“How can I present the beautiful tradition of classical music to the 21st-century audience in a fun, contemporary, and engaging way?”

As I started building a thriving community through piano teaching in the trendy neighborhood of Downtown Manhattan, I began to question. I could not help but sense a massive gap between the reality of music professionals and the general public’s expectations. Then, in my grad school at NYU, one of the music department’s professors suggested I start a podcast to create a digital community for classical musicians to start a conversation about audience engagement.

The opportunity finally came in the summer of 2020 when I reached out to my colleagues, Clara Zhang and Eric Hunter, and received immediate yes’s from them. In past seasons, we had the privilege of interviewing A-list concert pianists, composers, arrangers, digital streamers/influencers, music educators, neurodiverse specialists, and performance psychologists.

Currently, in Season 3, the show’s format remains the same: biweekly, I interview a guest speaker who has been breaking exciting new ground in the classical music industry. The Piano Pod aims to provide a platform for classical musicians and educators to reflect and discuss how to keep our industry robust and relevant in this rapidly changing world and move it forward in the post-pandemic era.