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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Sample the musically omnivorous cellist's wide-ranging work — from J.S. Bach to modern invocations of ancient folk traditions. -
Do your musical tastes change with the turning of autumn leaves? Try this fall music quiz filled with songs of wistful introspection.
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To mark the 80th birthday of the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (Bjork and Michael Stipe are among his fans), preview an upcoming documentary and explore a few facts and myths about this singular artist.
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The principal bassoonist of the New York Philharmonic, Judith LeClair, wonders if you can identify a few significant solos in the history of her instrument.
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The composer and musical tinkerer's new project is called SLEEP, which inspired a video in which angelic voices offer a soothing balm for a hectic world.
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With a muscular, mahogany-colored voice, one of the today's finest tenors sings his way through the hits and lesser-known operas by Puccini.
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Music by New Orleans native Louis Moreau Gottschalk, America's first musical superstar, is a gumbo of styles including pop and classical.
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To mark the beloved violinist's 70th birthday, take a look back at a handful of memorable moments, from appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show to starting his own education program.
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With flashes of lyricism, a young composer excels at weaving sound textures together to create distinct atmospheres. Hear the album, performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble.
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Performer and composer Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ gives the Gershwin classic a distinct Vietnamese twist with the đàn bâù, an evocative traditional instrument.
