April 17, 2009
Ben Hong is the assistant principal cellist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He was also the technical advisor for the new film “The Soloist” and taught Jamie Foxx how to play cello for his role. Hong describes the challenges of teaching a movie star how to fake it as a cellist. And Hong guides Kurt as he picks up a bow for the first time.
Listener Rohn Amegatcher of Tacoma, Washington made a creative career change after his construction management business folded. He tells Kurt about his new career as a woodworker and cook.
In the new Broadway revival of “West Side Story,” one of the noticeable changes is the use of Spanish. Stephen Sondheim gave his blessing for the Spanish update, but translator Lin-Manuel Miranda -- a Tony-winner himself for his own musical "In The Heights" -- approached the Spanish version very carefully.
WNYC's Sara Fishko tells a story rarely heard about the musical's legendary creators Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, and Stephen Sondheim. And she explores how Cold War tensions simmered under the surface of the show's ethnic gang battles.
(Originally aired: December 1, 2005)
Alec Duffy won the rights to an unreleased Sufjan Stevens song. Rather than posting it online, Duffy shares the song via private listening parties in his home. This decision has earned him a few enemies. Produced by Studio 360's Eric Molinsky.
You can contact Duffy to hear the song HERE.
Magicians wow us on stage with sleight of hand and misdirection. But it turns out there's also a lot magic can tell us about how our brains work. Produced by Michael May.
Watch magician Apollo Robbins in action:
It’s been spinning for over a hundred years but, as James Buzard explains, some people still aren't comfortable with it. Where it stops, nobody knows. Produced by Chloe Plaunt.
Studio 360 is a co-production of
Public
Radio International and
WNYC New York Public Radio, and is funded in part by
Ken and Lucy Lehman, the
National Endowment for the Arts, and the Lily Auchincloss Foundation. Studio 360's American Icons series is supported in part by the
National Endowment for the Humanities. Our series on creativity and science is supported in part by the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Our series on Underground Heroes is supported in part by the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. 
