Tom Huizenga | January 14, 2026

Something rather astonishing occurs when kids take over the Tiny Desk. Our very future of music-making is on display.

Over the years, we have invited some of the brightest young musicians in the country to play the Desk. They are alums of the organization From the Top, which over the past 25 years has provided a platform of radio broadcasts, online performances and fellowships to support young, enthusiastic players.

At only 17 years old, the Eugene, Ore., native Maria Telesheva is already an accordion wizard. I have trouble simply pushing the right button in an elevator. So watching Telesheva’s fingers fly gracefully over more than 200 buttons on her bayan, as the instrument is called in Russia, is a thrill. She makes the tightly braided voices in J.S. Bach’s thicket of counterpoint sing and dance.

Nine-year-old Alexander Zhou is a mega-watt entertainer with a winning smile and technique far beyond his age. Based in New York, where he attends a special music school, he’s already won a half-dozen international competitions. I’m uncertain, with his small hands, just how he gets to the deluge of notes in the Moszkowski show-stopper. He’ll have to learn completely new fingerings as he grows. He describes the music as having “light, crispy notes and also a brilliant, very mysterious vibe.”

The confident, 18-year-old Henry Drangel from Queens is a freshman at the Curtis Institute. To hear the sweet, pinging sound of a newly minted tenor voice is especially satisfying in an age when opera geeks are concerned about the state of vocal education. Drangel’s breath control, his sense of the singing Italian line and the sunshine in his voice should take him far. His adroit accompanist, Adam Jackson, is studying for his master’s degree at Juilliard.

If these three artists gathered here represent the future of classical music, then that future is shining brightly indeed.

SET LIST

Johann Sebastian Bach: J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C minor (Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1)

Moritz Moszkowski: Étincelles, Op. 36, No. 6 (“Sparks”)

Gaetano Donizetti: “Quanto è bella” (from L’elisir d’amore)

MUSICIANS

Maria Telesheva: accordion

Alexander Zhou: piano

Henry Drangel: vocals

Adam Jackson: piano

TINY DESK TEAM

Producer: Tom Huizenga

Director/Editor: Kara Frame

Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault

Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter

Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant

Audio Engineer: Josh Newell

Production Assistant: Dhanika Pineda

Photographer: Sofia Seidel

Tiny Desk Team: Maia Stern, Ashley Pointer

Series Editor: Lars Gotrich

Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed

Executive Director: Sonali Mehta

Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton

#tinydesk #nprmusic #fromthetop

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