Since we shared the information here about Christopher O'Riley's upcoming concert featuring music from our recent release "Out Of My Hands" we thought it would be interesting to share a recent interview on how he got started doing "pop" transcriptions.
A classical show with pop
By Jeremy Eichler
The Boston Globe Staff / February 6, 2010
The popular public radio show, “From the Top,’’ is in its 10th anniversary season of spotlighting kids, mostly teenagers, who are passionately devoted to classical music. The show returns this evening to its home in Jordan Hall for a performance taping that will feature several individual Boston-area students as well as 60 members of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra performing Mozart. Hosting the show as always will be concert pianist Christopher O’Riley, now well-known in the classical world for his piano transcriptions of pop songs, a repertoire he’ll dip into for an upcoming solo recital (Feb. 27) at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Speaking with the Globe from Sagamore Hills, Ohio, O’Riley explained that his pop transcriptions actually began on “From the Top.’’
Q. How did the radio show originate?
A. The show was the brainchild of our executive producers, Jerry Slavet and Jennifer Hurley-Wales, who thought, “Wouldn’t it be neat to have a radio show housed in Jordan Hall?’’ Jerry had toured with the NEC preparatory division and was so astonished by how hard the kids were working. He found it deserving of wider recognition, like what we typically accord high school athletes. He also thought it could be a great way for audiences to get inside the music.
Q. And how did you begin playing the pop transcriptions as part of the show?
A. It was Jerry’s original idea to have all kinds of music on the programs. In the first season we’d have a classical violinist and then the LaGuardia High School jazz ensemble. But the [classical] radio constituency said, “Look, you play one minute of jazz and you’re off.’’ That was narrow-minded but I guess we thought of it as a necessary evil. As a little bit of thumbing the nose at the stations that didn’t want us playing jazz, I started playing these break pieces, which I could do because I was the classical player. And then when it was announced that the piece I had just played was “Karma Police’’ by Radiohead, we’d start getting these e-mails saying “Who is this Mr. Head, and where can I find more of his beautiful music?’’...
Click to read the full interview between Christopher O'Riley and The Boston Globe.
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