Craig DeSilva
Host of Evening ConcertCraig DeSilva is glad to be playing recorded music on the air instead of playing for a live audience on stage as did when he studied piano. He began piano lessons when he was a child and continued piano studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (where he majored in broadcast journalism and minored in music) under the late Peter Coraggio.
Craig got his start in radio as a news reporter and announcer on Hawaiʻi Public Radio and has filed stories for many national radio programs, including National Public Radio, Public Radio International, and Voice of America. Off the public radio airwaves, he’s written for Hawaii Business magazine and was assistant editor for Pacific Islands Report at the East-West Center.
Heʻs currently employed as a corporate writer at HMSA and writes for Island Scene magazine. Craig is a proud supporter of local arts and culture in Hawaiʻi. He serves on the volunteer board for Honolulu Chamber Music Series. And he enjoys sharing music on Evening Concert that highlights arts events in the Islands -- your requests are welcome.
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Pianist Jeremy Denk has had an on-again, off-again relationship with Bach’s partitas over his long career. But now, Bach’s set of dance pieces are here to stay. Denk performs all six partitas during a solo recital in a concert presented by Honolulu Chamber Music Series. -
When violinist Anne Akiko Meyers performs with the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra, she’ll be escorted by bodyguards. Not to protect her. After all, who’d want to harm one of America’s beloved violinists? Instead, the extra security is for her prized Guarneri “Vieuxtemps” violin. You can see Meyers perform on this rare violin for the Hawaiʻi premiere of Blue Electra, a new work she commissioned American composer Michael Dougherty to write based on the life of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. -
Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra’s Michael-Thomas Foumai is in the Halloween spirit. He showed off his costume during an interview on Evening Concert to preview a special Halloween concert he’ll be conducting that will feature spooky stories and a costume contest. He also talks about a concert featuring violinist Anne Akiko Meyers playing a new work by his former music teacher, Michael Daugherty. And why is E.T. perched on the table? Listen to the interview to find out. -
For the past 71 years, Honolulu Chamber Music Series (HCMS) has been bringing classical music artists from around the world to local audiences. Helen Chao-Casano, an HCMS board member, gives us a sneak peek into scheduled performances with two string quartets, a piano trio, and a vocal ensemble. -
They call her the Jimi Hendrix of the pipa, a 2,000-year-old lute-like Chinese instrument. Wu Man is one of the few pipa virtuoso performers in the world. She spoke to Evening Concert host Craig DeSilva about her Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra performance this weekend of a pipa concerto that was composed for her. -
He came. He saw. He conquered. Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra’s Michael-Thomas Foumai appeared on Evening Concert dressed for the part to talk about HSO’s Pines of Rome concerts. Saturday’s one-hour family-friendly performance will include a story written by Foumai that he’ll narrate during the concert. Find out if he reads it with an Italian accent. -
Monica Chung, artistic director of the Kauaʻi Concert Association, wanted a “big shebang” to launch the 2025-2026 season. So she asked conductor Tito Muñoz to lead the Kauaʻi Concert Sinfonia in Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 “Titan.” Evening Concert host talked to Chung and Muñoz about bringing concerts to the Garden Isle and working with school students in the community. -
It’s Mia Yoshimoto’s last day. After three years as an executive assistant at Hawaii Public Radio, Yoshimoto is starting a new career in cosmetology. Before leaving HPR, she stopped by Evening Concert to share some of her favorite tunes from musical theater and opera productions that she’s worked on as a designer and wig master, including the I’m a Bright Kid Foundation’s recent production of Gypsy at Paliku Theater. -
When Canadian violinist Timothy Chooi first started learning Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, he realized why many violinists called it “too long and unplayable.” But after years of working on it, the concerto is now his go to for concerts. Chooi spoke to Evening Concert host Craig DeSilva about his debut with the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra for the Tchaikovsky Spectacular concert Saturday, July 26 at the Waikīkī Shell. -
Cannons won’t be fired throughout Kapiolani Park. But the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra will give a similar-sounding treatment that’s made Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture so appealing for the past 145 years. HSO Composer in Residence Michael-Thomas Foumai stopped by Evening Concert for behind-the-scenes insights into HSO’s Tchaikovsky Spectacular concert this weekend.
