D.J. Profile: Joe (Classical/Broadway)

Each week, we'll be profiling one of the D.J.'s at AOL Radio who are responsible for bringing you the music. Here's a look at Joe, who is in charge of the Classical & Broadway music stations.

Name:

Joseph aka "Opera Joe"

Which music genres are you in charge of?

I program Classical and Broadway

What are your favorite stations to program, and why?

I love to program discovery stations, like Classical 101, it gives me the widest breadth to combine the extremely popular with the random historic yet forgotten works. I like Mash-up stations also, like themed stations that require a little editorial, current events commentary in music.

Who are your favorite artists/bands?

I will be a Pavarotti fan until the day I die, but I can say the same of early Metallica. Hillary Hahn is an amazing violinist and pretty hip. I love the composer Jay Greenberg, he's like a 16 year old musical genius. Bruno Walter, long gone now, is my favorite
Conductor, very passionate and yet patient.

What up and coming artists/performers do you think we should be excited about?

1. Pianist Jonathan Biss, amazing talent and a brilliant maturing prodigy.
2. Angela Brown, The next true Diva.
3. Gustavo Dudamel, Exciting conductor with a master's attention to detail the vigor of youth.

What was your music experience before joining AOL Radio?

I was a professional opera singer for most of life, then fell into software and then worked at iTunes and brought classical music there, then to MTV, where I won the employee talent show with a Opera Rock Mash-up and programmed classical radio and did editorial for the now defunct MTV Urge Music Store. I miss singing all the time, but I love advocate for musical equality in cyberspace.

Opera Joe Wins MTV Talent Show

What is your most memorable concert experience?

Wow, that's tough. I had have to say the memorial concert of Violinist Joseph Gingold,

Every student and alumni from the Indiana University School of Music came and played the Adagio for Strings, that piece from Platoon, everyone on one stage, famous alumni like Joshua Bell and first year students over a thousand strings, vocalists, any instrument. A life dedicated to teaching music rewarded in such a way, I swear I could see him float to heaven, I've never been that moved by musical moment again. It is the power of classical music, the history of human emotions captured in instances music. That's why I love Rock too 75 years from now it will be classical.

What is your biggest guilty pleasure CD that you won't admit to owning - until now?

OK, OK, this is going to hurt. Disney's Aladdin, with Robin Williams and Brad Kane, I'm a total prostitute for cheap sentiment and every day is a chance for a "Whole New World"

If you were stranded on an island with 5 CDs, which ones would you choose?

1. Il Trovatore – RCA – Leontyne Price, Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes – my first opera recording, bought it by mistake, was never the same again.
2. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony – Wilhelm Furtwängler, Wiener Philharmoniker – transcendence of the human soul in music – we are a brotherhood.
3. Master of Puppets – Metallica – my first and best rock show.
4. Gilbert & Sullivan HMS Pinafore/Trial by Jury – Sir Malcolm Sargent –if you check out the lyrics in contrast to the music, this is some very funny stuff, political satire.
5. The Science Fiction Album – Symphony of the City of Prague. It is hard as a classical geek to admit how much I love soundtracks, especially Sc-fi and fantasy.

If you can spend 24 hours with an artist, living or dead, who would it be?

Beethoven, hands down. Not even to talk but to watch. Just to see how he coped with his tinnitus (ringing in the ears) how he could break his imagination out of the basest of humanity to cut the sonic waves with tradition breaking forms and sonorities. If ever a person was touched by God, it was certainly Beethoven. Is genius like this a gift or reaction to environment? Yes a nature walk with Beethoven would be a dream fulfilled.

What do you think the future holds for classical music?

For me the future is in "classical music". For my entire life I've heard that classical music is on verge of disappearing in the USA. True, the money has dried up, but every major classical institution has remained alive, universities fill every year with new students who aspire to classical careers, and really every where else in the world classical music lives not only in the tradition of the past, but in the inspired composers of today. Every Rock and Rap musician I have ever met still looks to the academy and the academy looks to the industry, where we have probably digressed is in the relationships, talent is talent and a great musical experience really knows no genre. In the 21st Century I believe that Classical should become synonymous with experiment or playground, let the fusion of the arts occur, bring new generations to where the "happenings" are. Live musical events that encompass the history of humanity in all musical languages. This has been the playfulness that is classical music tradition and will continue on.

What do you like to do for fun?

Video games, I wish they had been this cool when I was a kid. Halo 3, Oblivion, GTA4, Resident Evil, Assassin's Creed, Puzzle Quest. I like to write children's stories...I have book called Opera Joe, a kid who discovers the world thru music.

If you could have one superhero power, what would you choose and why?

Invisibility, oh yeah, I could go anywhere, do anything, hear anything.

Tell us something random about yourself:

I still think Cereal is an entrée and I play the accoridian.