Tom Huizenga
Tom Huizenga is a producer for NPR Music. He contributes a wide range of stories about classical music to NPR's news programs and is the classical music reviewer for All Things Considered. He appears regularly on NPR Music podcasts and founded NPR's classical music blog Deceptive Cadence in 2010.
Joining NPR in 1999, Huizenga produced, wrote and edited NPR's Peabody Award-winning daily classical music show Performance Today and the programs SymphonyCast and World of Opera.
He's produced live radio broadcasts from the Kennedy Center and other venues, including New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge, where he created NPR's first classical music webcast featuring the Emerson String Quartet.
As a video producer, Huizenga has created some of NPR Music's noteworthy music documentaries in New York. He brought mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato to the historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, placed tenor Lawrence Brownlee and pianist Jason Moran inside an active crypt at a historic church in Harlem, and invited composer Philip Glass to a Chinatown loft to discuss music with Devonté Hynes (aka Blood Orange).
He has also written and produced radio specials, such as A Choral Christmas With Stile Antico, broadcast on stations around the country.
Prior to NPR, Huizenga served as music director for NPR member station KRWG, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and taught in the journalism department at New Mexico State University.
Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Huizenga's radio career began at the University of Michigan, where he produced and hosted a broad range of radio programs at Ann Arbor's WCBN-FM. He holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan in English literature and ethnomusicology.
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As one of the most-performed living composers, the Pulitzer winner insists that her music communicate to everyone — from farmers to children to the classical music intelligentsia. -
Wet Leg is back with another burst of wildly infectious, frenetic rock. We've got that, the original version of an Oscar-worthy Sufjan Stevens song, and some music that NPR's Tom Huizenga says is "better than Xanax." Featured artists and songs: 1. Wet Leg: "Catch These Fists," from 'moisturizer' 2. Ashley Jackson: "Unrest," from 'Take Me To The Water' 3. Sufjan Stevens: "Mystery of Love (Demo)," from 'Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition)'4. Alexander Knaifel: "Stanza I-VII," from 'Chapter Eight' 5. George Xiaoyuan Fu: "Passacaglia on a Theme by Radiohead," from 'Colouring Book' Enjoy the show? Share it with a friend and leave us a review on Apple or wherever you listen to podcasts. Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: allsongs@npr.org Hear new songs from past episodes in the All Songs Considered playlists in Apple Music and Spotify. -
From plumbing pipes and rice bowls to vibraphones and one big bass drum, Sandbox Percussion makes mesmerizing music that you have to see to believe. -
The soprano and her pianist husband offer a deeply considered look at the human condition through seven distinct songs. -
One of the first modern women composers to reach international acclaim, Gubaidulina wrote bold music, inspired by Eastern and Western philosophies, and the joy of sound itself. -
We update our running list of the year's best songs with the cinematic pop of Oklou, Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir, the experimental hip-hop group clipping. and more. Featured artists and songs: 1. Oklou: "family and friends," from 'choke enough' 2. Anna Thorvaldsdottir: "Part V" and "Part VIII," from 'UBIQUE' 3. clipping.: "Keep Pushing," from 'Dead Channel Sky' 4. Sandbox Percussion: "Don't Look Down," from 'Cerrone: Don't Look Down' 5. Lucrecia Dalt: "cosa rara (feat. David Sylvian)" (single) 6. Anouar Brahem: "The Eternal Olive Tree," from 'After the Last Sky' Enjoy the show? Share it with a friend and leave us a review on Apple or wherever you listen to podcasts. Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: allsongs@npr.org Hear the songs in the All Songs Considered playlists in Apple Music and Spotify. -
Something kind of miraculous takes place when teenagers take over the Tiny Desk. Their astounding performances confirm a bright forecast for the future of music. -
The rising star of the British Kanneh-Mason family offers vigorous Chopin, serene Liszt and a stirring spiritual at the trusty Tiny Desk upright piano. -
NPR staff recommend 5 non-fiction books for reading over the holidays or anytime, really: "The New India," "Unshrinking," "We're Alone," "New Cold Wars," and "Between Two Sounds."
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The youngest ever winner of the Van Cliburn Piano Competition makes our trusty upright piano sound like a 9-foot grand in music by Liszt and Tchaikovsky.
