemble
An enlightening conversation with Alastair Macaulay, on the subjects of theater, dance and opera
Lee Prinz, artists manager and agent, and head of the legendary Colbert Artists Management
David Frost, award-winning audio producer, joins Phillip in an informative and entertaining conversation.
A conversation with Jean Kellogg, executive director of the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco
Roger Pines, opera lecturer, dramaturg, adjudicator, creator of surtitles and the host of "Ask Roger" on the Lyric Opera of Chicago website
Abigail Pogrebin: Writer, author, journalist, and, at age 16 an original cast member of the Stephen Sondheim/George Furth musical, "Merrily We Roll Along"
Soprano Lisette Oropesa and her husband/
manager, Steve Harris, talk with Phillip about their careers
Fred is a writer, broadcaster and lecturer on all things Italian. We'll talk about his unique education and his early career, and his friendship with Luciano Pavarotti.
Peter Rothstein hails from small northern Minnesota town, and is making an impact in theater worldwide. Emjoy our chat!
A conversation with violinist Leila Josefowicz, accomplished champion of contemporary music.
Phillip Talks with Michael Bronson whose entire life has been in the presentation of the performing arts.
A conversation with contralto and conductor Nathalie Stutzmann who only recently was named principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and who makes her Met Opera debut in September, conducting Gluck's "Iphigénie en Tauride".
Martin Goldsmith: Phillip's conversation with Sirius XM Radio host and author of two books describing his parents' and his grandparents' quest to escape the Holocaust.
Phillip speaks with Gerard Schwarz and Julian Schwarz, father and son. Gerard was music direct or the Seattle Symphony for 26 years and Julian is a cello soloist. This lively conversation is as entertaining as informative.
Ted Sperling is a music director, conductor, orchestrator, arranger, stage director and musician, primarily for the stage and concerts. He is the artistic director of MasterVoices,
Listen as Phillip and he discuss the 2005 premiere of "Light in the Piazza" and the recent Lincoln Center Theater production of "My Fair Lady."
Phillip interviews Kari Docter and Bruno Eicher, husband and wife Metropolitan Opera Orchestra musicians. They talk about the challenges and accomplishments with one of the world's greatest orchestras, including career highlights.
Phillip talks with John Goberman, the creator and producer of "Live From Lincoln Center"
Phillip interviews Steven C. Smith, the talented author of extensive biographies of Bernard Herrmann and Max Steiner and their lasting impact on the motion picture industry.
Phillip interviews Ross MacGibbon, former dancer with The Royal Ballet who, upon retirement, became an award-winning screen director of ballet, opera and stage. His video recording of "Uncle Vanya" is featured this season on PBS's Great Performances.
Phillip interviews Ted Chapin, retired president of Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, after serving 30 years.