Copyright © 2026 VPM, all rights reserved.
PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
VPM News Morning Edition
NEXT UP: 9:00 AM

Thanks to our sponsors – Become a Sponsor

Bach, Brits And A Bodacious Boston Orchestra: New Classical Albums

Composer Andrew Norman's new album is called Play.
BMOP Sound
Composer Andrew Norman's new album is called Play.

It may be deep midwinter, when music releases are usually sparse, but this month a surprising crop of intriguing classical albums has popped up. In this visit to All Things Considered, host Arun Rath and I listen to a fearless Boston orchestra powering through a symphonic blockbuster by American composer Andrew Norman, as well as a smartly programmed album by the British Aurora Orchestra that includes a Paul Simon song. The popular Anderson and Roe piano duo takes on the sturdy music of Bach, and we’ll meet Sonya Yoncheva, a Bulgarian soprano whose star is on the rise.

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. utm

Tags

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.

Related Stories