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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The award is granted once every four years to a pianist with exceptional qualities, chosen by a secretive committee. This time, a young Polish musician who specializes in Chopin has earned the generous $300,000 prize. -
In his new book, conductor John Eliot Gardiner searches for clues to uncover what the great composer's life and personality were really like. He finds a man full of contradictions and unfathomable music — even "a great guy to go out and have a beer with." -
Hear excerpts from three new albums, each telling a distinctly different American story — from a Toscanini-obsessed symphonic fantasy to a special preview of a majestic symphony of clashing cultures.
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From an intriguing East meets West merger to Vivaldi played with velocity, NPR Music's Tom Huizenga and host Jacki Lyden explore a wide range of new classical releases. -
From the sweet melodies by Bach to the quiet sound world of Morton Feldman, sample three fascinating new albums by today's top fiddlers. -
The young Ingolf Wunder shines in Mozart, Jorge Federico Osorio reintroduces a Mexican classic and Elisveta Blumina reveals the gentle side of Valentine Silvestrov in three compelling new piano recordings. -
From the radiant voices of a Latvian choir to a fresh young string quartet and a seasoned symphony, NPR's Tom Huizenga and host Jacki Lyden spin an eclectic mix of new classical releases. -
New albums of music by the "Three Bs" prove that going back to the basics has its advantages. Hear a sweet-toned violin concerto, an audacious piano sonata and a solo cello suite caressed by a lute. -
January is a slow month for new albums. To tide curious listeners over, we offer an exclusive sampler of musical treats soon to come — ranging from opera star Jonas Kaufmann in Wagner to the unlikely pairing of a Bach pianist and a rising singer-songwriter. -
From the versatility of the violin to the virtuosity of a mysterious opera composer, NPR's Tom Huizenga and host Guy Raz spin an eclectic set of the year's best classical recordings.
