Tom Huizenga : NPR
Tom Huizenga Tom Huizenga is a music producer for NPR Digital Media.
Tom Huizenga
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Tom Huizenga

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Tom Huizenga
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Tom Huizenga

Music Producer

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.

Story Archive

Tuesday

Nathy Peluso Ivan Resnik/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Ivan Resnik/Courtesy of the artist

The Contenders, Vol. 12: The songs we can't stop playing this week

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Friday

Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov fled his hometown of Kyiv for Berlin in early 2022. Dmitri Matveyev/Naxos hide caption

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Dmitri Matveyev/Naxos

What's past is present for Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov

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Friday

Tuesday

Friday

Cellist Maya Beiser has reimagined Terry Riley's pioneering work In C, which helped launch the style of music called minimalism. Boyang Hu/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Boyang Hu/Courtesy of the artist

Cellist Maya Beiser's variation on a minimalist manifesto

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Wednesday

Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä has just been announced as the next music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Francois Guillot/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Francois Guillot/AFP via Getty Images

28-year-old conductor Klaus Mäkelä will lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

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Thursday

Wednesday

Composer Anna Clyne — one of the most performed living composers — embraces melody in her music as a vehicle to connect with listeners. Christina Kernohan/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Christina Kernohan/Courtesy of the artist

Tuesday

Cellis Maya Beiser offers a remarkable interpretation of Terry Riley's In C on her latest album. Boyang Hu/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Boyang Hu/Courtesy of the artist

The Contenders, Vol. 5: Our running list of the year's best songs

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Wednesday

Monday

Friday

Composer Julia Perry, photographed in Florence, Italy, in 1957 after she won her second Guggenheim fellowship. David Lees/Getty Images hide caption

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David Lees/Getty Images

Rediscovering the rigor of composers Julia Perry and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson

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Monday

George Gershwin, photographed in his 72nd Street apartment in New York in 1934. His Rhapsody in Blue premiered 100 years ago on Feb. 12, 1924. PhotoQuest / Contributor/Getty Images hide caption

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PhotoQuest / Contributor/Getty Images

'Rhapsody in Blue': After a century, Gershwin's musical melting pot still resonates

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Friday

Seiji Ozawa led the Boston Symphony orchestra for nearly 30 years. Boston Symphony Orchestra hide caption

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Boston Symphony Orchestra

Seiji Ozawa, longtime conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has died at 88

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Wednesday

Friday

The Smile. Frank Lebon/Courtesy of XL Recordings hide caption

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Frank Lebon/Courtesy of XL Recordings

Tuesday

Faye Webster and Lil Yachty, both of Atlanta and friends since middle school, collaborate on the new song "Lego Ring," from Webster's upcoming album Underdressed at the Symphony. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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The Contenders, Vol. 1: Our running list of the year's best songs

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Friday

Sunday

NPR staffers share their non-fiction picks from Books We Love

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Wednesday

In 2023, pianist Awadagin Pratt released a terrific comeback album, his first in 12 years. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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The 10 Best Classical Albums of 2023

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Saturday

Maria Callas as Rosina in Rossini's Il Barbieri di Siviglia, at Milan's La Scala theater in 1956. Erio Piccagliani/Teatro alla Scala hide caption

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Erio Piccagliani/Teatro alla Scala

Maria Callas: The soprano of the century

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Friday

Billie Eilish is nominated for six Grammys at the 2024 awards ceremony. Five of those nominations are for her song "What Was I Made For," from the soundtrack to the film Barbie. Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images

The new album of music by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is a warm blanket of comfort in troubled times. Luciano Rossetti/ECM Records hide caption

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Luciano Rossetti/ECM Records

A disciplined plea for peace – and quiet – from composer Arvo Pärt

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Monday