IF THIS HALL COULD TALK
TRAILER: INTRODUCING “IF THIS HALL COULD TALK”
[Piano music plays.]
KENT TRITLE: The first time I walked on the stage, I felt like my feet were moving but they were not touching the floor.
GINO FRANCESCONI: To have Andy Kaufman, Frank Zappa, and — and Birgit Nilsson, and Horowitz on the same stage, it becomes this kaleidoscope of our history.
JESSICA VOSK: Carnegie Hall! It’s one of the most famous concert venues in the world. For performers, the very name is synonymous with making it.
[Big band music swells.]
ALAN LIGHT: It is a landmark in a career to say that you’re rising to a stage like that.
JESSICA VOSK: I’m Jessica Vosk. And when I made my Carnegie Hall debut, I kept thinking about the incredible history that came before me — how that stage has welcomed some of the most important cultural figures of the last century.
From its opening night in the late eighteen-hundreds…
PHILLIP LOPATE: Try to envision all of those carriages.
GINO FRANCESCONI: …lined up for a mile to get inside.
JESSICA VOSK: …to its role as a public gathering place, like during the Civil Rights Movement…
EMILIE RAYMOND: This event helped make King a celebrity in his own right.
JESSICA VOSK: …from hosting some of the most illustrious names in classical music…
DAVID DUBAL: Growing up, there was only Horowitz. He instilled in all of us the standard of what the piano could be.
JESSICA VOSK: …to welcoming distinctly American genres…
ROB HUDSON: It’s one of the most famous jazz concerts ever.
JESSICA VOSK: …Carnegie Hall has witnessed incredible moments in history.
That’s why I’m so thrilled to be hosting the brand new podcast If This Hall Could Talk, where I’ll be joined by historians, performers, cultural critics, and many others to take a close look at the legendary and sometimes quirky history of Carnegie Hall.
Each episode features a unique item from Carnegie Hall’s Rose Archives— like, Judy Garland’s signed album cover, Benny Goodman’s clarinet, and Ella Fitzgerald’s glasses. We’ll go back in time and explore how that past shaped the culture we live in today.
And where better to do it than at Carnegie Hall, one of the most iconic venues in the culture capital of the world, New York City?
DAVÓNE TINES: The magic of performing arts is that you have the amazing opportunity to make a world that looks like the world you want to be reflected outside of the theater.
Join us for If This Hall Could Talk, starting May second. Produced by Carnegie Hall with SOUND MADE PUBLIC and distributed by WQXR. Listen wherever you get podcasts.