LISTEN: Melanated Moments in Classical Music Podcast Launches Season Two

The second season of Melanated Moments in Classical Music podcast from Classical Music Indy is streaming now. Still glowing from their Best Music Podcast of 2020 win from the Black Podcasting Awards, co-hosts Angela Brown, international opera star, and Joshua Thompson, pianist and music sociologist, are back with eight new episodes.

Brown says: "I'm excited about Season Two because we interview and talk about some heavy hitters in the world of music. We explore musicians that are well-versed in a myriad of styles - opera, art songs, TV and film scores, spirituals, and more. But all will be tied up with a neat, musical, melanated, classical bow."

Heavy hitters indeed. The new season unties that bow revealing gifts in the form of a present-day icon of film and television scoring, a historic icon who championed civil rights with the power of her voice, and a recent Pulitzer Prize winner. Season Two has eight, 15- to 20-minute episodes saluting luminaries Anthony McGill, Anthony Davis, Marian Anderson, Moses Hogan, Ignatius Sancho, Laura Karpman, Ric'key Pageot, Robert Dett, and Everett McCorvey. Some are well-known and others should be.

Angela and Joshua pick up their hosting chemistry where they left it at Season One ⏤ with three fascinating bonus episodes specifically addressing the pandemic and social unrest of 2020. The bonus episodes added a new element to the mix, a guest interview. Those shows outperformed all others in the first seven days of release, and guests have been integrated into Season Two, keeping the audience captivated and curious. Not every episode includes an interview, but every episode features a musical work by, for, or about Black people.

Season Two opens boldly with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Anthony Davis and New York Philharmonic principal clarinetist Anthony McGill. Angela and Joshua speak to them about the recent performance of Davis's "You Have the Right to Remain Silent" and the catharsis of sharing painful yet powerful experiences through music. Broadway World readers have direct access to the first episode of Season Two:

The support for the show has been overwhelming. Listeners from nearly 900 cities in 69 countries have tuned in. Composers, performers, educators, and arts administrators have embraced the mission and rallied to the Melanated Moments call. Suggestions for episode subjects flooded in, and there is a waiting list for musical works and guests for future seasons.

Thompson believes the public approval is in direct correlation to the show's mission: "From this podcast's premiere during the first days of the pandemic until our second season, the enthusiasm, focus, and community of composers of African descent, past and present, have carried us beyond our wildest dreams. That's remarkable and the true spirit of this show - to honor the torchbearers in music who came before us."

It's Joshua and Angela's mission to educate while entertaining through the podcast and to be a clarion voice for Black artists, as Black artists. They've ticked every box for a wide and growing audience.

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