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The Open Ears Project

WQXR & WNYC Studios

Part mix tape, part sonic love-letter, the Open Ears Project is a daily podcast where people share the classical track that means the most to them. Each episode offers a soulful glimpse into...

Episodes

20 of 54 episodes

Introducing Classical Music Happy Hour with Emanuel Ax

Hello Open Ears fans, pianist Emanuel Ax is dropping into the feed to introduce Classical Music Happy Hour, a new podcast he hosts that you...

00:03:38Apr 30, 2026

Introducing Our Common Nature with Yo-Yo Ma

Ana González is here to introduce you to her new podcast, Our Common Nature , a musical journey with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. When the world stoppe...

00:33:01Nov 12, 2025

Janna Levin on Mozart’s Unfinished Ambitions

Janna Levin is a theoretical cosmologist and professor of astronomy and physics at Barnard College in New York City, specializing in the stu...

00:24:36Jun 17, 2024

Hanna Arie-Gaifman on Bach and Survival

Hanna Arie-Gaifman served as the director of the Tisch Center for the Arts at the 92nd Street Y for over 20 years, where she produced countl...

00:15:52Jun 10, 2024

Caroline Shaw on Mendelssohn and Possibility

Caroline Shaw is a tireless musician, active as a violinist, vocalist, producer, and composer. She’s won multiple Grammy awards and, along w...

00:11:49Jun 3, 2024

Nick Ferrone on Why Barber’s “Adagio” Gets a Bad Rap

By day, Nick Ferrone is a Brooklyn real estate agent, but on most Saturday nights, he can be found playing the harmonica at Sunny’s Bar in R...

00:24:41May 27, 2024

Lucy Boynton on Chopin and Getting Into Character

You might know actress Lucy Boynton from the television mini-series “The Ipcress File” and films like “Chevalier” and “Murder on the Orient...

00:13:44May 20, 2024

Martha Lane Fox on Perseverance and Beethoven

If anyone can claim the title of Renaissance Woman, it is Martha Lane Fox. Though she gained prominence during the dot-com boom of the 1990s...

00:17:52May 13, 2024

Steve Reich on Why Medieval Music Sounds So Fresh

Steve Reich is one of the most important composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. A leader in developing and popularizing what many describ...

00:25:31May 6, 2024

Anne-Sophie Mutter on Why Bach Is Always the Answer

“Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” is one of Bach’s best known works. For acclaimed violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, it has been part of her life si...

00:12:32Apr 29, 2024

Víkingur Ólafsson on the Unpredictable Futurism of Rameau

All classical musicians are devoted to the art of reinterpretation — of trying to make the old feel new again. Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson act...

00:16:21Apr 22, 2024

Garth Greenwell on Finding Refuge in the Music of Britten and Pears

By now, Garth Greenwell is an award-winning author, poet, literary critic, and teacher of writing whose novels include “What Belongs To You”...

00:19:35Apr 15, 2024

Jennifer Egan on Chopin's Narrative Masterclass

Jennifer Egan has spent a lifetime thinking about what makes a good story — to good effect. Her novels have received many awards and recogni...

00:21:44Apr 8, 2024

Rowan Williams on Bach and the Daily Discipline of Silence

Rowan Williams is a British theologian and poet. From 2003-2012, he served as the Archbishop of Canterbury — a role that placed him, along w...

00:13:05Apr 1, 2024

Dexter Filkins on Tension, Tenderness, and Ravel

Dexter Filkins is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, former Iraq War correspondent for the New York Times, and author of the bestselling b...

00:21:03Mar 25, 2024

Marin Alsop on Beethoven and Humanity’s Infinite Potential

As one of the leading conductors of our time, Marin Alsop has collected a lot of “firsts”: She’s the first woman to head a major orchestra i...

00:25:34Mar 18, 2024

Nathalie Joachim on the Connection Between Brahms and Haiti

Nathalie Joachim is a Grammy-nominated flutist, vocalist and composer. She is the co-founder of the acclaimed flute-meets-electronica duo Fl...

00:20:44Mar 11, 2024

Elizabeth Day on Jacqueline du Pré’s Elgar and Navigating Loss

Elizabeth Day is an author, broadcaster, and host of the podcast “How to Fail,” where she interviews guests about what they have learned fro...

00:11:07Mar 4, 2024

Damien Sneed on Dreams, Family and Franz Liszt

Damien Sneed is an award-winning musician, conductor, composer and arts educator who works across classical, jazz, R&B and other genres. Whe...

00:25:23Feb 26, 2024

Deborah Frances-White on Chance Encounters and Mozart

Deborah Frances-White is a comedian, writer, and host of “The Guilty Feminist” podcast, where she explores the balancing act between feminis...

00:12:25Feb 19, 2024