In this episode of The Piano Pod, we are joined by concert pianist Anna Shelest.

Her work spans major orchestral collaborations, recording projects, and repertoire advocacy — but this conversation centers on her latest album A Romantic from Kharkiv; Music of Sergei Bortkiewicz and the deeper artistic and cultural meaning behind it.

Together, we explore how music becomes a form of testimony — shaped by memory, identity, and history — and how Shelest’s connection to Kharkiv, Ukraine informs her interpretation of Bortkiewicz’s music. We also discuss her Donna Voce project, her collaboration with conductor Neeme Järvi on Anton Rubinstein’s piano concertos, and her work as part of the Shelest Piano Duo with her husband, Dmitri Shelest.

This episode is sponsored by the Alexander & Buono Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting classical musicians through performance opportunities, recordings, and artistic development.

This episode offers a powerful reflection on rediscovery, cultural heritage, and the role of classical music in today’s world.

📖 Read the blog (Meet Our Guest): Anna Shelest — Concert Pianist

🎧 Listen to Anna Shelest on Spotify

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🎵 Listen to the Season 6 Piano Playlist

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In this episode of The Piano Pod, we welcome Joy Luck Trio — a newly formed ensemble bringing together pianist Donna Weng Friedman, pipa virtuoso Gao Hong, and erhu virtuoso Karen Han-Ottosson.

Together, these three Chinese-American artists unite piano, pipa, and erhu in a rare chamber collaboration rooted in heritage and shaped by contemporary expression.

In this conversation, we explore how the trio first came together, the histories and sound worlds of the pipa and erhu, what makes these instruments distinct from Western strings, and the remarkable artistic journeys that led each member to this moment.

We also discuss Gao Hong’s expansive career as a pipa virtuoso and composer, Karen Han’s work on major Hollywood soundtracks, Donna’s recent creative accomplishments, and the trio’s artistic vision, repertoire, and the origin of the name Joy Luck Trio.

This episode is about identity, reinvention, artistry, and the excitement of building something new after decades of achievement.

• 📖 Read the Meet Our Guest Blog
• 🌐 Joy Luck Trio Facebook
• 🌐 Gao Hong (Pipa Virtuoso, Composer)
• 🌐 Karen Han-Ottosson (Erhu Virtuoso)
• 🌐 Donna Weng Friedman (Pianist, Filmmaker)

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• 🎵 Sounds of Inspiration (all the music mentioned in Season 6: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeBrJAY2RQ_uqBAHXTkMwM4nISe9vxvDa
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🎧 Available on YouTube and all podcast platforms. Subscribe for more conversations on creativity, artistry, and the future of classical music.

In this episode of The Piano Pod, we are joined by composer, conductor, & Music Director at Univeristy of Cologne, Michael Ostrzyga

His work spans composition, conducting, editorial scholarship, and large-scale projects — but this conversation centers on his piano writing, especially his recent solo album Perseus.

Together, we explore how music begins — whether from structure, memory, or sound itself — and how these ideas shape a body of work that moves between tradition and exploration. We also discuss his pedagogical work Der singende Wind, his early musical formation, and his recent arrangement of Beethoven’s Mass in C for four-hand piano and harmonium, commissioned by the Harvard Choruses.

This episode offers a deeper look into the relationship between structure and intuition, and how personal experience finds its way into music.

• 📖 Read our blog
• 🌐 Michael Ostrzyga — Official Website
• 🎧 Listen to his music (Spotify):
• 💿 Album — Perseus
• 📘 Der singende Wind - the Singing Wind (Breitkopf & Härtel):
• 🎼 Beethoven Mass in C arrangement - article
• 🎥 Harvard performance of Beethoven's Mass in C

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In this episode of The Piano Pod, concert pianist Han Chen joins TPP for a deep conversation about virtuosity, vision, and what it means to build something meaningful in today’s classical music landscape.

Han Chen is a GRAMMY Award–nominated pianist known for his fearless approach to some of the most demanding repertoire in the piano canon — from György Ligeti’s Complete Piano Études to Beethoven’s Hammerklavier. His recent recording of Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with conductor John Jeter and the Malmö Opera Orchestra has brought renewed attention to one of the most compelling American concertos of the 20th century.

Beyond performance, Han is also a curator and creator. His large-scale project Infinite Staircase pairs all 18 Ligeti Études with 18 newly commissioned works by living composers, expanding the repertoire while rethinking what a piano program can be.

This episode offers a rare look into the mind of a pianist who is not only performing at the highest level, but actively shaping the future of classical music.

In This Episode, We Talk About

• Florence Price and the legacy of her Piano Concerto
• Ligeti’s Complete Piano Études and technical/interpretive challenges
• Infinite Staircase — a 36-work project pairing Ligeti with new commissions
• Creative programming as artistic identity
• Commissioning new music and working with living composers
• Juilliard training and mentorship under Yoheved Kaplinsky
• Expanding the role of the pianist in today’s classical music world

Learn More About Han Chen

• Website
• Instagram
• Meet Our Guest: Han Chen

The Piano Pod

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Accents of Love: Vivian Fang Liu on Artistry, Belonging, and Music for the Next Generation

The Piano Pod — Season 6, Episode 13

In this episode of The Piano Pod, pianist, singer-songwriter, composer, educator, and music researcher Vivian Fang Liu joins host Yukimi Song for a powerful conversation about identity, creativity, and the role of music in shaping the next generation.

Vivian Fang Liu is a classically trained pianist whose work spans classical performance, cross-genre songwriting, children’s music, and music education research. Her award-winning children’s album Accents of Love (2023) invites young listeners to celebrate their voices, languages, and identities through imaginative storytelling and vibrant musical production.

Throughout the conversation, Vivian shares the inspiration behind her children’s music, her journey immigrating to the United States at age fifteen, and how themes of belonging, cultural identity, and resilience shape both her artistry and her educational work.

This episode explores how music can empower children to embrace who they are while also building bridges across cultures and communities.

Listen to Vivian Fang Liu

• Chinese Pop Original

Children's Music

• Belong
• I Is Love
• Talk to the Fishes with Your Inner Voice
• Silence
• All Accents Are Art

Learn More About Vivian Fang Liu

• Website
• Instagram
• Spotify

Meet Our Guest: Vivian Fang Liu https://substack.com/home/post/p-190096545

The Piano Pod

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Composer Sean Hickey joins The Piano Pod to discuss Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind — his monumental piano cycle inspired by Yuval Noah Harari’s bestselling book.

From imagined orders and human cooperation to empire, biology, AI, and the future of artistic sustainability, this episode explores what it means to create — and remain human — in a rapidly changing world. Performed by pianist Vladimir Rumyantsev, Sapiens translates big philosophical questions into sound, structure, and silence.

This conversation moves from macro-history to the deeply personal — from Detroit and electric guitar to leading major recording labels — and ultimately asks: What allows music to endure?

• 📺 Watch the 2/1/24 premiere of A Brief History of Humankind at Klavierhaus, NYC (Vladimir Rumyantsev) HERE
• 🎧 Listen to Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind for Solo Piano
• 📺 Watch the Trailer for Recorder Concerto “A Pacifying Weapon” (Recorder: Michala Petri | Royal Danish Academy of Music Concert Band | Jean Thorel)
• 📚 Read “Release Rationale, Why and Why Now”

From Harari’s sweeping vision of human history to the realities of AI in today’s music industry, this episode centers on one enduring question: How do we remain authentic — and human — in the age of acceleration?

If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and share to support independent classical media.

[SEAN HICKEY - Composer and Record Label Executive]

• 🌐 Website: https://seanhickey.com
• 📝 Read our blog about Sean

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In this episode of The Piano Pod, host Yukimi Song sits down with pianist, composer, visual artist, and poet Asiya Korepanova for a wide-ranging conversation on extreme repertoire, transcription as a creative act, long-form artistic commitment, and what it means to think at scale as a musician today.

Born into a deeply musical family in Izhevsk, Russia, and now based in the United States, Asiya’s career is defined by projects many would consider “impossible”: performing the complete solo piano works of Rachmaninoff during the composer’s 150th-anniversary year, Liszt’s 24 Études, and Bach’s complete Well-Tempered Clavier. In this conversation, Asiya reflects on what draws her to repertoire that unfolds over years rather than hours, and how long-form thinking shapes her artistic identity.

A central focus of the episode is Asiya’s work as a transcriber. She speaks candidly about transcription as a form of composition—an act she once described as “taming a wild animal”—and how her deep understanding of orchestral, vocal, and chamber music informs the way she reimagines works for solo piano. We hear excerpts from her transcriptions of Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, alongside reflections on craft, risk, and responsibility.

The conversation also explores Asiya’s work beyond performance: her compositions, her multidisciplinary projects that integrate visual art and poetry, her commitment to education and access through her nonprofit Music for Minds, and her curatorial leadership at Festival Baltimore and Festival Flatiron NYC.

This episode offers a rare, unfiltered look into the inner life of an artist whose work is driven not by spectacle, but by depth, rigor, and fearless vision.

🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES

• Asiya Korepanova — Official Website
• Asiya's Merch on Etsy
• Sounds of Inspiration — Piano Works from Season 6 (Music mentioned in this episode)
• Read the accompanying blog on Substack

🎧 THE PIANO POD

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In this episode of The Piano Pod, host Yukimi Song sits down with pianist, recording artist, and multidisciplinary creator Aïda Lahlou for an in-depth conversation on Ravel’s Miroirs, sound as physical reality, and what it means to build an artistic life through curiosity, risk, and purpose.

At the center of the conversation is Aïda’s debut album, Mirrors and Echoes—a recording that places Ravel’s Miroirs as its reflective core, surrounded by carefully curated piano miniatures from across cultures and centuries. Rather than treating the album as a collection of pieces, Aïda speaks about programming as experience: sequencing, resonance, and how sound can function as landscape rather than emotional narrative.

We also explore her broader artistic practice—from environmental engagement and rethinking institutional success, to her one-woman show blending stand-up comedy with solo piano performance, and her advocacy for the return of the modern impresario / creative producer in today’s classical music ecosystem.

• 🎧 Listen to Aïda's album, Mirrors and Echoes, on Spotify
• 📝 Meet Our Guest — Aïda Lahlou: Read the accompanying blog exploring Mirrors and Echoes and Aïda’s artistic vision

🎧 THE PIANO POD

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