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 gifted conductor who had wielded immense influence in the classical music world, was publicly accused by nine men of sexual abuse. He died March 9 at age 77 of natural causes. -
NPR's resident classical music specialist Tom Huizenga previews two of the albums he's looking forward to spending time with in 2021. -
The celebrated soprano died suddenly a year ago, leaving her fans, including one NPR producer, in grief, but with many fond memories. -
When young composers explore old musical formulas, exciting things can happen. Mass for the Endangered is a contemporary twist on an ancient tradition. -
The singer crafted a distinctive career that spanned decades and styles. Though a leading figure in her field, Norman's repertoire, fanbase and achievements stretched far beyond the opera house. -
Need a deep discovery experience? Try 1,000 years of music. Our mantra: Bach, Beethoven, before and beyond. -
Naturalist and author Lyanda Lynn Haupt took her research on Mozart to a whole new level when she invited a young starling into her home. -
The opera, by the 39-year-old Shanghai native, is a searing parable of human trafficking set to a score that ranges from Renaissance choral music to punk rock. -
NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with NPR Music Senior Editor Jacob Ganz and NPR's classical music producer, Tom Huizenga, about the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in music, the newest inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and rapper Kanye West going platinum for his latest album.
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How do you attract a more diverse audience at the opera? One answer is to produce operas with characters that look more like the general citizenry.
