A Conversation with Peter Dugan, Host of "From the Top"

KMFA's manager of education and outreach, Guillermo Delgado has a brief discussion with "From the Top" host, Peter Dugan during their recent live taping at KMFA's Draylen Mason Music Studio.
About Peter Dugan:
He is heard nationwide as the host of NPR’s beloved program From the Top. He has appeared as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across North America and abroad.
A sought-after multi-genre artist, Mr. Dugan has performed in duos and trios with artists ranging from Itzhak Perlman and Renee Fleming to Jesse Colin Young and Glenn Close. Mr Dugan’s debut performances with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony were described by the Los Angeles Times as “stunning” and by the SF Chronicle as “fearlessly athletic.” The Wall Street Journal described Mr. Dugan’s collaboration with violinist Charles Yang as a “classical-meets-rockstar duo.” Mr. Dugan has been presented in chamber music recitals by Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Music at Menlo, Moab Music Festival, and recently in recital with Joshua Bell at the Minnesota Beethoven Festival. He was the 2019 featured recitalist for the California Association of Professional Music Teachers, and has soloed with the San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, New World Symphony, and Mid-Texas Symphony.
Mr. Dugan advocates the importance of music in the community and at all levels of society. As a founding creator of Operation Superpower, a superhero opera for children, he has traveled to dozens of schools in the greater New York area, performing for students and encouraging them to use their talents - their superpowers - for good.
Mr. Dugan holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied under Matti Raekallio. He was a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Young Scholar, College Scholar, and Graduate Scholar awards.
He resides in New York City with his wife, mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan, and serves on the piano faculty at the Juilliard School Evening Division. Mr. Dugan is a Yamaha Artist.
About From the Top:
From the Top is America’s largest national platform celebrating young classically-trained musicians. Through NPR broadcasts and digital content, and the Learning and Media Lab Fellowship, From the Top empowers young musicians to use their music and stories to engage and inspire audiences of all ages.
fromthetop.org/

[@nightmusicbyjess]

Great interview!

[@GregoryHubbs]

What a remarkably kind and empathetic man!
Mr. Dugan, you make the world a much better place through your sensitivity and encouragement of talented, engaged, and passionate young musicians and the subtle ways you enlighten them and the audience by providing cultural and general aesthetic context!
Bravo!
My son adored meeting and playing for you.

[@Mom2MrBabyHaikin]

Thank you so much for what you do with your show and it's purpose! Especially for kids, like my son, it's ultra important and meaningful!

[@Mom2MrBabyHaikin]

Adam, loves opera! He actually flirts with cello since age 4, and since 6, he was facinated by piccolo ever since getting a Clumpet The Trumpet book with CD from his 1st trip to Tanglewood. He's commented on several more -- piano, oboe, harp, double basse, clarinet, ukelele, even Irish Bag Pipes. It gets overwhelming. I think cello stayed the longest. Voice comes much easier to him, somehow.