Crump's Classical Conversation
Join Bryan Crump, RNZ Concert host, singer & choir director as he shares the love of classical music with guests from Aotearoa & around the world. It's a classical conversation in more ways than one.
Episodes
New York pianist Kelly Moran sometimes performs on a "prepared" piano. That's when you put nuts and bolts on the strings to change the sound. She's no slouch with digital pianos either. Kelly spoke to us ahead of her tour of New Zealand.
Listen to Kelly's music and check out tour dates here
Sensors that transform chemical changes in rotting fruit into sound and recordings of birdsong made with machines used in mineral prospecting are part of the latest exhibition at New Plymouth's Len Lye Centre. Anna Briers is the curator.
Read more about the exhibition here.
In late 2024, the New Zealand music scene mourned the death of Hamilton composer Martin Lodge. Eighteen months later, his partner Dr Gail Pittaway talks about the tribute album, Aeon, featuring music by his composing friends.
Li Wei Qin was born in China, grew up in Australia and now lives in Singapore. He took time out from a tour of Aotearoa to tell us how living in different cultures has broadened his approach to music making.
Much of the music our orchestras play is by men, but that's changing - slowly. Yvonne New tells us about the balance of male verses female composers in the programming of two of our top orchestras, from 1980 to 2024.
Electricity sparked up the career of the originally acoustic musician Jess Chambers. Now the Arts Foundation's provided her with a springboard to move into the musical world of TV and film.
War is making a comeback, but Little Bushman guitarist Joe Callwood is taking a stand with his latest project, an online "politics free" musical collaboration dedicated to peace.
You can get on board Joe Callwood's Peace Ensemble here.
Tane Upjohn-Beatson is a composer and arranger turning Shayne Carter's rock songs into orchestral masterpieces.
Shayne Carter plays Crystalator live at Wellington's Bodega Bar.
Listen to Tane's arrangement of Shayne Carter's Crystalator.
The NZSO plays Tane's arrangement of Waiting Game.
Officially retired from teaching music at Otago University, Anthony Ritchie has no plans to stop writing it. Finishing his seventh symphony is one of his projects. He'll also have time to exercise his other great skill, playing croquet. Anthony's a former NZ representative.
Normally the double basses are at the back of the stage, but the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's Principal Bass Joan Perarnau Garriga is about to have a moment in the spotlight when he plays a solo in a performance of Mahler's 1st Symphony.
Watch the double bass solo in Mahler's 1st Symphony here.
If music is our first language, then our first language lessons should begin in the womb. Educator Julie Wylie talks about the importance of musical play, not just for young children, but their parents too.
Read information on Julie's approach to musical play here.
The music used in this podcast is Julie Wylie's own; “Rock-a-Bye Blues”, and “Bop it in the Rocket”, published by Sing and Play recordings. More in...
The young cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, one of the stars of Harry and Meghan's wedding, is coming to New Zealand later this year. I spoke to him about three of the things that matter in his life: football, his very musical family, and music.
Watch Sheku play during Harry and Meghan's wedding.
Want to get your kids into classical music? Try TwoSet Violin. Brett Yang and Eddie Chan have almost four and a half million followers on YouTube and over nine million across all social media (with an average age not far from 19). We spoke to one half of TwoSet Violin, Brett Yang, about bringing their live show to New Zealand.
TwoSet Violin react to the "fastest" violinist in the west.
His career is on the rise, so is his latest role. Christchurch singer Jared Holt was once a Mobil-Song Quest winning baritone, now he's a heroic tenor. Holt talked to us about his upcoming gig, in which he plays a bloke dying and going to Heaven - almost.
Watch Elgar's Dream of Gerontius here
Find out about Singfest.
At a time when racial and religious division is on the rise - around the world and in her home country - UK composer Roxanna Panufnik is on a mission to find common ground. NZTrio is taking one of her works on its latest tour of Aotearoa.
Listen to "Around Three Corners" by Roxanna Panufnik.
Check NZTrio's tour dates here.
Welshman Aled Jones is that rare thing, a hit singer both before and after his voice broke. You might know "Walking on Air" from his boyhood days, but he's continued to enjoy chart success since. We spoke to him shortly after he arrived on his first tour of Aotearoa.
Watch Aled Jones bridge his own generation gap here
To mark Mothers Day, we're dropping a special mother/daughter conversation with leading Kiwi composer Claire Cowan and her mother Joyce. It's a story about a mother encouraging a child's prodigious talent, and how that relationship helped the mother on her own musical journey later in life.
Find out more about the Sanctuary concerts
Ever taken part in Rockquest? Your high school band has reason to thank Pete Rainey for making it possible. Pete's a musical phenomenon, both in his hometown of Nelson and around Aotearoa. He's just stepped back from choral conducing to make more time for his job as the Nelson's deputy mayor, but there's still loads of music going on in his life.
If Beethoven were alive today (and he wanted his art heard by as many people as possible) would he write symphonies or join a band? Charmian Keay reckons the latter. The Auckland Philharmonia violinist has a side hustle arranging songs by the band Radiohead. We spoke to her ahead of a recent Radiohead "concert".
Watch Charmian Keay and her fellow musicians perform Radiohead's song "No Surprises"
After 14 years with the Kings Singers, New Zealand born baritone Chris Bruerton is moving on, but not before he brought the rest of the UK based group on a tour to New Zealand, including a gig in his home-town, Christchurch. We spoke with Chris before the concert.
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