Phillip Gainsley's Podcast

For over 45 years, Sir Donald Runnicles has built his reputation with several of the most significant opera companies and orchestras, and he is especially celebrated for his interpretations of Romantic and post-Romantic symphonic and opera repertoire which are core to his musical identity. He has held chief artistic leadership positions at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (since 2009), Grand Teton Music Festival (since 2005), San Francisco Opera (1992-2008), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (2009-2016), and Orchestra of St. Luke’s (2001-2007). Sir Donald was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for more than two decades (2001-2023), and he is the first ever Principal Guest Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (since 2019). In February 2024, Runnicles was appointed as Chief Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic, beginning in the 25/26 season. Sir Donald spends his summers at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson, Wyoming. This eight-week festival of symphonic and chamber music, five of which are conducted by him as music director, takes place amid the breathtaking beauty of Grand Teton National Park. Come join our conversation about this hallowed festival.

American conductor James Gaffigan is recognized worldwide for his extraordinary collaborative spirit, and he has attracted international attention for his work as a conductor of symphony orchestras and opera. James was recently named the next music director of Houston Grand Opera, and he will assume his new role in the 2027/28 season. James is in demand at opera companies and symphony orchestras across the world. He serves as the general music director of Komische Oper Berlin, where he leads his third season in 2025/26. He also serves as music director of the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra. James Gaffigan has conducted for the Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris, Zürich Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dutch National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Santa Fe Opera, among many others. He regularly leads the world’s greatest orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony,Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia A champion of new music, James has led more than 30 premieres by composers including Thomas Adès, Kaija Saariaho, Anders Hillborg, Andrew Norman, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Wynton Marsalis.

Kent Nagano is one of today’s outstanding conductors for both operatic and orchestral repertoire. He will be the next chief conductor and artistic director of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (OCNE) in Madrid starting in September 2026 and is the newly appointed principal artistic partner of Filarmonica Toscanini. He has been honorary conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin since 2006, Concerto Köln since 2019, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 2021 and the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg since 2023 and is as patron of the Herrenchiemsee Festival. Kent regularly works with leading international orchestras worldwide, 2025/26 season highlights include several projects with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Maggio Musicale, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Opera de Paris, and the Philharmonia Orchestra amont others. In 2015 Kent published "Erwarten Sie Wunder!" in Berlin Verlag, a passionate appeal for the relevance of classical music in today's world. In 2019 the book was released in English by the Canadian McGill-Queen's University Press under the title “Classical Music - Expect the Unexpected.” In September 2021, he published his second book with Berlin Verlag. In "10 Lessons of my Life", he recalls ten deeply personal encounters from which he learned important lessons, not only for his career but for his life more broadly. Among those experiences are encounters with the Icelandic pop artist Björk, Frank Zappa, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez and the Nobel Prize winner in physics Donald Glaser. We’ll talk about both books!

Countertenor Randall Scotting has quickly become a sought-after artist by many of the world’s leading opera houses and concert halls. He’s recently made standout debuts at The Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Staatsoper Hamburg. He also sang first time at La Fenice in Venice in the major role of Adonis in Sciarrino’s Venere e Adone, and he makes his Carnegie Hall debut in Handel’s Messiah. March 2026 also brings the release of his next album on the Signum label with the Academy of Ancient Music and Laurence Cummings, The Divine Impresario, featuring virtuoso castrato arias. Randall’s breakthrough came in 2019 at London’s Royal Opera House when he stepped in last-minute for Sir David McVicar’s production of Britten’s Death in Venice. His performance drew praise for “singing brilliantly,” and he went on to complete the run to sold-out houses, with the production also being broadcast on the BBC. That success led directly to his joining the Metropolitan Opera’s roster, and he’s since become a regular on the world’s top stages. Randall’s portrayal of the Refugee in Jonathan Dove’s Flight (Seattle Opera, 2021) drew glowing reviews—“marvelous,” “compelling,” “warm, focused, and fluid.” In 2023 he originated the role of Adonis in the world premiere of Sciarrino’s Venere e Adone at Staatsoper Hamburg with Kent Nagano, earning praise as “vocally and physically muscular,” “wonderfully strong and supple,” and “luminous.” Randall is also making his mark as a recording artist. His 2022 debut solo album The Crown, recorded with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and conductor Laurence Cummings, introduced modern-day premieres of show-piece arias composed for the legendary castrato Senesino and he won international acclaim for “ravishing vocalism” and ““impressive beauty and warmth” tone. His follow-up, Lovesick with Grammy-winner and lutenist Stephen Stubbs, offered intimate lute and folk songs and drew glowing reviews from Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and Limelight, which called it “gorgeous” and “beautifully sung”. “Most recently, Infinite Refrain with the Academy of Ancient Music explores 17th-century works by Monteverdi and his contemporaries through the lens of gay love, praised as both “vibrantly seductive” and “a strikingly beautiful declaration of same-sex love”.

The New Yorker magazine called Joyce DiDonato “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation.” Joyce has towered at the top of the industry as a performer, a producer, and a fierce advocate for the arts. With a repertoire spanning over four centuries, a varied and highly acclaimed discography, and industry-leading projects, her artistry has defined what it is to be a singer in the 21st century.Joyce enjoys a musical partnership with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra and, of course, the Metropolitan Opera. Joyce’s distinctively varied 2025-26 season commenced with season-opening concerts for the Minnesota Orchestra and Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain, as well as the re-opening Powell Hall with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in a Kevin Puts’s World Premiere, House of Tomorrow. She only recently made her Lincoln Center Theater stage debut as The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and is about to star in the Met’s production of Innocence by Kaija Saariaho.Concert appearances include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Nézet-Séguin and the Berlin Philharmoniker. Joyce also joins the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for her second European tour with Yannick and this orchestra following a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 at Carnegie Hall.She is also, quite plainly, a genuine delight.

Hamburg’s new General Music Director, Omer Meir Wellber, recently began his five-year tenure of the 2025/26 opera and symphony seasons with the Philharmonic State Orchestra at the striking Elbphilharmonie. The season’s unique programs focus on a very special kind of dialogue between the present and the past under the motto “no risk, no fun”. In this episode, Omer will explain that and more. Suffice it to say, Omer unveiled his unusual idea of “over-writing” single movements of great works by international composers, to be repeated in all concerts this season. Omer regularly conducts the Orchestre National de France, the Gewand-haus-orchester Leipzig, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Deutsche Kammer-philharmonie Bremen and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. He is also the author of, “Die Angst, das Risiko und die Liebe – Momente mit Mozart” – his first book, published in spring 2017. In it, he shares his personal understanding of the universal emotions addressed in the three Mozart/Da Ponte operas – Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, establishing him as a great voice of classical music.

Enrique Mazzola, is music director at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, who recently announced his extension through the year 2031. In the 2025-26 season, Enrique makes debuts at Staatsoper Berlin with Verdi’s Un ballo in Maschera and at Opera de Paris with Rossini’s Cenerentola. At the Lyric Opera, he is currently leading productions of Medea, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci and Cosi fan Tutti.Notable symphonic debuts include Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse,Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age ofEnlightenment, Oslo Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony, UtahSymphony, Detroit Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Brussels Philharmonic,Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, and Swedish Radio Symphony. Other highlights includeperformances with Vienna Symphony, London Philharmonic and Bern Philharmonic.Enrique works regularly with young musicians, among them at Accademia Teatroalla Scala, Académie de l’Opéra national de Paris, Opéra Studio de l’Opéra national duRhin, Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center, andCodarts of Rotterdam. He has given conducting masterclasses.And, as you’ll hear, Enreique Mazzoli is also renowned as a champion of bel cantoopera,

Alex Bonoff is studying to become a cantor, and is currently a cantorial soloist at Temple Israel of Minneapolis, a congregation that has had only two cantors in its 147 year history. We’ll to talk to Alex about that, but I also want to discuss his history as a composer, orchestrator, producer, audio engineer, copyist, music director and supervisor, working on projects in film, television and theatre—and, he says, “anything else that makes sound.” Alex has worked on shows including New York, New York (Broadway), Classic Stage Company’s Assassins (Off-Broadway Show, Broadway Concert), Theatre for a New Audiences (Off-Broadway, in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company) Timon of Athens, Chicago’s Goodman Theatre’s The Penelopiad, Chicago’s Paramount Theatre’s world premiere of August Rush, and Goodspeed Opera House’s world premiere of The 12. He also served as a guest artist at the University of Michigan, his alma mater, as a music director and composer.

David Feheley is a technical director, with 20 years of experience, specializing in producing opera and productions in repertory. He is currently the technical director for the Metropolitan Opera.David studied theatrical production at York University in his native Toronto before joining the newly opened York University Student Centre as its production manager. He managed all aspects of the Centre’s program of concerts and events in its multi-use facility.He later branched out into the freelance world as a technical director before joining the production department at the Stratford Festival of Canada. He started as the Assistant Technical Director for the Festival Stage, and finished his time at the Festival as the assistant director of production.David moved into the world of opera when he joined the Canadian Opera Company in 2003. While there, he was part of the opening of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Canada’s first purpose-built opera house, and the COC’s Ring Cycle, Canada’s first home-grown production of the Ring.David moved to the United States in 2013 to assume the position of technical and production director for the Houston Grand Opera. While in Houston, he continued his association with Wagner’s Ring Cycle, as Houston produced its first Ring, the La Fura dels Baus production from Barcelona.Since 2016, David has been the technical director for the Met, overseeing all backstage operations as well as the construction work done in the scenery and scenic shops. The Met’s season of 19 productions running in repertory also includes building and producing 6 new productions each year.The Ring Cycle has played a prominent role in his time at the Met. A major technical overhaul of Robert Lepage’s 2010 production and its presentation as part of the 2019 season marked David’s third Ring.

After graduation from Macalester College in St. Paul, Lawrence Perelman imagined a performing arts cable channel. So he earned an MBA at Columbia Business School and later founded Semantix Creative Group, a strategic advisory firm for performing artists and global performing arts institutions. As Semantix’s CEO, Lawrence kept pitching his idea, and even discussed it with Carnegie Hall’s Clive Gillinson. In December 2021, Lawrence, as co-founder, was part of the team that launched Carnegie Hall+, a premium subscription on-demand channel on the Apple TV app. As you’ll hear in this episode, his parents always encouraged him to take risks: “You want to meet someone and accomplish something? Write them a letter.” That’s maybe the most valuable lesson he learned: "...to put your heart out there and make a statement." So, in 1994, he wrote a letter to William F. Buckley Jr. to thank him for emboldening Soviet Jews to come to America, as his parents did. Suffice it to say that over the years, Buckley became a friend and mentor who changed the course of Lawrence’s life "because he took time to answer my letter." This is a unique episode!

Richard Schoch is an historian whose research encompasses theater historiography, Shakespeare in performance, musical theater, and cultural history. Richard is the author of eight books, including the recently published Shakespeare's House: A Window onto his Life and Legacy. His latest book is How Sondheim Can Change Your Life, published last November. In 2021 he was elected to the Royal Irish Academy, Ireland’s highest academic honor. Richard Schoch is a professor of drama Queen’s University in Belfast. He graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University and earned his PhD from Stanford University. He has directed plays in New York City and worked for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Richard’s book shows how Sondheim’s lyrics relate to us all. But as important, Richard’s book reveals parallel styles between Stephen Sondheim and William Shakespeare.

Dave Bennett began his national touring career at the age of 14. He has been a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall with The New York Pops and he has performed with 35 other US and Canadian orchestras including Nashville, Houston, Detroit, Rochester, Omaha and Toronto. Some of his annual appearances include The Elkhart Jazz Festival, The Suncoast Classic Jazz Festival, The Arizona Classic Jazz Festival, The Sacramento Hot Jazz Jubilee, The Clambake Music Festival, and The Redwood Coast Music Festival. Dave was featured on NPR’s “Jazz at Riverwalk.” He made his European debut in 2008 at The Bern Jazz Festival in Switzerland in a combo with jazz legends and Benny Goodman alumni guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli and vibraphonist Peter Appleyard. Dave is a recording artist on the jazz label Mack Avenue Records. His second release, Blood Moon reached No. 24 on the Billboard Jazz charts in 2018. In March 2022, Dave and his band performed to a sold-out audience at New York City’s Birdland Jazz Club. Dave recently joined forces with guitarist/vocalist/pastor Tom Hampton for Dave’s first gospel project, recently released.