From The Top: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

June 22, 2018 | Tom Huizenga -- Whenever a symphony orchestra or opera house loses its financial footing, a chorus of classical music “coroners“ quickly steps up to pronounce the imminent demise of an entire genre. The pianist and scholar Charles Rosen put it best when he said, “The death of classical music is perhaps its oldest continuing tradition.“ As proof that classical music in America is alive and kicking, I’d like to direct those perennial naysayers to the radio show, and podcast, From the Top. The program (distributed by NPR) is a potent antidote to any gloom-and-doom doubter. For over 20 years, From the Top has built an impressive platform to celebrate the music, lives and stories of youngsters playing classical music. That’s right. Young people in this country love classical music. We invited three talented From the Top musicians to the Tiny Desk. No squeaky violins here. These kids are terrific players. Sparks fly (and bow hairs, too) when 12-year-old violinist Kaia Selden tears into Henryk Wi