Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses a wide variety of issues related to conducting and leading an ensemble, from score study and appreciation for a piece's context, to how to connect with musicians, how to conduct a rehearsal, how conducting newer works differs from conducting music from past centuries, and much, much more.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses the responsibility that she as a conductor has to the audiences that come to listen to her ensembles and the pieces they perform.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses whether she reviews her performances after the fact, and what she looks for when she does.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses the challenges unique to conducting music written 300 years ago, from technical, musical, and conceptual points of view, and compares them to the challenges of conducting music written by living composers.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses the perception of opera as an art form for elites, and why ticket sales for opera performances have soared in recent years.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses the skills necessary for a professional career as a conductor, and offers advice to aspiring conductors on how to get started.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, shares her strategies for running rehearsals that emphasize playing over talking.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, assesses Arturo Toscanini's skills and force of personality, and his legacy as a conductor.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, talks about her heroes of conducting, particularly Bruno Walter, Carlos Kleiber and Leonard Bernstein, and why she admires them.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses the importance of tempo to musicians, singer, and to the structure of the piece being conducted.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses breathing and why it's important for keyboardists, string players, and conductors to understand how winds, brasses and singers breathe when they play a line.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses her training and education, and how she came to join the faculty at the Thornton School.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses her approach for building a strong working relationship with ensemble she conducts, whether as a guest or over an extended period of time.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses how playing the harpsichord differs physically and musically from playing the piano, and why she enjoys it.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses her decision in college to switch from pre-med to music, and how she sold this switch to her somewhat reluctant parents.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, shares some regrets she has about her career, and chance she wishes she'd taken.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses the process and practice of programming a concert - from the traditional overture-concerto-intermission-symphony concert to more creative and modern approaches to concert programming (from budgeting and ensembles to new repertoire) that she has explored. She also discusses some novel ways to replace parts of the traditional program - say, the overture - with something else that serves the same purpose, and how to construct a concert that tells a story or takes listeners on a journey.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses the cultural history of classical music, and the slow evolution of art music from "the music of our time" to a custodial tradition that carefully remembers the works of past centuries while often deprecating the actual music of our time.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses her training as a conductor and why conducting opera is more difficult than conducing chamber or orchestral ensembles.

Lucinda Carver, Senior Lecturer in Keyboard and Early Music Studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, discusses her process of digging into a score before she conducts it, in order to discover the large scale architecture, the details she wants to emphasize, and the points at which great care is needed - both for relatively unfamiliar works and works that are well known.