Joshua Thompson
Pianist and music sociologist Joshua Thompson combines his passions for social advocacy and music education to catalyze social change in classical music. Joshua was recently in residence at the Africana Studies Center for Music and Society at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Named a Beckmann Emerging Artist Fellow last year by the Arts Council of Indianapolis, Joshua is an accomplished pianist with a personal mission to exclusively program and perform classical masterworks by composers of African descent.
As co-host of Melanated Moments in Classical Music, Thompson makes classical music approachable and pleasurable for listeners by stoking curiosity about little-known Black composers such as William Grant Still. As a musician, Thompson says these stories keep classical music fresh and relevant no matter how many times he performs a piece or when it was written. He hopes the podcast will have the same effect on listeners. Learn more about Thompson here.
Salvador Perez Lopez
Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, Salvador Perez Lopez was raised in Bremen, Indiana, and began playing clarinet in sixth grade. Now a Grammy-award winning clarinetist, Perez Lopez earned a Bachelor of Music with Distinction from Indiana University South Bend and a Master of Music from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.
As host of Classical Music Indy’s streaming program, Perez Lopez’s work is a blend of the artistic and the technical, and in both of these areas, he applies the discipline of a highly-trained musician. Whether tracking down a new recording, or writing the script to describe it, the result is exceptional classical music, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Perez Lopez loves to take what he has learned about classical music history and share that with his listeners. Learn more about Perez Lopez here.
Clare Longendyke
Clare Longendyke is an award-winning pianist whose dazzling musicianship and colorful interpretations delight audiences wherever she performs. Before earning master’s and doctoral degrees at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Longendyke completed degrees at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, and the École Normale de Musique in Paris. The ardent Francophile and French-speaking pianist received the Harriet Hale Woolley Award in the Arts to study music in France as an undergraduate. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has won four national competitions and was a finalist in several others during the past decade
As streaming host, Longendyke feels empowered to emphasize living and underrepresented composers, blending a passion for music’s classical tradition with an equal affection for what she calls “the music of our time.” The new music niche is where Longendyke feels she has the power to change what people are listening to, and who they are seeing on concert stages. Learn more about Longendyke here.
Nicholas Johnson
Dr. Nicholas Johnson, Assistant Professor of Musicology and Director of Graduate Studies at the Jordan College of the Arts School of Music at Butler University, is a rising star in classical music’s creative culture. While preparing hundreds of college students for careers in music each year, his academic appointments also take him around the world to capture contemporary classical music artists and their latest works and performances.
As host of Classical Pairings, Johnson designs content to increase listeners’ exposure to the arts in a way that is positive for them and for the featured musicians. He hopes you taste something you’ve never tasted, hear something you’ve never heard, and that you’re inspired to support your city’s independent craft food and beverage makers. Learn more about Johnson here.
Okara Imani
Okara Imani is a Daughter of the Moon, Libra, vocalist, and writer. She studied music classically for a bachelor’s degree and has been raised under the influence of all manner of funk, jazz, alternative, and punk sounds. With these influences, accompanied by the moods, motivations, and moments of her 28 years on Earth, she is so grateful to hear and be heard by you, teach and be taught by you, to inspire and be inspired by you in the hopes that she may serve as your mouthpiece and mirror into self.
In her role in syndication programming, Imani hopes to give listeners the kind of experience that seeded her career as a musician, adding context to classical music, new music and music written by women and composers of color. “As a Black musical woman, it feels very important for me to have this spot,” she says. Learn more about Imani here.
Angela Brown
International opera star Angela Brown’s multi-genre career has been lauded on the front page of The New York Times, CNN, CBS, in Oprah Magazine and Reader’s Digest. With performances spanning six continents, Angela has graced the leading opera and symphonic stages of the world. She is the founder of Morning Brown, Inc., a nonprofit that bridges the gap between accessible music programs and underserved communities.
As co-host of Melanated Moments in Classical Music, Brown views the podcast as yet another way to amplify her inclusive message. The podcast is a vehicle for what she wants most: to introduce classical music and opera to people who feel no connection with either art form. Learn more about Brown here.
Michael Toulouse
Michael Toulouse is Program Director of Classical Music Indy, and host of its signature 24 hour syndication program, Anytime Classical. He has a B.A. in music from Saint John’s University in Collegeville, MN and continues to play piano and study foreign languages for his own pleasure and artistic growth.
With over 30 years experience in classical music radio, Toulouse carries on the tradition of our Peabody-award winning programming. His exceptional programming earned him the 2006 Spectrum Award from the Indiana Broadcasters Association. Toulouse has also served as radio broadcast host for the International Violin Competition Indianapolis’ 2010 and 2014 quadrennial competitions, has emceed American Pianists Awards concerts, and frequently hosts the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s “Words on Music” pre-concert discussions. Most recently, he launched the new podcast, Key Principals with Michael Toulouse. Learn more about Toulouse here.
