Classical Music Happy Hour

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  Manny Ax wants to hear from you! 10.07.2026

  As we get ready for a new season, we’d also love to hear from you! What were some of your favorite moments from the show? Who would you love to see as a guest? What are some questions you’d like to hear answered? Visit classicalmusichappyhour.org/ask
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  Ray Chen - superstar violinist wants you to practice 27.05.2026 35Min.

  Violinist and social media guru Ray Chen wraps up this season of Classical Music Happy Hour with an in-studio live performance. He chats with Manny about video games, performance anxiety, and his practice app Tonic. In our game, he joins Manny in our game called Is It a Composer or Is it Cheese?
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  Paquito D’Rivera -Beef, Beans and Benny (Goodman) 20.05.2026 28Min.

  Paquito D’Rivera is composer, saxophonist and clarinetist whose work spans classical, jazz and latin music. Born in Havana, Cuba, D’Rivera started his career playing with the National Theater Orchestra at the age of 10 and has been on stage for seven decades. During their chat, Paquito and Manny discuss what beef and beans have to do with Benny Goodman playing Carnegie Hall, what kind of music teacher his father was, and all things clarinet. He also joins Manny for an in-studio performance of one of his compositions. In our game, Manny and Paquito decide if a sound is made by a musical instrument or an animal.
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  Yefim Bronfman - master of the keyboard 13.05.2026 33Min.

  Pianist Yefim Bronfman, “Fima,” chats with Manny about their decades-long friendship, their love of sports, their surprising anxiety around live broadcast performances. They’ll answer listeners’ questions about recovering from injuries and picking repertoire, even the stuff no one heard of! Fima and Manny work together in our Newly Dead game to identify odd ways composers have died.
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  Isabel Hagen - likes a good viola joke 06.05.2026 32Min.

  Comedian Isabel Hagen is a classically trained violist, and a filmmaker. As a comedian, she has been featured on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and was a New Face of Comedy at the Just for Laughs festival in Montréal. She talks to Manny about how the viola can be funny and make people love classical music by making them laugh!
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  Nicholas Britell - more than that one viral theme song! 29.04.2026 34Min.

  The New York Times has called Nicholas Britell: “The composer at the frontier of film music.” Britell has written scores for Hollywood movies including:The Big Short, Moonlight and If Beale Street Could talk. Listeners might best recognize his work from the theme of the HBO series “Succession” for which he’s won the Emmy for the iconic theme song. He’ll talk about writing for the big screen and he’ll play one of his most recognizable pieces live-in studio.
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  David Hyde Pierce - a.k.a. Niles Crane 22.04.2026 33Min.

  Actor David Hyde Pierce has had a long career in film, television and the theater. He’s best known to listeners for his portrayal of Niles Crane on the sitcom "Frasier." He joins Manny to talk about his life and love of classical music and listen to some of their favorite recordings. They also play a game called “Animal or Instrument.”
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  Jeanine Tesori - from “Fun Home” to the Met Opera 15.04.2026 36Min.

  Composer Jeanine Tesori is a two time Tony Award winner, a two time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and in 2024, she became the first woman composer to open the Metropolitan Opera Opera season in its 139 year history. On this edition of CMHH she tells Manny about her time living in a lighthouse, about her love of Stravinsky, and why she decided not to be a doctor.
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  Yo-Yo Ma - 53 years of friendship and duets 08.04.2026 33Min.

  Live from Tanglewood, cellist Yo-Yo Ma chats with Manny about their long musical relationship and friendship. The two treat the live audience to a few musical performances, and they take questions from the audience about their burning musical questions, like “why does a piano have three pedals?”
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  John McWhorter - Lover of Language 01.04.2026 31Min.

  Columbia University Professor of Linguistics John McWhorter, chats with Manny about swear words, Broadway, and tackles the conundrums of musical etymology. McWhorter also makes the case for the brilliant first movement of Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in B minor. The two then square off in a game about famous classical pieces that bombed at their premieres.
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  John Adams - not the President 25.03.2026 37Min.

  Renowned American composer John Adams joins Manny to discuss his approach to opera composition, the stories behind his intriguingly titled works, and the time he was once mistaken for John Cage. Adams answers listener questions on the evolution of music and the emotional pull of minor keys. He also shares his love of Stravinsky and Handel. For our game segment, Adams puts his knowledge to the test as Manny quizzes him on outrageous performance directions.
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  Gabriela Ortiz - Composer and Grammy Gal 18.03.2026 39Min.

  Composer Gabriela Ortiz joins Manny Ax to talk about her grandfather’s surprising connection to Mahler, her own compositional process, and her enduring love for works by Debussy and Stravinsky. Listeners call in with tricky questions about folk music’s influence on classical works, new developments in orchestral instruments, and the realities of orchestra cliques. In our game segment, Manny puts Gabriela to the test—can she identify which famous composer was panned by critics?
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  Marc-André Hamelin - Rocks Rachmaninoff 11.03.2026 31Min.

  Composer and pianist Marc-André Hamelin joins Manny to talk about growing up with a musical father, the mechanics of piano playing, and the influences behind his prolific performing and recording career. He answers listener questions about piano transcriptions and why music is written in so many different keys. In the music segment, Hamelin performs one of his favorite works by Rachmaninoff live in the studio.
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  Yuja Wang - Superstar Pianist Plays Too Many Encores 04.03.2026 34Min.

  Superstar pianist Yuja Wang joins Manny Ax to talk about bad pianos, encores, what influences her musical interpretations, and her love for Prokofiev. In our Newly Dead game, Yuja puts her knowledge of composer deaths to the test.
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  Introducing Classical Music Happy Hour with Manny Ax 25.02.2026 2Min.

  Join renowned pianist Emanuel Ax for Classical Music Happy Hour: a new podcast full of music, merriment, and conversation. Manny (Emanuel) talks with special guests about their lives, listens to some of their favorite classical gems, plays music-inspired games, and answers questions from listeners. Grab a cocktail and press play on a podcast celebrating our love of all things classical music! Episode one with guest and pianist Yuja Wang drops next week.
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  Our Common Nature Recommends: Classical Music Happy Hour 19.02.2026 9Min.

  Hello Our Common Nature fans, Ana González is dropping into the feed to tell you about Classical Music Happy Hour, a new podcast you might be interested in, hosted by Yo-Yo Ma’s friend and pianist Emanuel Ax. The show is all about the joy in chatting about music with all sorts of people, including some of Manny’s dearest friends like pianist Yuja Wang, composer John Adams, actor David Hyde Pierce, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
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  Hawai‘i: Yo-Yo Ma and the Whales 19.11.2025 43Min.

  Yo-Yo Ma has wanted to use his cello to communicate with whales for years. And, in Hawai’i he got a chance. With help from the Polyneisan Voyaging Society and hula master Snowbird Bento, Yo-Yo learns about the ancient art of Hawaiian chant, what one Hawaiian describes to him as their “contribution to the orchestra of the world.”
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  Hawai‘i: Yo-Yo Ma on Moloka‘i 12.11.2025 44Min.

  On the island of Molokaʻi in Hawaii, we trace the spiritual power of mana, from a sacred grove to the Kalaupapa colony, where music, story, and Yo-Yo Ma’s performance honor the resilience and memory of those who came before.
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  West Virginia: Yo-Yo Ma and West Virginia Coal 05.11.2025 45Min.

  West Virginia is defined by its beauty and its coal, two things that can work against each other. Yo-Yo Ma felt this as soon as stepped foot in its hills. This episode explores how music and poetry help process the emotions of a community besieged with disaster and held together by pride, duty, and love.
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  Alaska: Yo-Yo Ma and the Gwich’in play for the salmon 29.10.2025 44Min.

  This episode begins in Fairbanks, AK. Yo-Yo Ma is at a house concert with drag queen environmentalist Pattie Gonia, singer/songwriter Quinn Christopherson and Princess Daazhraii Johnson, a writer and filmmaker from the Gwich’in Nation. They were all performing to help their communities process the negative effects of climate change in Alaska.