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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Snider's supercharged relationship with her art form and open-book stance on depression and anxiety shine through in her new opera, which debuts this week in Los Angeles. -
For a century, the tiny Coolidge Auditorium, at the Library of Congress, has been a wellspring of cultural integrity, innovative music and American ingenuity. (And free concerts.) -
The restless musician, sporting less electronic gear than usual, spotlights the acoustic warmth of her instrument in pieces stimulated by Bach's cello suites. -
Known for his intellectual and illuminating touch on the podium, the refined conductor was also surprisingly outspoken when it came to politics and his peers. -
In a new album, the youngest ever Van Cliburn winner puts his own stamp on Tchaikovsky's undervalued set of piano pieces called The Seasons. -
At age 60, the Mexican composer has finally won the recognition she deserves, with new recordings, prestigious residencies and a star conductor championing her music. -
The provocative singer and her sublime band give a soul-searching performance in songs that require us to look within ourselves. -
We update our running list of the year's best songs with a plainspoken but moving story from Chris Staples, a wildly unpredictable piece from soprano Barbara Hannigan, Natalia Lafourcade and more. Featured artists and songs: 1. Third Coast Percussion: "Please Be Still," from 'Standard Stoppages' 2. Chris Staples: "Two Carat Diamond," from 'Don't Worry' 3. Barbara Hannigan, David Chalmin: "Che t'ho fatt'io?," from 'Electric Fields' 4. Natalia Lafourcade: "Cocos en la playa," from 'Cancionera' 5. Brooklyn Rider: "Tenebrae," from 'The Four Elements' 'All Songs Considered' 25th anniversary segment: Our No. 1 songs from 2012 Weekly reset: Airing out and beating futons on a Saturday morning in Toyohashi, Japan 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. -
The 12th century abbess, scientist and composer inspires new interpretations of her music, and new works, on an album spotlighting soprano Barbara Hannigan. -
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.
