John Robert performed on Show 380 in Portland, Maine on November 20, 2019.

John Robert Santiago (flute), 17, from Rowland Heights, California, is a senior at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. He is a recipient of From the Top’s Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award. John Robert has been playing flute since the age of 13 and currently studies with Jennifer Olson at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music. At both schools, he enjoys extensive performance experience in chamber, orchestral, and solo configurations. He has performed with the Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra and the Colburn Youth Orchestra. Currently, John Robert holds the principal flute chair of the Colburn Sinfonietta in their inaugural year. He toured with the 2019 National Youth Orchestra 2 (NYO2), a program of Carnegie Hall. He was a finalist in the 2019 Mondavi Center National Young Artists Competition and was a winner of the 2019 Colburn Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, performing the Nielsen Flute Concerto with the orchestra. He also performed the Los Angeles regional premiere of Fanmi Imèn, poem for flute and piano by Valerie Coleman. John Robert was a laureate of the 2019 Fulcrum Arts Award. In his spare time, he likes hiking, visiting museums, reading, and going to coffee shops.

Orli has joined From the Top as Guest Host on Show 420, Show 422,  Show 404, Show 405, Show 390, Show 389, Show 379, Show 380, and Show 361.

A consummate musician recognized for her grace, subtlety, and brilliance, the pianist Orli Shaham is hailed by critics on four continents. The New York Times called her a “brilliant pianist,” The Chicago Tribune referred to her as “a first-rate Mozartean,” and London’s Guardian said Ms. Shaham’s playing at the Proms was “perfection.”

Orli Shaham has performed with many of the major orchestras around the world, and has appeared in recital internationally, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. She is Artistic Director of Pacific Symphony’s chamber series Café Ludwig in California since 2007 and was Artist in Residence at Vancouver Symphony (USA) in 2022-2024.

Highlights of Ms. Shaham’s 2024-2025 concert season include performances of concertos written for her by David Robertson with Utah Symphony and by Steven Mackey at Tanglewood, and the Beethoven Triple Concerto with her brother, violinist Gil Shaham. Chamber recitals across the country include Dumbarton Oaks, Music at Menlo, La Jolla, and more.

In 2024, Orli Shaham released the final volumes of the complete piano sonatas by Mozart to high critical acclaim. Her discography includes over a dozen titles on Deutsche Gramophone, Sony, Canary Classics and other labels. Orli Shaham is on the piano and chamber music faculty at The Juilliard School and is a Co-Host and Creative for the national radio program From the Top. She is also Artistic Director of the interactive children’s concert series, Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard, which she founded in 2010, and is chair of the Board of Trustees of Kaufman Music Center.

Orli Shaham is a Steinway Artist

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