Welcome to Season 6! Creativity & Connection

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Hello friends, and welcome back to The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song. I am so excited to kick off Season 6 with you. I hope your summer gave you space to recharge charge to create and even to stumble into some unexpected musical discoveries. As we step into this new season, I want to invite you into a theme that has been sitting on my heart for months: creativity and connection. This season, we're gonna go deeper, beyond polished performances, beyond perfect takes. We are celebrating the stories behind the curtain. The moments of process, risk, and rediscovery. Because let's be honest, art doesn't come from perfection. It comes from that honest, messy, exhilarating work in between. Last season was such a milestone for The Piano Pod with 20 episodes, 6 generous sponsors, over 350,000 downloads, nearly 3,000 YouTube subscribers, and recognition in outlets like Yahoo Finance, Insider and the Quill Podcast Awards. None of that would have happened without you, your listens, your shares, and your support. Truly, this is as much your community as it is mine, and I am so grateful. So what's ahead in Season 6? We are starting strong. First up is Chad Lawson, Siamais artist, Billboard charting composer, and United Nations Arts Ambassador. Chad has reimagined classical piano as a space for stillness and connection. Through his recordings and his podcast, Calm It Down, he invites millions of listeners to slow down, breathe, and find calm in the middle of life's chaos. This first episode of Season 6 will drop next Tuesday, September 9th, at 8 PM Eastern Time. Everywhere you listen to podcasts, and of course on YouTube. I hope you will join us. Then we'll hear from Madalina Danila and Hugh Sung, the award-winning Mada and Hugh Piano Duo. Their partnership is extraordinary— two brilliant artists daring to take risks together. Their artistry radiates joy and creativity, and their innovative arrangements and collaborations show us how music can bridge cultures and remind us that classical musicians are We are not just performers; we are creators, shaping music in many forms. That episode premieres on Tuesday, September 23rd at 8 PM Eastern Time on our YouTube channel. And here is something I have been bursting to share. For the very first time, The Piano Pod with Yukimi Song is stepping onto the stage for a live concert on October 4th, 2025 at Stiefel Hall at The New School. We'll gather for an afternoon of performances, interviews, and conversation presented in partnership with Mannes Prep at The New School, a pre-college music program offering comprehensive and nurturing pre-professional training. In this special live concert, you will hear from our alumni guests, multi-award-winning filmmaker and pianist Donna Wang Friedman, MIT-trained engineer and founder of Keys to Success, Dr. Jihoon Kerska; pianist and founder, artistic director of Juneteenth LP, Dr. Nana Agboh; and pianist, arranger, and recording artist Eleanor Bindman, known for her innovative Bach transcriptions. Together, these four visionary women will share powerful performances and meaningful conversations that highlight the many ways music builds, impacts, and sustains community. This season is also expanding how we connect. On Substack, you will find Meet Our Guest, my reflections on each artist's creative pulse. For paid subscribers, Behind the Mic, exclusive posts where I share personal stories production notes, and creative lessons I have learned along the way. And in addition to our regular lineup, I'll be sharing 3 bonus mini episodes, casual intimate catch-ups with past guests. This season of creativity and connection is an invitation to listen more closely, to feel more deeply, and to experience classical music not as a finished product but as a living story in motion. Thank you for being here, for making this community possible, and for believing in the power of music and human connection. If you'd like to support this work, please subscribe to The Piano Pod on Substack and YouTube, follow us on social media, share an episode with a friend, and if you are in New York, join us live on October 4th at Stiefel Hall in New York City. I am Yukimi Song, and this is The Piano Pod. Let's make Season 6 a space where music isn't just heard but felt, shared, and reimagined together. See you next week, September 9th, at 8 PM Eastern for our first full episode with Chad Lawson. You don't want to miss it.

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You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com.