Jason Heilman
Host, Classical TulsaMusicologist and Classical Tulsa host Jason Heilman is no stranger to Tulsa’s concert audiences, having been a frequent speaker at concerts by Tulsa Camerata, Chamber Music Tulsa, and other local groups.
Originally from Wisconsin, Jason grew up in Tulsa, where he began playing trumpet in his middle school band. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance from the University of Tulsa, a master’s degree in music history from Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. in musicology and European Studies from Duke University. Jason’s area of expertise is the music of Vienna circa 1900, and while he was completing his dissertation, he lived in Vienna for a year and a half. Officially, he was there as an invited fellow at the IFK International Research Center for Cultural Studies, but in reality, he spent most of his time attending concerts and sampling the city’s many bratwurst and kebab stands.
Jason has taught music courses at Duke and at the University of Texas at Austin, but his real calling is inspiring people to experience the vast diversity of classical music firsthand. After returning to his hometown of Tulsa, he and three other local musicians co-founded Tulsa Camerata in 2010. In addition to his innovative role as Tulsa Camerata’s concert narrator, he also served for two years as its executive director. When Tulsa Camerata commissioned Michael Daugherty’s This Land Sings: Songs of Wandering, Love, and Protest Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie, Jason wrote the narrator’s part and performed it at the world premiere in Tulsa in April 2016.
Jason met his wife, Rosalyn, when they were both sixth graders at Byrd Middle School and they married twenty-five years later. His three passions in life are music, beer, and coffee, and he doesn’t consider a day complete without all three.
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Joseph Haydn may be remembered as the man behind some of our most serious musical genres, but he also had a sense of humor, which often manifested itself in his music. Classical Tulsa host Jason Heilman introduces Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 33, No. 2 in E flat, Hob.III:38, – the "Joke" quartet – in 10 minutes or less. -
It’s Ludwig van Beethoven's final completed work, but with its economical form and an optimistic tone that borders on cheerfulness, it stands apart from his other late quartets: Classical Tulsa host Jason Heilman introduces Beethoven’s surprising String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135, in 10 minutes or less. You can hear the Rolston Quartet perform the piece as part of Chamber Music Tulsa's 2022-23 season on February 19 at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. -
Chamber Music Tulsa and Public Radio Tulsa present Season 4 of Masterworks in 10 Minutes or Less, with six new podcasts from Classical Tulsa host Jason Heilman.
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After coming home from the New World, Antonin Dvořák began to embrace Czech folk music and culture unapologetically in his final works. But in one of his last string quartets, he seems to be saying goodbye to the Viennese classicism he had long sought to emulate: Classical Tulsa host Jason Heilman introduces Dvorak's String Quartet No. 13 in G major, Op. 106, in 10 minutes or less. You can hear the Maxwell Quartet perform this piece as part of Chamber Music Tulsa's 2022-23 season at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center on November 13.
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Just a couple of years before he left for the New World, Czech composer Antonín Dvořák was asked to capitalize on the success of one of his chamber pieces with another: Classical Tulsa host Jason Heilman introduces Dvořák's Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat, Op. 87, in 10 minutes or less. You can hear the Laredo-Robinson-Ngwenyama-Polonsky Quartet perform this piece as part of Chamber Music Tulsa's 2022-23 season at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center on October 16. -
When he was just eighteen, Felix Mendelssohn created a stunningly mature string quartet that could stand alongside Beethoven’s own late masterpieces in the genre: Classical Tulsa host Jason Heilman introduces Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13, in 10 minutes or less. You can hear the Viano String Quartet perform the piece to launch Chamber Music Tulsa's 2022-23 season at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center on September 17th.
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As one of Ludwig van Beethoven's final works, it initially divided opinion, with some contemporaries calling it unplayable and others hailing it as the pinnacle of the genre: Classical Tulsa host Jason Heilman introduces Beethoven's monumental String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, opus 131, in 10 minutes or less. You can hear the Verona Quartet perform the piece as part of Chamber Music Tulsa's 2021-22 season on April 10th at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. -
We'll never know why Franz Schubert suddenly stopped working on an ambitious new string quartet nearly 8 years before his untimely death, but its one finished movement went on to become a concert hall staple: Classical Tulsa host Jason Heilman introduces Schubert's String Quartet Movement in C minor, D.703, in 10 minutes or less. You can hear the Verona Quartet perform the piece as part of Chamber Music Tulsa's 2021-22 season on April 9th and 10th.
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Whenever he got into financial trouble, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart turned to the piano trio, which he could easily sell to amateurs for some quick cash, if he could make the music simple enough: Classical Tulsa host Jason Heilman introduces Mozart's Piano Trio in C major, K.548, in 10 minutes or less. You can hear the ATOS Trio perform this piece as part of Chamber Music Tulsa's 2021-22 season on March 26.
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As Chamber Music Tulsa presents all seven of Ludwig van Beethoven's numbered piano trios in two concerts with the German ATOS Trio March 25 and 27, get to know these groundbreaking works in our Masterworks in 10 Minutes or Less podcast with Classical Tulsa host Jason Heilman.
