Speaking Soundly

Nov 12 2024 79 ep. 23 mins 39

Speaking Soundly Podcast artwork

Your ticket to backstage conversations with world-renowned musicians. Join MET Opera Principal Trumpet David Krauss for candid and compelling discussions with today’s top performers as they speak about their creative process and lives as artists.
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Semyon Bychkov

Nov 12 2024 30 mins

Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic Semyon Bychkov is an artist whose commitment, passion, and obsession with making music is contagious. To kick off the conversation Semyon and David discuss the unique relationship between a conductor and a musician based on their own experiences performing together at the Metropolitan Opera. The Maestro recalls his earlie

Michael Fabiano

Oct 31 2024 24 mins

American tenor Michael Fabiano brings an intense passion to every performance. The recipient of the Beverly Sills Artist Award and the Richard Tucker Award joins David to discuss the obligation of every singer, challenges modern day performers face, the importance of being prepared, and how his analytic mind was made for a life in music. Michael divulges why his journey into opera

Aaron Diehl

Oct 15 2024 24 mins

Critically acclaimed American pianist and composer Aaron Diehl deftly traverses the jazz and classical worlds. The GRAMMY nominated artist discusses the music of his childhood (Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Milt Jackson, Miles Davis, and Johann Sebastian Bach), early performances on stage at his family's church, and how he learned to play "Deck the Halls" on

Lisette Oropesa

Oct 01 2024 25 mins

American soprano Lisette Oropesa is one of today's most in-demand opera singers. After performing with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra this past summer in Asia, Lisette sits down with David for our season premiere. To kick the conversation off she discusses what goes through her mind as she sings, how she avoids being a tortured musician, and David's faux pas in Tok

Jonathon Heyward

Jun 11 2024 27 mins

American conductor and cellist Jonathon Heyward is the Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center. It's remarkable that he's achieved such prominent positions at just 31-years-old. On this Season 5 finale of Speaking Soundly, Jonathon sits down with David to reflect on his meteoric rise, the serendipitous moments in his childhood

Joyce DiDonato: Live at Lincoln Center

Jun 04 2024 40 mins

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

Lawrence Brownlee

May 28 2024 25 mins

Grammy nominated American tenor Lawrence Brownlee has been hailed as “an international star in the bel canto operatic repertory” (The New York Times) and as a voice for activism and diversity in the classical music industry. The pickleball fanatic discusses his Metropolitan Opera auditions, why the high C's aren't the only notes that matter, and what it was like to be cast as T

Kenji López-Alt

May 21 2024 26 mins

Kenji López-Alt is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, renowned chef, culinary scientist, podcast host, YouTube sensation, and violinist. Despite his transformative impact on the culinary world and how most people cook at home, he sits down with David to discuss his true passion, making music. Kenji reflects on his early beginnings on the violin at age 4 at New York

Gerard Schwarz

May 14 2024 23 mins

American conductor Gerard Schwarz has led some of the world's finest orchestras for the past half-century. With 9 Emmy Awards, 14 Grammy nominations, and a catalogue of over 350 recordings, it's remarkable to consider that Gerard's illustrious journey began with a pivotal decision—leaving behind his first career as a trumpet soloist. Gerard reflects on this decision and early inf

Nathalie Joachim

May 07 2024 21 mins

Nathalie Joachim is a Grammy-nominated flutist, vocalist, and composer whose creativity spans pop and electronic to classical music and beyond. Co-Founder of the critically acclaimed duo Flutronix, the Haitian-American musician discusses her debut solo album Fanm d'Ayiti (Women in Haiti) and how a girl's choir from her community's small church spurred her creati