Crushing Classical

In today’s podcast you’ll hear my interview with James Daly: Pianist, Composer, Teacher, Business Owner.  He’s created the San Ramon Academy of Music and the Powerful  Piano brand.  James is so charming and passionate, and you can just feel his love for the music he makes and the students he teaches.  He’s overcome a lot of obstacles to get where he is now, owning a successful teaching business and continuing to perform, compose, and create content with energy and love. I hope you enjoy this conversation!  Let’s just say it: Classical music is elitist. The people on our orchestra stages tend to look a certain way, the composers who get played tend to be demographically similar, and our diversity/equity/inclusion efforts often get a surprising amount of internal and external pushback. As a white woman, It makes me really uncomfortable to talk about these issues, but these are conversations that need to be had.  The bio my guest James Daly shared with me addresses this head-on, and starts: James is not what peo