From the Top, Part I

Just before the world turned upside down we had the amazing opportunity to co-host two episodes of NPR's From the Top, featuring performances and interviews with outstanding young musicians from around the country. One of the two shows began broadcasting this past week and is archived here.

Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe, the two pianists that make up the piano duo Anderson and Roe, host this week’s From the Top, the first of two From the Top programs recorded in Fairfax, Virginia. Both Greg and Liz collaborate with the young musicians on the program. They introduce us to a precocious 10-year-old violinist and an unusual teenage cellist who loves dog-sledding and hunting deer for his own food.

We were honored to host the show given our long history with the program, the sponsoring foundation, and our overlapping missions, but nothing could have prepared us for what a meaningful experience it would turn out to be. We loved getting to know the young musicians; their artistry and enthusiasm elevated our hopes for the future of classical music. Each of their stories and performances were uniquely inspiring and we were grateful to have so many opportunities to interact with them over the course of this project.

In the week preceding the live taping, we joined the young musicians in community engagement sessions at Edgar Allan Poe Middle School in Annandale, VA. We especially enjoyed observing the middle schoolers’ genuine excitement and enthusiasm. They were clearly inspired!

To celebrate the episode’s release, we capped off our From the Top hosting experience with a Facebook LiveChat with the young musicians, discussing everything from life on the stage to life in isolation.

Will & Grace Series Finale!

During our days at The Juilliard School we were affectionately referred to as “Will & Grace,” and so we felt compelled to make this short video in honor of the show’s 2017 season premiere. Following last night’s series finale, we were utterly surprised, overjoyed, and touched to see ourselves featured in the opening credits of the series retrospective, woven into a quilt of loving fan tributes. This show has contributed so much to society and changed countless hearts and minds; we wouldn’t be the people—or duo!—we are today without the trails it blazed.

THANK YOU to this iconic show for the laughter and inspiration!

New A&R Music Video: Hallelujah Variations

Hallelujah. So much meaning is compounded in this word. From its religious to colloquial uses, it conjures up a litany of emotions: praise, despair, relief, awe. The same could be said for Leonard Cohen’s iconic song by the same name; it is loaded with complexity. “Hallelujah” delves into brokenness, yearning, and atonement, and it questions the point of everything … which is a sentiment we all can relate to during this pandemic.

Cohen, a spiritual seeker throughout his life, once summed up the meaning of his song:

“This world is full of conflicts… of things that cannot be reconciled, but there are moments when we can transcend the dualistic system and reconcile and embrace the whole mess, and that's what I mean by ‘Hallelujah.’ …That's the only moment that we live here fully as human beings.”

In surrendering to the turmoil surrounding us, perhaps we might open a pathway to new realms of awakening and revelation. 

Greg and I were inspired by these concepts in creating our composition “Hallelujah Variations.” We began writing the score in the wake of Cohen’s death in November 2016 (incidentally another fraught time in recent history); we inevitably felt the need to channel the range of psychological states in response to loss. Alongside the inspiration of Cohen’s song itself, we also looked to the music of Franz Schubert and Ludwig van Beethoven; their compositional styles were a fitting match for the transcendental message of “Hallelujah.” We found resonance between Schubert’s poetic, intimate piano-duet (and lied) writing and Cohen’s bard-like lyrics and simple melodic lines. As our variations progress toward an exalted climax we incorporate the metaphysical spirit of late Beethoven (the ghost of a certain piano sonata hovers—music lovers, try to spot it).

Our music video explores related themes of spiritual searching and renewal. The shoot took place last September over two days at the epic Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana—one of our favorite performing and filming venues in the world—and we focused on the concept of playing these eight variations amid the full cycle of a day (à la Monet’s legendary Haystacks). We started with a 4:30AM call-time beneath a sky littered with stars, weathered nearly 100-degree heat and shifting winds midday, wrapped post-nightfall, then resumed again the following dawn. Our small but mighty crew—major shout-out to Emily, Adam, Chris, and Brian!—was top-notch and fully immersed in the shoot with us. Greg began editing the film in between our recent tour dates, but as concert cancellations starting rolling in and quarantine restrictions began, the editing process accrued extra degrees of urgency, motivation, and relevancy. The two of us communicated across the country via FaceTime to finalize the edits, and the meaning of the project gained a whole new level of poignancy amid the anxiety and confusion of these times. Working on this film together has given us profound gratitude for the outlet of creativity as well as a revived commitment to share the joy and power of music with others, no matter what shall pass. Full circle, indeed.

So this is our gift to you: a heartfelt meditation on transcending the depths of darkness and suffering. May this music video bring you and yours consolation, hope, and light in the days to come.