About our Interview with

French Hornist, Tony Cecere, is a freelancer in the New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania areas. He has played with the New Jersey Symphony, New Orleans Symphony, American Chamber Players, Bach Choir in Bethlehem, PA., is a current member of the Philadelphia Brass, plays on Broadway and is a substitute with the MET Opera Orchestra. We talked about; his career and vast experience, how his playing has changed along with his career, what the challenges are within different ensembles and how to learn to play in varying acoustics. For students we discussed; the importance of learning ensemble skills, importance of learning how to produce a vocal musical line, and gaining listening skills by listening to recordings and just not one recording but learning how to discriminate the difference between interpretations and style. Our discussion lead to the recording industry past and present and later the workings of being a member of the Philadelphia Brass from arranging music, talking to the audience and choosing a new member.

Links to learn more

Tony's Philadelphia Brass Page

About our Interview with

Caroline Kaiser. This week we chatted with the former Casting Director/Associate Artistic Director of Theatreworks USA, Caroline Kaiser. Caroline is self professed “musical theatre nerd.” She started out acting and quickly learned she understood the business side of show business for more than she loved the politics of performing. Listen in as she talks about getting her start with Jay Binder Casting, her time at Theatreworks, and what’s next. Caroline is truly a casting director that is “actor positive.” She love working in a community of artists that share the same goals, and she offers some wonderful insight into the audition room that will help actors as well as aspiring casting directors. Oh and for those of you who know Caroline… Henry was there too.

Links to learn more

• Theatreworks USA
• Florida Studio Theatre

A photo of Caroline Kaiser

About our Interview with

Composer, arranger, orchestrator and pianist, Miho Hazama joined us in the studio to talk about her path to finding her mix between classical and jazz music. Currently, she is a New York City based jazz composer traveling the world performing her music. Starting as a pianist, her early studies in electronic organ later helped her with orchestration. From the age of 7 she started to study composition and later her interest in jazz started from listening to all types of music and in college hearing a big-band in rehearsal. She shared how she learned to improvise and find a balance between classical and jazz. Her life as a performer-conductor, arranger and composer is a balance that keeps her active and always busy. Recently released, she describes her second album with her jazz chamber orchestra, which includes new instrumentation for jazz music.

Links to learn more

• Miho's Website
• Miho at Sunnyside Records

About our Interview with

This week we chat with Adam Kantor who is currently in previews of Fiddler On The Roof, playing the role of Motel. Adam talks about the challenges of finding his way in creating a role for an original Broadway revival. He also discusses traveling to Eastern Europe as both a personal journey as well as preparation for bringing more honesty to his portrayal of Motel. We also discuss reminding yourself that “You are enough,” even at times when you don’t feel that way. Adam offers a great example of this during his disastrous put-in rehearsal for his Broadway debut in Rent, when Michael Greif pulled him aside at intermission with some words of encouragement. Adam also discusses the role of mentors on his life, not being above an open call, and how it is good to be, “Always learning, always growing, always getting outside of yourself.”

Links to learn more

• Fiddler On The Roof
• Broadway.com

About our Interview with

Violist David Creswell, talked to us about his path to being a very active freelancer in New York City, from Broadway to the New Philharmonic.  He shares his love of how the viola can be the conduit of so much color in an ensemble and how he followed his career goals to pursue an orchestral career.  Personal connections and auditions lead to him establishing a network and the skills needed to be successful in freelancing.  The pros and cons of a permanent job and the diversity a freelancing career offers (teaching, chamber music, Broadway, orchestra, recordings, pop).  David shares his interest in tuning, teaching, and his teaching of eurhythmics and viola at Juilliard.  While he still takes auditions for jobs, he shares his reasoning on why to take an audition and how he prepares.  We talked about; skills for filling in as a substitute in orchestras, time management skills needed for a freelance career and the priorities that ensures success.  

Links to learn more:

• Eurthythmics Practice by David Creswell
• David Creswell on the American Viola Society's Website

About our Interview with

This week we sat down with the incredibly talented and grounded TONY nominated actress, Montego Glover. Listen in as Montego talks about creating a role vs. stepping into a role such as Les Miserable’s Fantine. She also gives a great deal of advise that has helped her succeed including: being “willing to suck” at first, finding YOUR light in auditions-not theirs, and some wisdom passed on from her father… “ Do not let anyone pull you off your path.” Prioritizing and scheduling far in advance has allowed Montego to stay busy with many projects including voiceover work, being a PopsEd Ambassador, and a member of the Kennedy Center Honors Committee. Montego has been one of out most interesting and self-knowledgable guests to date.

Links to learn more

• Montego's Website
• PopsEd Ambassadors
• Kennedy Center Honors
•  

About our Interview with Dean LeBlanc

Dean LeBlanc, associate clarinetist at the Metropolitan Opera and freelancer joined us for a lively conversation about so many aspects of clarinet playing. We talked about the various instruments he plays, mouthpieces, C-clarinets, reeds, bells, playing in a section, playing in varying acoustics, barrels, freelancing on Broadway, adjusting to various acoustics and how he started his freelance career.

Links to learn more

http://www.metorchestramusicians.org/dean-leblanc/

http://www.selmer.fr/musicfiche.php?id=719

http://www.conn-selmer.com/en-us/artist-information/centerstage/artist-roster/dean-leblanc/

About our Interview with

This week we chat with Joshua Gonzales who happens to be a cast mate of our very own Ryan Michael Hartman. They both join us in the studio to discuss their experience touring the country in the Theatreworks USA tour Teacher From The Black Lagoon. Listen in as Joshua discusses the unique challenges of being a replacement with very little time to prepare. We also share some good laughs as they recall the ups and downs of traveling the country in a work van and Prius, to entertain kids in a wide range of spaces from beautiful historic theaters, to school room cafeterias.

Links to learn more

• Joshuagonzalesnyc.com
• Ryanmichaelhartman.com
• Theatreworks USA

About our Interview with

This week we chat with Joshua Gonzales who happens to be a cast mate of our very own Ryan Michael Hartman. They both join us in the studio to discuss their experience touring the country in the Theatreworks USA tour Teacher From The Black Lagoon. Listen in as Joshua discusses the unique challenges of being a replacement with very little time to prepare. We also share some good laughs as they recall the ups and downs of traveling the country in a work van and Prius, to entertain kids in a wide range of spaces from beautiful historic theaters, to school room cafeterias.

Links to learn more

• Joshuagonzalesnyc.com
• Ryanmichaelhartman.com
• Theatrework USA

About our Interview with Michelle Baker

Michelle Baker, second horn at the Metropolitan Opera for the past 25 years, detailed her job description and her role in the horn section. We talked about the brands of horns the members of the section play, the daily challenges of keeping up the “chops,” her warm up method and daily maintenance plan, how she maintains playing when taking time off and returning to playing, her learning plan for the new seasons repertoire, how to figure out what works best for your own playing, the level of preparation needed for auditions and concerts, what she looks for in choosing students, how to build trust/confidence for concerts or auditions and how she spends her downtime.

Links to learn more

http://www.metorchestramusicians.org/michelle-baker/http://www.msmnyc.edu/FacultyProfile/FID/1001039790

About our Interview with Dashaun Young

Currently in the 1st national tour of Beautiful, friend of the show Dashaun Young sits down with us in the studio to talk about his journey to Broadway. From his first big breaks, to playing Simba in The Lion King on Broadway, Tour, The West End, and Vegas, Dashaun has built quite an impressive resume and at quite a young age. Listen in for some tips that he feels has been crucial to his success. We also discuss what is next for Dashaun and have a little fun laughing at some great stage blunders he has experienced.

Links to learn more

• Dashaun on Broadwayworld.com

About our Interview with Warren Jones

Collaborative Pianist Warren Jones talked with us about his journey to achieving his career. Crucial to this process was his focus early on in his education to choose electives and courses in college that would help him to achieve these goals. We talked about, the difference between accompanying instrumentalists and singers, how music is made, necessary skills for collaborative pianist, how to learn these skills, importance of language skills and he shared many entertaining stories about his career.

Links to learn more

http://www.warrenjones.com

Greenroom Conversations was excited to welcome such a legendary record producer Max Wilcox into the studio.  In his first interview Max shares with us how he started out in Michigan studying piano and eventually ending up on the other side of the microphone as producer and engineer.  He shares his path from RCA to a freelance recording producer and a few stories from his time as “collaborator” with Arthur Rubinstein for 17 years. 

About our Interview with Hosts Greenroom

After 48 episodes, we have been downloaded in over 30 countries. Listen in as we wrap-up our first season of GRC, and shamelessly pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. In this episode we discuss the overall themes we have heard from our guest interviews including; building relationships, saying “yes,” and always being in the process no matter what stage you’re at. We also take time to reflect on creating the podcast and what to expect for season 2 of GRC.

Links to lern more

• Greenroom Conversations
• Ryan Michael Hartman
• Manhattan School of Music

About our Interview with David Dubal

The legendary David Dubal joined us with a studio audience for an interview at Klavierhaus in New York City. We had a lively conversation about; growing up in Cleveland, finding his love of the piano, juggling writing, painting and playing the piano, his choice of choosing a piano career instead of an art career, finding peace in enjoying his multifaceted career, his process of writing, planning for his radio programs, working with Aaron Copland, choosing music for his radio programs, his time with Vladimir Horowitz, the making of piano careers today, the difference between being a pianist and an artist and how to become an artist, the difficulty of being a pianist in today’s culture, the great Pianists and the problems with piano competitions.

Links to lern more

• David Dubal's Website
• YouTube Clip
• Article About David

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300"] A photo of David Dubal at Klavierhaus in NYC[/caption]

This weeks guest, violinist, Joyce Hammann, sits down to discuss her own journey from being young and broke to playing on Broadway.  Paying rent by playing music on street corners, to eventually playing Phantom of the Opera for 25 years and becoming the Concertmaster. Joyce lets us in on the duties of being a concertmaster: knowing when to step in, and when to let problems solve themselves. She also opens up about how crossword puzzles and the quite support of her colleagues helped her through her own rough patch dealing with “the pressure of perfectionism.”

New York Philharmonic’s Assistant Principal of Timpani and Percussion, Kyle Zerna talks about his position and audition process.  We discussed his; transition from being a student to immediate professional, the logistics of practicing and learning, the organization of the percussion section, the importance of consistency across all the nine percussion instruments for auditions, path to choosing percussion as an instruments and how he was consistently motivated with new instrument discoveries within the percussion family, recent discovery of his ability to Deejaying and the parallel to playing percussion, timpani tuning and how his teaching has enhanced his own playing.

Janet Rarick, Associate Professor of Music Career Development at Rice University Shepherd School of Music shared how her own career developed and how she found her way to teaching.  We talk about; the importance of taking chances on opportunities, the importance of having support system of colleagues, the process in creating a career class, various ways in teaching career skills, defining a successful career and finding a creative outlet no matter what career path one takes, understanding your inner critic, the importance of performance experience in helping with performance anxiety, the importance of personal skills in getting and keeping a job and the skill of speaking to an audience.

Elissa Weinzimmer, Voice and Movement Coach, found her career path when overuse and acid reflux caused her to loose her voice and through her study of Fitzmaurice Voicework TM she found her path to teaching and helping others with helping others to find their own voice.  After pursuing an MFA in Theatre Voice Pedagogy at the University of Alberta in Edmonton Canada she recently moved to New York City and is building her own teaching studio and Vibrant Voice Techniques.  We talk about; the importance of maintaining your voice under demands, how to build a teaching studio, using technology to expand the scope of the teaching geographically, helping performers find their public speaking voice, differences between the younger voice and older voice and how to open their awareness to their instruments, when to seek vocal help and how a voice coach can help singers stay healthy. 

Trombonist and Conductor Dr. Per Brevig, joined us in the studio to talk about how his career evolved over time and how it lead him to conducting.  He talks about how everything in his career has been progressive.  We talk about; the diversity of his career, his interest in Jazz, Big Band and Contemporary Music, the importance of playing a broad choice repertoire, the shift in his career to conducting, his promotion of avant-garde music, how to be a good colleague, his conducting schedule and positions, programming choices, finding pleasure in various repertoire as a listener, what a soloist can expect when meeting with a conductor, his involvement as founder in the Grieg Society, and about his close work with the various composers including Carlos Chávez for the premier of the trombone concerto. 

Instrument case designer and maker, Howard Wiseman talked with Kevin Chavez during the summer 2014-Double Reed Conference in New York.  Howard made his first case when he was 15 years old as a result of having difficulties carrying his heavy bassoon.  The first order for a case was from his bassoon teacher, which lead to more requests for cases.  While studying for a performance bassoon career, he continued making cases.  Howard today continues to play and teach bassoon along side of his case and sports coaching businesses.  Producing only bassoon cases for the first 13 years, he later branched out to other instruments and multiple instruments.  A lifetime guarantee is offered with all his cases and he never compromising on quality.  Known for his innovation, he is always looking towards new designs and projects following his passion for creating and building things. 

Principal Bassoonist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Billy Short shares his path to tenure and how he settled into his position.  Playing four different operas a week offers him a variety of repertoire and he tells how the Principal Bassoonists decide their playing schedule.  He talks about; the challenges of playing in an opera orchestra, acoustical challenges of changing venues, managing repertoire practicing, the process for learning new music, reed making and research, how to cultivate time management and practice skills, the process of auditioning and how to cultivate self confidence along the way, the importance of teaching in his career plans, the importance of self reflection in learning, performing and the focus on the process of learning.

Multi award winning producer, Barbara Whitman sits down with us to discuss her most recent Tony Award winning show Fun Home, and the over 150 people it takes to support the 9 actors onstage. She also delves into some of the attributes that have made her such a success on Broadway, including being a mother. We also chat about theatre being an “industry of relationships,” and just where this industry is headed next. Barbara does a great job of demystifying the role of the producer, while offering great advice for those who wish to follow a path into producing.