About our Interview with

Suzzanne Douglas: Suzzanne has a long list of credits that cover film, television, opera, and the stage. She has won awards, and worked with icons such as Gregory Hines, and Sammy Davis Jr. A self proclaimed “Life long learner,” she recently graduated from Manhattan School of Music while approaching the age of 60. Her life experience and new musical tools have allowed her to open up yet another chapter as she just recently signed with a label and is now having her album produced. Listen in to find out why Suzzanne feels being a patron of the arts is so important, why “artist are special and are here to make the world a better place,” and why Paul Gemignani told her she’ll never “have to work for an asshole.” Suzzanne is a lovely, insightful human being; we are sure you’re going to enjoy this episode.

Links to learn more

• Suzzanne's Website

Suzzanne Douglas

Alex Bender, freelance Trumpeter joined us in the studio, we started by talking about custom mouthpieces then moved quickly into equipment and how he started playing the trumpet.  He shared his childhood memories of his exposure to music which forged his love for playing all styles of music.  He always knew he wanted to be in New York City playing on Broadway since 8th grade, this goal allowed him to direct his path to his current career.  Being accepted for a Masters in orchestral trumpet at the Manhattan School of Music, and landing a job on a cruise ship at the same time he deferred school for a year and took that year on the cruise ships to study on his own, learning to play jazz, big band and while continuing to studying orchestral excerpts.  We talked about; his current warm-up practices, auditions, focusing on sound, continuing to study with various teachers and networking for jobs on Broadway.  

About our Interview with

Producer, Ryan Hugh Mackey. He’s already got a Tony in the bag for his work with A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, but you will have to listen in to find out why he has yet to touch the actual award and why he hasn’t made any money off of it yet. We had Ryan in the studio to start off a multi-part series, The Road to Broadway: From Commission to the Tony’s that will document the ups and downs of producing a show all the way from its infancy to hopefully award season. In this first part, we are introduced to Ryan, a Chicago native who has wanted to produce since age 10. And of course we get introduced to his show, currently titled: EVERLEIGH CLUB, music and lyrics by James Beaton and Storm Large, book by Rinne Groff. Don’t miss this episode as Ryan has great stories about cold calling getting him involved in GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE, as well a deeply honest prospective about being a producer.

Links to learn more

• Ryan Hugh Mackey Productions

A photo of Ryan Mackey

Udo Zimmermann, Church Musician, started at age 15 playing the organ in his local church and then made his way to Studium der Kirchenmusik in Rottenburg am Neckar, Germany and later to Frankfurt am Main University becoming a church musician which means studying singing, organ and conducting. He is now head of Church Music (organist) at Pfarrei St. Peter and Paul in Zurich Switzerland. We talked about the path in Germany/Switzerland for a church musician, what they study and the skills they need for their positions. Udo is the Head of Church Music at the Hochschule of Music in Luzern where he teaches liturgical singing and organ playing and the practice of a church musician such as creating music for the mass. We talked about; his own skills of singing, conducting, how he teaches students improvisation at the organ, pipe organs, historical pipe organs, the value of the church tradition in Europe, the choice of traditional and contemporary church music and the hymn tradition of four part singing vs. one line song singing.