Orchestrating Change

We are delighted to be joined today by Alison Norris, who has served as one of our conducting fellows with the Canton Symphony Orchestra throughout the 2024-2025 season. A Cincinnati native, Alison originally earned a bachelor of science degree from Valparaiso University in Indiana before earning their Master of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin and professional studies diploma from Manhattan School of Music, both in or...

On this episode of Orchestrating Change, we're honored to welcome the legendary Garrick Ohlsson—one of the greatest living concert pianists. With a career spanning over six decades, Ohlsson has performed in the world’s top concert halls and with leading orchestras around the globe. He made history in 1970 as the only American to win the International Chopin Piano Competition and later earned a Grammy Award for his Beethoven recordi...

Today we are delighted to be joined in person by operatic baritone Brian Keith Johnson. Brian has performed regularly with the Canton Symphony Orchestra throughout his career, most recently as Coalhouse Walker Jr. in last summer’s concert presentation of the musical Ragtime. He also appeared on Gerhardt Zimmermann’s final concert in April of 2023, singing Dvorak’s Te Deum and the Catalogue Aria from Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He has al...

Today's guest is Camille Delaney-McNeill, Director of the Judith and Thomas L. Beckman YOLA Center, serving the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles program in Inglewood, California. Prior to her arrival in Los Angeles in 2021, she was the Director of Programs for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids, a comprehensive music education program serving students in Baltimore City Schools. She currently sits on the board of El Sistema U...

We are thrilled to be joined today in person by Chris Jenkins, Associate Dean for Academic Support, Liaison to the office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and Visiting Professor of Musicology at Oberlin Conservatory. Concurrently with his work at Oberlin, he is also pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Viola Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music AND a Ph.D. in Musicology from Case Western Reserve University. ...

We welcome Mary Verdi-Fletcher, a professional wheelchair dancer and the founding Artistic Director of the Dancing Wheels Company, a physically integrated dance troupe that has operated in Northeast Ohio for over four decades. She also founded the Dancing Wheels School, which has since become the world’s epicenter for professional training in physically integrated dance. She and her company performed with the Canton Symphony Orches...

We welcome soprano Amanda Powell, a multi-faceted artist equally at home under the lights on the orchestral concert stage and in the intimate clubs of the jazz and folk scenes. She has performed with the Cleveland-based, Grammy award winning ensemble Apollo’s Fire, and has been featured as a soloist on a number of staples of the baroque repertoire. Additionally, she is the lead singer of the group Alla Boara, which performs modern ...

Our guest today is Hip-hop artist Jéan Pierre Johnson. Known artistically as Jéan P The MC, he shares a body of music that reflects his environment, touching on topics such as fatherhood, childhood experiences, spirituality, relationships, and his outlook on Hip-Hop, locally and nationally. Once Jéan settled in Athens, Ohio, he began to record a slew of mixtapes and perform locally, even sharing the stage with major artists such as...

Our guest today is GRAMMY Award-winning horn player and composer Jeff Scott. He rose to prominence as the founding horn player and twenty-plus-year member of the Imani Winds, a nationally renowned woodwind quintet made up of musicians of color. His horn career has also taken him to the pit of The Lion King on Broadway and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, as well on tour alongside such luminaries as Barbara Streisand. Jeff is...

We are joined today by Mario Lopez, Executive Director of the Billings Symphony in Montana. Prior to his appointment, he served in Education and Community Engagement roles with both the Knoxville Symphony and the Sarasota Orchestra. Originally a French horn player, he studied at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, then worked in the for-profit corporate world before returning to Classical music on the admi...

This episode features Leni Boorstin, who spent over forty years working for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, most recently as Director of Government and Community Affairs. Her tenure included community engagement work surrounding the opening of the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the arrival of music director Gustavo Dudamel, as well as developing the expansive Youth Orchestra LA program from the ground up, a program that now serves over...

Today we are joined by coloratura soprano Louise Toppin. She has performed all over the world at venues such as Carnegie Hall and with orchestras in such diverse places as Sweden, Uruguay, and Japan. She has conquered some of opera’s most beloved and challenging roles, including the famous Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, while also championing works by minority composers such as Scott Joplin and William Grant Still....

Today we are joined by Blake-Anthony Johnson, CEO of the Chicago Sinfonietta. He became the first African American to hold such a position with a nationally renowned orchestra when he began his tenure in 2020. He also serves on a number of boards and committees, including the Sir Georg Solti Foundation, the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, and the EDI Orchestral Management Committee at the League o...

We are thrilled to have the rare opportunity for a fully in-person podcast recording, as we welcome composer Wang Jie to our studio here in Canton! A native of Shanghai, China, she moved to the United States to study at Manhattan School of Music and still resides in New York City to this day. She holds an Artist’s Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with noted American composer Richard Danielpour. She was ...

Today we are honored to welcome world-renowned violinist Rachel Barton Pine. A celebrated interpreter of a wide range of standard and contemporary repertoire, she has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony, with which she made her debut when she was only ten years old. She is also a prolific recording artist, whose discography includes t...

We are thrilled to be joined today by pianist extraordinaire Michelle Cann! She has performed as a soloist with many of this country’s finest orchestras, including the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, and the Cincinnati, New Jersey, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Detroit Symphonies, among many others. We are beyond fortunate that she has managed to fit the Canton Symphony Orchestra into her busy schedule this year, joining us for ou...

To open season four, we are thrilled to be joined by Anwar Nasir, Executive Director of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. Prior to his arrival in the Big Easy in the summer of 2021, he served as Chief Revenue and Advancement Officer at the Omaha Symphony, in addition to previous positions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl, and Atlanta Ballet. He is a Philadelphia native and a graduate of Syracuse University, who...

Today, we are joined by three members of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. Beth Kellar-Long is the Vice President of the Orchestra Administration, Sam Bergman is a violist in the orchestra, and Yvonne Cheek is a board member. Their committee was formed in 2015 after the orchestra went on a transformative tour to Cuba, and their work has led to impactful change in the organization. We are overjoyed...

Our guest today is composer Angélica Negrón. Her works range from traditional orchestral and chamber pieces to compositions for accordion, toys, and electronics, and have been performed by such prestigious ensembles as the Dallas Symphony, the National Symphony, and the Kronos Quartet, among many others. She was an artist in residence at National Sawdust in Brooklyn and is currently a teaching artist for the New York Philharmonic’s...