Play It Forward – Clio Petty

Meet Clio Petty, one of All Classical Radio’s Winter/Spring 2026 Interns. Below, Clio shares her favorite classical pieces that she has grown up with and continues to love after years of playing and listening to classical music.

Thais: Meditation – Jules Massenet

“Meditation” is a short intermezzo violin solo from the opera Thais. This piece is one I always find myself returning to when I need to reconnect with my instrument and my technique. When I first learned it, my violin teacher had to tell me to stop adding unnecessary slides and tricks while playing, but I just loved making it sound as dramatic and expressive as possible. It’s so much fun to play as a standalone violin solo.

American Quartet: Allegro – Antonín Dvořák

I played Dvořák’s American Quartet with my quartet in high school, and it has since become one of my favorite pieces of all time. The “Allegro” movement – meaning a movement with a faster, more upbeat feel and tempo – was so much fun to play, especially in the violin-heavy sections where the first and second violins have such a playful dialogue with each other. Dvořák has since become one of my favorite composers, and I return to “the American” often for a dose of nostalgia.

Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade – Modest Mussorgsky

If I weren’t a violinist, I think I’d be a trumpet player just to play this piece. I’m a huge fan of trumpet-heavy pieces and works that feature heavy brass sections. This piece centers the trumpet and other brass instruments, yet remains delicate. However, this piece sounds incredible on any instrument. The piece was based on works of art made by Mussorgsky’s close friend, Viktor Hartmann, and was intended to evoke the feeling of walking through an exhibition of Hartmann’s paintings.

Reverie – Claude Debussy

In high school, I gave a presentation on the connections between impressionist classical music and impressionist paintings, focusing heavily on Debussy’s works and Monet’s paintings. This piece always makes me think back to paintings that I love and how much I enjoyed analyzing art and music together. Reverie fits into a period of impressionistic music focused far more on evoking moods and colors than following a rigid structure; a period in which Debussy’s music was prominently featured.

Carmen Fantasy – Pablo de Sarasate

This piece from Carmen was one of the last solos I played in high school, and I worked on it for months before performing it at my violin teacher’s yearly recital. I love how expressive and varied it is, and I remember feeling so proud of myself for putting so much work into learning it. This piece is a fantasy on themes from Bizet’s opera Carmen, a story that follows the tragic love affair of a soldier, Don Jose, and the fiery Carmen in 1820s southern Spain.

Serenade for Strings: Tempo di valse – Antonín Dvořák

The second movement of Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings, the “Tempo di valse,” is one of my favorite pieces of string-orchestra music. I tend to favor waltz-style pieces with violin-heavy melodies, like this movement. The Serenade is one of the works I’ve always wanted to play, and it’s reminiscent of a lot of the orchestral pieces I grew up playing in string ensembles. Dvořák composed all five movements of the Serenade in less than two weeks, and the piece boosted his career as a young composer in 1876.

About Clio

I am a senior at Lewis and Clark College here in Portland, studying Political Science and Economics. I grew up in classical music, playing the violin, cello, and guitar, and played in orchestras and chamber ensembles until college. At Lewis and Clark, I ran a radio show with my wonderful roommate, where we played anything and everything we were listening to at the time. After stumbling upon a job with the Berkeley Symphony, I fell in love with the “behind-the-scenes” of classical music administration, and spent a summer working with patrons and donors and acting as assistant stage manager for the symphony’s summer shows. Outside of work, I enjoy going to the gym, working on my senior thesis, and staying up to date on local politics. I’m looking forward to delving deeper into radio and staying involved with the classical music I’ve loved for so long.