Stand Partners for Life

Stand Partners for Life


Latest Episodes

Music or muddle: Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony
December 03, 2022

Shostakovich had never had it worse: his latest opera, Lady Macbeth, had been panned. And not just by an ordinary critic: Joseph Stalin himself had paid a visit to the opera house. The official Soviet opinion of the work? "Muddle instead of music." Sho

The best cadenza ever? Prokofiev and Ma Vlast
November 26, 2022

Have you ever "discovered" a major piece, live, in the concert hall? Nathan remembers sitting right next to a big star performing Prokofiev's second Piano Concerto, with its massive and breathtaking first-movement cadenza. Then he and Akiko talk about sit

Stand Partners “Four” Life
November 18, 2022

This week's landmark episode marks the return of Akiko, plus a pair of fellow stand partners for life: violists Kate Reddish and Eric Lea! We discuss the slings and arrows of a career in music, what you can and can't get from music school, what it's like

Travis Maril, Violympic Champion
November 10, 2022

I'm joined in the backyard this week by Violympian and VMC participant Travis Maril, as well as his fellow USC alum and my Director of Operations, Kate Reddish. Our wide-ranging conversation includes no small measure of pedagogical geekery, as well as suc

Kerstin Tenney and the Light Album
November 03, 2022

Nathan, Kerstin and Kate (and Kate's SPFL Eric) in PasadenaToday I'm talking with Kerstin Tenney, VMC violinist par excellence, as well as my Director of Operations, violist (and VMC alumna par equally excellence) Kate Reddish. We talk about Kerstin's

Tour-ready? Copland 3, Mahler 1, and more
October 27, 2022

It's tour time! While you're listening, we'll be flying, driving, and playing our way through Boston, New York, Mexico City, and Guanajuato. So to kick off the trip, let's talk tour repertoire and hand out some awards. Tour rep includes Copland's Third

Welcome back with the All-Time Awards
October 20, 2022

Akiko and I are back for the 2022-2023 season! In this first episode we share with you a fun new format: awards in all kinds of different categories. Next week we'll focus on the season-opening tour prep weeks at the LA Phil, but for today we're handing o

039: Summer motivation, plus Q & A
June 28, 2020

We took quite a long break from recording the show with everything going on at the moment, but we are so glad to be back. To kick things off again we thought we would use this episode to go through a bit of what we have been up to,

039: Summer motivation, plus Q & A
June 28, 2020

We took quite a long break from recording the show with everything going on at the moment, but we are so glad to be back. To kick things off again we thought we would use this episode to go through a bit of what we have been up to,

038: Do we really need a conductor?
March 03, 2020

Here at Stand Partner HQ, we get this question a lot! And that should tell you something without even knowing the answer. Nobody asks what a pilot does, or if we really need one for our airplanes. But the conductor's role isn't nearly so obvious,