Violinist and Carnegie Hall Perspectives Artist Maxim Vengerov talks with David Krauss of Met Opera

Grammy Award-winning violinist and conductor extraordinaire Maxim Vengerov (‪@MaximVengerovOfficial‬) is acclaimed for his concerts, recordings, and humanitarian work. The Siberian-born star discusses his discipline as a young musician, why he wanted to be a conductor by age 3, and how he knew at age 5 he had a natural gift for the violin. He reminisces about learning to play while wearing warm gloves, how music became his ticket to the world, and sets the record straight about why he punched his beloved teacher. To close out the conversation Maxim talks about a memorable experience as UNICEF's Goodwill Ambassador (‪@UNICEF‬), David shares his excitement about performing with Maxim and The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (‪@metopera‬) next month at Carnegie Hall (‪@carnegiehall‬), and our guest recalls "freaking out" on Carnegie's stage many years ago.

American mezzo-soprano and three-time Grammy Award winner Joyce DiDonato is "perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation" (The New Yorker), but her path to stardom was anything but easy and linear. In this special episode of Speaking Soundly, recorded live at Lincoln Center, Joyce discusses the challenges in her early career and how she moved through them with grit, how her father gave her permission to pursue a life on the stage, and why her heart still belongs in a choir. David and Joyce reflect on meaningful performances in their lives and the power of music to connect us to moments and heal.    • Joyce DiDonato talks early career challeng...  

Three-time Grammy Award-winning pianist and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin is the Music and Artistic Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain, and Music Director (aka David's boss) at The Metropolitan Opera where he's just the third person to hold this position in the company's long 140-year history. In the episode—recorded backstage at Carnegie Hall—Yannick discusses the primary role of a conductor, his calm and friendly demeanor while on the podium (spoiler: he doesn't know how to be mean!), how he became inspired to conduct at age 10, and why he reclaimed his love for the piano during the pandemic. Yannick shares the importance of taking every opportunity to perform seriously and his deep belief that music can connect and transform anyone who listens.    • Met Opera and Philadelphia Orchestra's Yan...  

The Speaking Soundly theme song is composed by Joseph Saba/Stewart Winter and used by permission of Videohelper.

Speaking Soundly was co-created by David Krauss and Jessica Handelman.

Photograph of Maxim Vengerov by Davide Cerati.

This interview has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.

Episode copyright © 2024 Artful Narratives Media.