To access all our features please use the Goodpods app.
Open the app
HearTOGETHER Podcast
The Philadelphia Orchestra / Tori Marchiony
All episodes
Best episodes
Top 10 HearTOGETHER Podcast Episodes
Best episodes ranked by Goodpods Users most listened

"What was the REAL reason?" with Tailinh Agoyo
HearTOGETHER Podcast
12/02/22 • 38 min
Tailinh Agoyo is an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist, TV and film actor, and co-founding director of We Are the Seeds, an organization that amplifies and uplifts Indigenous voices through the arts in an effort to reverse the erasure of native people in Philadelphia and the nation. In this candid conversation with host Khadija Mbowe, you'll hear about how We Are The Seeds is rooted in Tailinh's upbringing alongside her father's artistic career, her experiences attending an Ivy League college, and how she navigated a career in '90s Hollywood.
Chapters:
[1:58] Tailinh Agoyo is all of the things
[4:46] How early familial influences impact Tailinh today
[11:55] Ups and downs at Dartmouth
[16:09] Secret activism in Hollywood
[25:13] How Tailinh's acting career has evolved
[27:00] The root of We Are The Seeds and its growth
[31:20] Looking to the future
Music from this episode:
- Udi Bar David and R. Carlos Nakai, Indigenous, Indigena, from Voyagers
- Zachariah Julian, Oblique from Oblique
- Gabriela Lena Frank, Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout, performed by The Philadelphia Orchestra
Links from this episode:
New host Khadija Mbowe is joined by esteemed soprano Karen Slack for a no-holds-barred conversation about excellence, expectations, and self-esteem.
Chapters:
[03:25] Fairytale love story
[05:19] Music in the household
[07:29] Veterinary dreams
[8:27] Journey into classical through CAPA (Creative and Performing Arts High School)
[14:11] Undiagnosed learning challenges
[15:07] The double-edged sword of winning the Rosa Ponselle scholarship
[18:45] Approach to mentorship
[27:09] See the need, fill the need
[29:03] #KikiKonversations
[33:14] Who heals the healers; unrealistic expectations placed on black women
[36:49] The struggle for self-care
Music from this episode:
- Hannibal, Healing Tones, Karen Slack with The Philadelphia Orchestra
- Bizet, Habanera, Denyce Graves Price, Bewilderment (with text from Langston Hughes), Michelle Cann and Karen Slack
- Barnes, Taking Names, Karen Slack
Links from this episode:
- BANFF Opera in the 21st Century Program
- Bellini, "Casta Diva," Maria Callas
- Wagner, "Tristan Und Isolde" - Prelude & Leibestod, Jessye Norman and Herbert von Karajan
- Opera Philadelphia Sounds of Learning Rehearsal Program
- La Forza Del Destino (Ponselle's debut)
- Michelle Cann on the HearTOGETHER podcast
- #SayTheirNames
- #KikiKonversations
- Khadija Mbowe
- Karen Slack
Season 3 of the HearTOGETHER podcast opens with a passing of the torch as Executive Producer Tori Marchiony interviews incoming host, Khadija Mbowe. Khadija is a socio-cultural content creator, classically trained soprano, and self-described loving provocateur. In this episode, you’ll hear about Khadija’s cross-continental upbringing, musical evolution, why they made a sharp turn away from the opera world, and much more.
Chapters:
[07:03] Khadija's cross-continental upbringing
[08:48] Khadija's journey into music
[16:57] Facing impossible comparisons
[23:46] Marigold Music Program
[28:13] The messiness of newness
Music from this episode:
- Owens, A Complaint, performed by Khadija Mbowe
- Khadija Mbowe, Deff Bem toup
- Brahms, Alto Rhapsody, performed by Jessye Norman with The Philadelphia Orchestra
Links from this episode:

Keys For Connection : Michelle Cann
HearTOGETHER Podcast
05/06/22 • 34 min
Where are all the great Black pianists? Michelle Cann is one of the best. And she's determined to help shift the musical landscape to include many more pianists of color in the coming generations.
On the season two finale of the HearTOGETHER Podcast, pianist Michelle Cann joins host Tori Marchiony for an intimate conversation about the nature of competition, expressing something transcendent in music, and the importance of mentorship for up-and-comers.
MUSIC, performed by Michelle Cann
BACH, SarabandePRICE, Sonata in E MinorCHOPIN, Ballade No.3 in A-flat Major, Op.47PRICE, Piano Concerto in One Movement with The Philadelphia OrchestraMixed by Teng Chen
Editorial Council, Noel Dior & Tim German

Practicing Liberation : inti figgis vizueta
HearTOGETHER Podcast
04/01/22 • 29 min
What do you do to survive? For inti figgis-vizueta, making music inside traditional institutions felt like trying to put a square peg into a round hole– painful, and fruitless. So, she eschewed the status quo and focused on embracing the angles that made her unique.
On this episode of the HearTOGETHER podcast, NYC-based composer inti figgis-vizueta speaks with host Tori Marchiony about her early ambitions for a 9-5 in science, the communities and identities that inform her work today, and her hopes and fears for the next generation of music-makers.
Music in this episode was composed by inti figgis-vizueta
- Attacca Quartet performing Imago .
- red fish blue fish performing To Give You Form and Breath
Click here to learn about why bell hooks didn't capitalize her name.
Mixed by Teng Chen
Editorial Council, Noel Dior and Tim German

Conducting With Empathy: Lina González Granados
HearTOGETHER Podcast
03/04/22 • 32 min
What role does empathy play in your life? For Lina González-Granados, it’s a core value for daily living, as well as a musical superpower that’s been instilled in her artistic practice by more than one mentor.
On this episode of the HearTOGETHER Podcast, conductor Lina González-Granados joins host Tori Marchiony for a heartfelt interview about what it took to follow her dreams across the world, her status as a high profile Latina in classical music, and how the pandemic has shifted her priorities. Music in this episode is from The Philadelphia Orchestra, 2021-22 (122nd Season), non-subscription concert #6
- Lina Gonzalez-Granados, conductor
- Branford Marsalis, saxophone
- Dvořák: Serenade in D minor, Op. 44, for winds, cello, and double bass
- Glazunov: Concerto in E-flat major for Saxophone and String Orchestra, Op. 109 (13')
- Villa-Lobos: Fantasia, for saxophone and orchestra (14')
Mixed by Teng Chen
Editorial Council, Tim German & Noel Dior
Reflections on programming, progress, "the American dream," and more!
On January 17th, 2022, as part of The Philadelphia Orchestra's annual day of free community programming in observance of Martin Luther King Jr day, an audience gathered in the Perelman Theater at The Kimmel Center for From Programming to Progress, a live panel discussion with pianist Michelle Cann, Juilliard ethnomusicology professor Dr. Fredara Hadley, and music directoress of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church and CEO of Next Step Associates, Dr. Cassandra Jones, plus a spotlight interview with Andrea Custis (CEO, Urban League Philadelphia). NOTE: In this episode, Dr. Jones laments the last-minute exclusion of Total Praise from the MLK Tribute concert. This omission was the result of COVID-related complications that made the CAPA choir unavailable to perform as planned and not due to a lack of interest. The Philadelphia Orchestra looks forward to including the piece next year.
Which stories are worth repeating? This question has driven storyteller, narrator, and longtime Philadelphia Orchestra collaborator Charlotte Blake Alston throughout her more than 30-year career.
On this episode of the HearTOGETHER Podcast, American griot Charlotte Blake Alston joins host Tori Marchiony for a candid conversation about her transition from being a teacher to a full-time creative, the pillars of her craft, and her responsibility to honesty as a steward of both African-American and African folktales and lived histories.
MUSIC:
DVORAK, Symphony No.9
The Philadelphia Orchestra
BERNSTEIN, Symphony No.3 (Kaddish)
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
Charlotte Blake Alston Speaker
BARBER, Adagio for Strings
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
Charlotte Blake Alston Speaker