Tom Huizenga
Tom Huizenga is a producer for NPR Music. He contributes a wide range of stories about classical music to NPR's news programs and is the classical music reviewer for All Things Considered. He appears regularly on NPR Music podcasts and founded NPR's classical music blog Deceptive Cadence in 2010.
Joining NPR in 1999, Huizenga produced, wrote and edited NPR's Peabody Award-winning daily classical music show Performance Today and the programs SymphonyCast and World of Opera.
He's produced live radio broadcasts from the Kennedy Center and other venues, including New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge, where he created NPR's first classical music webcast featuring the Emerson String Quartet.
As a video producer, Huizenga has created some of NPR Music's noteworthy music documentaries in New York. He brought mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato to the historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, placed tenor Lawrence Brownlee and pianist Jason Moran inside an active crypt at a historic church in Harlem, and invited composer Philip Glass to a Chinatown loft to discuss music with Devonté Hynes (aka Blood Orange).
He has also written and produced radio specials, such as A Choral Christmas With Stile Antico, broadcast on stations around the country.
Prior to NPR, Huizenga served as music director for NPR member station KRWG, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and taught in the journalism department at New Mexico State University.
Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Huizenga's radio career began at the University of Michigan, where he produced and hosted a broad range of radio programs at Ann Arbor's WCBN-FM. He holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan in English literature and ethnomusicology.
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The Ukrainian pianist's torrent of notes can sweep one away, like stepping into the current of a fast-flowing river. -
"To be a composer, you have to be a fanatic," said the open-minded artist, who journeyed through styles, countries and decades.
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Henryk Górecki's rather simple arrangement of a folk song from the Kurpie region of northeast Poland holds power beyond its purpose.
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From ragtime to our time, from Scott Joplin to Stephen Sondheim, we've cooked up a five-hour super set of music for your holiday.
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In a new video, the cellist plays with time and memory, turning back the clock to when she first heard J.S. Bach's music on a scratchy old LP. It remains, she says, a timeless lodestar for her art.
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In time for Father's Day, watch the celebrated pianist play lullabies by Bach and Brahms for his 22-month-old daughter, who nearly steals the show.
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In Houston and San Francisco, David Gockley commissioned operas destined for stages worldwide. As he retires, he reflects on reviving Scott Joplin and premiering Nixon in China.
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Watch the award-winning Irish pianist play his own arrangements of traditional songs from the homeland, including a haunting rendition of "My Lagan Love."
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From the ashes of bankruptcy, can a rebooted company relive its glory days? Its new general director discusses the past, present and future.
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When the young composer Tõnu Kõrvits puts a lush, new spin on an old song by one of his compatriots, the long line of singing traditions in Estonia continues unbroken.
