Jeff Lunden

A big hit on Broadway right now is a revival of Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, starring Edie Falco and Stanley Tucci. The play is what theater people call a two-hander — because it uses only two actors to tell its story. Two-handers are cheap ...

One recent Sunday in New York, composer Neely Bruce brought together six marching bands, a dozen choruses, a West African Drumming Ensemble, Javanese Gamelan, West Indian Steel Drums, bagpipers, and a fife and drum corps. Jeff Lunden was there for this afternoon of organized chaos.

A playwright relies on help from other artists to realize his or her vision, most importantly the director. Playwright David Grimm was excited his new play about Christopher Marlowe was being performed in Washington…but he was wholly unprepared for the director’s vision.

When you eat soup, does it taste pointy or round? When you listen to music, do you see colors? If so, then you might have synesthesia, a neurological condition where something stimulates one sense, but two senses respond. 

How can some singers pull a perfect "A" out of thin air — and why does it sometimes drive them crazy? Producer Jeff Lunden explores one of the most mysterious natural musical abilities, the phenomenon known as perfect pitch.

(Originally aired: June 16, 2001)

For the past 78 years this community theater group on Manhattan’s Upper East Side has performed nothing but Gilbert & Sullivan.

In the 1930s and '40s, Hollywood became a major destination for European composers fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe, and those composers made Tinseltown an important musical center, not just for film scores, but for contemporary classical music.

(Originally aired: April 28, 2001)

How can some singers pull a perfect "A" out of thin air — and why does it sometimes drive them crazy? Producer Jeff Lunden explores one of the most mysterious natural musical abilities, the phenomenon known as perfect pitch. 

Producer Jeff Lunden examines how acousticians play with sound, on CDs and in the concert hall.

(Originally aired: March 3, 2001)

The dance company bearing its pioneering founder's name struggles to keep her work alive.

(Originally aired: March 24, 2001)

Producer Jeff Lunden explores how specific songs can trigger intense emotional memories.

In the 1930s and '40s, Hollywood became a major destination for European composers fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe, and those composers made Tinseltown an important musical center, not just for film scores, but for contemporary classical music. 

A diverse group of fifth graders learn the fine points of collaboration as they write, produce, and perform their own original opera.

(Originally aired: January 27, 2001)

The dance company bearing its pioneering founder's name struggles to keep her work alive.

Producer Jeff Lunden examines how acousticians play with sound, on CDs and in the concert hall.

A diverse group of fifth graders learn the fine points of collaboration as they write, produce, and perform their own original opera. Produced by Jeff Lunden.

At Beth Abraham Hospital in the Bronx, music therapists give people who have lost the ability to talk a new way to communicate.

Composer Jeff Lunden explains why songs get stuck in our heads.

At Beth Abraham Hospital in the Bronx, music therapists give people who have lost the ability to talk a new way to communicate.  Produced by Jeff Lunden.

Composer Jeff Lunden explains how songs stick in our heads.