Pianist Joyce Yang returns to perform with the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra this weekend in HSOʻs 2024-2025 season finale. On tour for most of the year, and able to relax a bit before the weekend, the award winning and Grammy nominated Yang visits Classical Pacific to share how she prepares her many performances with meaning and joy. myhso.org

Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra’s Michael-Thomas Foumai previews this weekend’s HSO concerts, featuring a hapai Joyce Yang performing Rachmaninoff’s popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He tells host Craig DeSilva why Johannes Brahms took 20 years to write his first symphony. And he talks about a concert with his good friend and music collaborator, Uncle “K” – Keola Beamer, who’ll be performing slack-key guitar with Jeff Peterson. Also, hear a preview of HSO’s Summer Festival and how you can attend a free concert at Kailua District Park.

Hawaiʻi Chamber Music Festival president Chris Yick joined Classical Pacific to preview the festival’s seventh season. This year’s theme, Cultural Celebrations, brings communities together through music as part of the Ellen Masaki ʻOhana Series. The nine-day festival opens June 14 with the Aloha Junction Trio, preceded by a Q&A with Classical Pacific host Sharene Taba.

44 years ago, Constance "Connie" Uejio won the audition as the Principal Harpist of the then Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. Uejio shares some of her favorite moments with the Honolulu and Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestras with Classical Pacific host Sharene Taba. Uejio will be retiring from the HSO after this weekend's pair of concerts and reception at the Hawaiʻi Theatre.

For over 30 years, violinist Wu Hung has been playing in the Galliard String Quartet. At a recent concert, his colleagues at Chamber Music Hawaiʻi wish him well and thank him for his wonderful music and friendship. Aired previously on Classical Pacific, we hear from Rochelle Uchibori (CMH Board member), Anna Lenhart (horn, Honolulu Brass Quintet), Chris Cabrera (General Manager, Chamber Music Hawaiʻi) Jim Moffitt (clarinet, Spring Wind Quintet) and Wu Hung.

Chamber Music Hawaiʻi board president and clarinetist, Jim Moffit has always wanted to perform Donald Womackʻs "Na Iwi o Pele" (The Bones of Pele) since first hearing it in 2001. Depicting the violent battle on Maui between 2 sisters, Pele, the goddess of fire, and Namakaokahai, the goddess of the sea, this work for violin, viola, cello, clarinet & piano (4 hands) is a stunning end to Chamber Music Hawaiʻi's 2024-2025 season. Both Womack and Moffitt join Classical Pacific Sharene Taba in an overview of this concert.

Chamber Music Hawaiʻi’s Jim Moffitt and pianist Jonathan Korth joined Morning Café to preview the upcoming Trésemble concert, featuring Don Womack’s “Bones of Pele” for four-hand piano, performed by Korth and Tyler Ramos. The program, which is the final concert of the chamber group’s season, also includes Mozart’s Horn Quintet and Dohnányi’s Sextet.

Recent University Laboratory School graduate Eli Wolf will spend his summer playing guitar before heading to Reed College this fall. He credits his dedicated teachers, friends and his mother for their support. Catch Wolfe live this summer at ʻŌhana Jazz and the Pacific Music Institute.

Known for his extraordinary trumpet playing, his 10–12 piece Subtonic Orchestra, the jazz quartet Quadpod and his arrangements with the Royal Hawaiian Band, DeShannon Higa spoke with Classical Pacific host Sharene Taba about his work around town and his 30-year music career.

Bassist Shawn Conley will bring his quartet to Live at the Atherton Jazz Series at Hawaiʻi Public Radio in June. Conley and Classical Pacific host Sharene Taba recorded their conversation as the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra principal bassist was busy with family getting ready for a month-long trip with a performance at the International Society of Bassists Convention and several concerts.