In this episode of The Piano Pod, I sit down with Elena Riu — pianist, groundbreaking recording artist, educator, and yoga/mindfulness teacher — whose work has reshaped how we think about artistry, embodiment, and the future of piano performance. Elena has long been a force of quiet revolution.

Long before conversations about inclusivity and expanded repertoire entered the mainstream, she was commissioning bold new works, centering Latin-American and women composers, and exploring how breath, movement, and somatic awareness can transform the way we play and teach music.

This conversation travels across the full spectrum of her artistry — from embodied performance to cultural identity, from the menstrual cycle as a source of creativity to breaking nineteenth-century norms about who pianists should be and what they should play. If you’ve ever wondered how breath shapes sound, how identity shapes expression, or how artists can create courageously beyond convention, this is a conversation you won’t forget.

[Explore Elena’s Work]

Salsa Nueva — Score (16-piece anthology):

• 📘 Purchase on Stretta
• 📘 Purchase on Presto Music

Salsa Nueva — Album (with Latin percussionist Wilmer Sifontes):

• 🎧 SOMM Recordings

Out of the Blues / R&B Collection — Score:

• 📘 Purchase on Presto Music

Piano Icons for the 21st Century (Linn Records):

• 🎧 Amazon

🌐 Elena’s Website

✨ If you enjoyed this episode…

• Please like, comment, and subscribe — it truly helps our community grow.
• Follow The Piano Pod on social media for more conversations at the intersection of creativity, connection, and the evolving world of classical music.
• 📝 My blog on Elena & her album Salsa Nueva:
• 🎵 Listen to our Sounds of Inspiration – Piano Works from Season 6 Playlist

Thank you for listening — and for supporting a space where artists can be fully themselves.

#ThePianoPod #Season6 #ElenaRiu #EmbodiedMusician #EmbodiedPianist #ClassicalMusic #Piano #SalsaNueva #MindfulnessForMusicians #Somatics #YogaForMusicians #NewMusic #LatinAmericanComposers #CreativeCourage #PianistLife

🎶✨ What if jazz could be taught as naturally as language—where freedom, creativity, and collaboration drive learning?

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 5 of The Piano Pod, featuring Quentin Walston — pianist, composer, educator, and founder of This Is Jazz™. In this conversation, we explore how Quentin bridges performance, pedagogy, and entrepreneurship through his acclaimed book How to Teach Jazz & Improvisation and his growing online platform empowering educators worldwide.

In our talk, Quentin shares:

• ✅ His mission to make jazz approachable for every student
• ✅ How his book helps teachers with little or no jazz background start confidently
• ✅ Turning small classroom moments into creative breakthroughs
• ✅ Building a thriving online community for jazz educators
• ✅ Balancing artistry and business as a modern musician
• ✅ His personal journey — from discovering jazz as a child to releasing his album Retro Future

👉 Stay tuned until the end for rapid-fire fun and key insights on creativity, confidence, and cultivating joy through improvisation.

🎼 Explore Quentin’s Work

• 🌐 Website: quentinwalston.com
• 📘 Book: How to Teach Jazz & Improvisation
• 🎵 Platform: This Is Jazz
• 💿 Album: Retro Future

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The Piano Pod Live in Concert: A Bold New Chapter in Classical Music marked the first-ever live event for the award-winning podcast and YouTube show The Piano Pod, conceived and hosted by Executive Producer Yukimi Song. Presented in collaboration with Mannes Prep, a pre-college music program offering comprehensive and nurturing pre-professional training at The New School, this milestone concert brought the show’s signature format — music performance, interview, and panel discussion — from the digital space to the stage.

🎹 Featured Artists

• Dr. Jee-Hoon Krska — Prelude in G-sharp Minor, Op. 32 No. 12 by Sergei Rachmaninoff 🔗 https://www.keystosuccessnewark.org
• Eleonor Bindman — her transcription of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 for piano four hands (Secondo: Yukimi Song) 🔗 https://www.eleonorbindman.com
• Dr. Nnenna Ogwo — The Sun is Rising by Black American composer Consuela Lee 🔗 https://www.juneteenthlp.org
• Donna Weng Friedman ( @donnawengfriedman9968 ) — Fantasy on The Wizard of Oz by William Hirtz for piano four hands (Secondo: Yukimi Song) 🔗 https://www.donnawengfriedman.com

🎙️ About the Event Filmed live at Ernst C. Stiefel Hall at The New School, this 90-minute event blended world-class performances with an engaging interview session and audience panel discussion. The artists shared personal stories, insights on collaboration, and visions for keeping classical music vibrant and relevant today. 💬 Special Guests Caroline Sonett-Assor, Director of Mannes Prep, The New School Audience members and artists in conversation

• 🎥 Video by: Scott Chiu, Portable Recording Studio (https://www.portablerecordingstudio.com/)
• 📸 Photography by: Vin Carvalho (https://www.thephotoartstudio.com/)

✨ Presented by: The Piano Pod — Where tradition meets innovation. In Collaboration with: Mannes Prep, The New School Produced by: Yukimi Song Studio LLC

#ThePianoPod #MannesPrep #LiveConcert #ClassicalMusic #PianoPodcast #ConcertAndConversation #PanelDiscussion #CreativityAndConnection #DonnaWengFriedman #NnennaOgwo #EleonorBindman #JeeHoonKrska #YukimiSong #TheNewSchool

🎶✨ How can nineteen tiny piano miniatures blossom into one of the most expansive, collaborative, and award-winning projects of our time?

Welcome to Season 6 Episode 3: The World of MICROVIDS — Composer & Advocate for Women in Music, Stefania de Kenessey. In this episode of The Piano Pod, I sit down with Stefania de Kenessey, a composer whose works have been heard at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, La MaMa, and around the world.

Her latest project, Microvids, began as nineteen piano miniatures written during the pandemic — and has since grown into a global tapestry of music, poetry, improvisation, orchestral performance, and film.

In our conversation, Stefania opens up about:

• ✅ The surprising origins of MICROVIDS and how “tiny nothings” became her richest work
• ✅ Collaborations with pianist Donna Weng Friedman, violinist Curtis Stewart, narrator Krystal Joy Brown, and the New Jersey Youth Symphony under Helen Cha-Pyo
• ✅ Award-winning films inspired by MICROVIDS, including Silent Cry
• ✅ How MICROVIDS can connect with youth orchestras and piano students around the world
• ✅ Her advocacy for women in music, her Hungarian roots, and her expansive multi-genre style — from opera to dance to provocative video works like Menstrual Rosary

👉 Stay tuned until the end for rapid-fire fun, candid reflections, and exclusive performance excerpts from MICROVIDS, Unorthodox, and Menstrual Rosary.

https://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6751/

• 🌐 Stefania's Website
• 🎬 Watch Silent Cry (award-winning short film)
• 🎬 Watch Menstrual Rosary (winner of 33 film awards)

[The Piano Pod]

• 💖 Subscribe TPP on Substack to unlock exclusive content
• 🎵 Listen to our Sounds of Inspiration – Piano Works from Season 6 playlist
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• 🚨 Latest News: https://linktr.ee/thepianopod
• 🌐 Website: https://thepianopod.com

🎹🔥 What makes a four-hand piano duo so powerful, intimate, and endlessly creative?

Welcome to Season 6 Episode 2: Four Hands, Boundless Creativity — Mada & Hugh, the Award-Winning Duo on Love, Life & Artistic Freedom

In this captivating episode of The Piano Pod, I sit down with the award-winning Mada & Hugh Piano Duo — Romanian-born pianist Mădălina-Claudia Dănilă and Korean-American pianist Hugh Sung. Known for their electrifying four-hand performances, imaginative arrangements, and engaging video productions, Mada & Hugh are redefining what it means to collaborate in classical music today.

In our conversation, they open up about:

• The artistry and intimacy of four-hand piano playing
• Their daring arrangements, from Romanian folk gems to Sweet Child O’ Mine
• Behind-the-scenes secrets of their video production and vlogs
• Mădălina’s journey from Romania to the U.S. and her research on George Crumb
• Hugh’s entrepreneurial path — inventing AirTurn and pushing the boundaries of music tech
• The risks they’ve taken to reinvent themselves and the courage it takes to build a new artistic life together

👉 Stay tuned until the end for rapid-fire fun, candid reflections on creativity and connection, and exclusive performance excerpts — including Suita din Dobrogea and Silence and a Face from Christian Mecham’s Three Omens.

[Mada & Hugh Piano Duo]

• Website:
• YouTube Channel
• 🎼Download their amazing 4-hand arrangements HERE

[The Piano Pod]

• Subscribe to TPP on Substack for free or unlock exclusive materials with a paid subscription
• Subscribe to our Sounds of Inspiration – Piano Works from Season 6 playlist
• Latest News
• Website

🎹✨ Can music heal, comfort, and truly transform lives?

In this special Season 6 premiere of The Piano Pod, I sit down with Billboard-charting pianist and composer Chad Lawson — also the first musician ever appointed as a U.N. Ambassador for the World Federation for Mental Health. His composition “The Light Within” became the official theme song for World Mental Health Day, and his music has touched millions through streaming, concerts, hospitals, and beyond.

In our conversation, Chad opens up about:

• The inspiration behind his latest album, Where We Are: Unity Edition
• How he turned adversity into artistry with his debut Set on a Hill
• Why combining music and wellness has become his mission
• And the story of how he became a U.N. Ambassador through music

👉 Stay tuned until the end for rapid-fire fun, personal insights, secrets to building a successful creative career, and an exclusive excerpt of Chad’s breathtaking piece “Sanctuary.”

[Chad Lawson]

• Sanctuary full video: https://youtu.be/QZwL3ojac0I?si=dR6CUnz-UECGgH5g
• The Light Within: https://youtu.be/QZwL3ojac0I?si=dR6CUnz-UECGgH5g
• Website: https://www.chadlawson.com/
• Podcast: https://www.calmitdownpodcast.com/

[The Piano Pod - a global hub for innovation, education, and connection in classical piano music]

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Happy Thanksgiving! In this bonus episode, I’m sharing something deeply personal — a part of my identity I’ve rarely spoken about publicly. I am a third-generation Zainichi Korean, born and raised in Japan, and I’m finally stepping into that history through a new creative initiative called The Zainichi Music Project, now sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts.

This episode marks the beginning of that journey — a project that will grow into a living archive of research, new music commissions, recordings, interviews, and documentary work.

In this episode, I talk about:

• What the word Zainichi actually means,
• How Japanese colonial rule — not immigration — brought our community into Japan,
• How postwar restructuring and the San Francisco Peace Treaty left Zainichi Koreans stateless,
• What it meant to be born and raised in a country that never fully recognized us as citizens,
• And why this project is my way of honoring our history, resilience, and creative legacy.

For those who want to go deeper, please read my Substack essay, “Behind the Mic: Reclaiming Voice Through Sound,” where I share more about my experience growing up Zainichi.

Thank you for listening — and for being part of The Piano Pod community. If you’d like to follow this new project, you can subscribe to Substack and follow @zainichimusicproject on Instagram and TikTok.

More soon, and thank you for supporting this next chapter.

Get ready for our next episode of The Piano Pod: The Embodied Pianist with Elena Riu — pianist, groundbreaking recording artist, educator, and yoga/mindfulness teacher.

In this powerful conversation, we explore embodied performance, somatics, breath, creativity, cultural identity, and even the menstrual cycle as a source of artistic insight. Elena’s work challenges long-held assumptions about what pianists should play, how they should train, and how the body shapes sound.

In this episode, Elena and I talk about:

• ✅ Her journey from Venezuela to the UK — and how navigating multiple identities shaped her artistry
• ✅ The creation of Salsa Nueva and the importance of commissioning new works
• ✅ What it means to challenge 19th-century biases about repertoire and artistic identity
• ✅ Her work as an embodied pianist and how somatics, breath, and movement transform playing
• ✅ Collaboration with dancers, visual artists, poets, and composers
• ✅ Why she opens taboo conversations like creativity and the menstrual cycle among biologically female performers

🎬 Set a reminder for the premiere tomorrow at 8 pm ET: https://youtu.be/exIQxYGbQw8

🎧 Prefer audio? Listen to the audio episode (Spotify, Apple, Amazon & more) available tomorrow, November 18 at 8:00pm ET: https://rss.com/podcasts/the-piano-pod/

📝 Read my full review of Elena’s groundbreaking album Salsa Nueva on Substack

#ThePianoPod #Season6 #ElenaRiu #EmbodiedPianist #SalsaNueva #LatinAmericanMusic #NewMusic #ContemporaryPiano #SteinwayArtist #WomenInMusic #Somatics #MusiciansHealth #ClassicalMusicReimagined