The Open Ears Project cover art

The Open Ears Project

The Open Ears Project

By: WQXR & WNYC Studios
Listen for free

Summary

 Part mixtape, part sonic love-letter, The Open Ears Project is a podcast in which people share the classical track that means the most to them and why. Created by journalist and former WQXR Creative Director Clemency Burton-Hill, each episode offers a brief and soulful glimpse into human lives, helping us to hear this music — and each other — differently. Guests from the worlds of film, books, dance, comedy and fashion as well as firefighters, taxi drivers, and teachers share cherished musical memories and remind us that extraordinary things happen when we simply stop and listen. Transcripts are posted to individual episode pages as they become available. The Open Ears Project is produced by WQXR and WNYC Studios.© WQXR & WNYC Studios Art Music Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Introducing Classical Music Happy Hour with Emanuel Ax

    Introducing Classical Music Happy Hour with Emanuel Ax
    Apr 30 2026

    Hello Open Ears fans, pianist Emanuel Ax is dropping into the feed to introduce Classical Music Happy Hour, a new podcast he hosts that you might enjoy. The show is all about the joy in chatting about music with all sorts of people, including some of Manny’s dearest friends like pianist Yuja Wang, composer John Adams, actor David Hyde Pierce, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. So grab a drink and join Manny Ax for music, merriment and conversation.

    Listen and Subscribe to Classical Music Happy Hour wherever you get your podcasts.

    Classical Music Happy Hour is produced by WQXR in partnership with Carnegie Hall.
    Show More Show Less
    4 mins
  • Introducing Our Common Nature with Yo-Yo Ma

    Introducing Our Common Nature with Yo-Yo Ma
    Nov 12 2025

    Ana González is here to introduce you to her new podcast, Our Common Nature, a musical journey with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. When the world stopped in 2020, Yo-Yo Ma started thinking about how music can reconnect people to the natural world. In this limited podcast series, Yo-Yo goes around the country to places where people have deep connections to the earth. Host Ana González joins him to uncover stories of how culture binds us to nature, from Maine to Appalachia and Hawaii. The result is a seven-episode series that fuses music, personal narratives, and local histories from across the United States.

    Listen to more episodes from Our Common Nature series.
    Visit the website at ourcommonnaturepodcast.org.
    Show More Show Less
    33 mins
  • Janna Levin on Mozart’s Unfinished Ambitions

    Janna Levin on Mozart’s Unfinished Ambitions
    Jun 17 2024

    Janna Levin is a theoretical cosmologist and professor of astronomy and physics at Barnard College in New York City, specializing in the study of black holes. A Guggenheim Fellow, she’s authored several books on the topics of space, mathematics, and the impassioned people that study them; her latest book, “Black Hole Survival Guide,” allows readers to imagine an encounter with a black hole.

    In the final episode of this season of The Open Ears Project, Janna Levin uses the music of Mozart to venture into the world of perfect circles, spacetime, and the drive to reach a platonic ideal. She muses on the benefits of limitations and rules, and how they have led to some of the most revolutionary scientific discoveries and works of art, from Einstein’s theory of relativity to Mozart’s unfinished Requiem Mass.

    This recording of Mozart’s Requiem was provided courtesy of the New York Philharmonic.
    Show More Show Less
    25 mins
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.