Podcast: Open Ears Project (2019)

December 20, 2019: 

Tom Hiddleston stopped by WNYC Studios to spread a little holiday cheer on the Open Ears Project Podcast. 

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Loved talking to @clemencybh about one of my favourite pieces of music and earliest childhood memories: The Russian Dance from #TheNutcracker, recorded for the beautiful @wnycstudios podcast #OpenEarsProject ✨🎶 Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Theirs is a really good one.

A post shared by Tom Hiddleston (@twhiddleston) on Dec 20, 2019 at 11:04am PST

The Open Ears Project allows people to share the classical track that means the most to them, and is hosted by Clemmie Burton-Hill. This is definitely the perfect place for Tom Hiddleston. Back in March, Tom was on another radio show to talk about the importance of music in film. Who could forget his infamous Song of the Day! Frequently he would listen a music score or instrumental pieces as his Song of the Day. 

You can listen to the podcast below or on the website. Tom chose Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. Tom 





"I love this piece. I am 38 years old and I have been listening to it for 35 or 36 years - and that's not be trying to show off! When I was a very small child - in the early '80s - we had a family VHS player and we only had two video cassettes, and one of them was a performance of The Nutcracker by the Royal Scottish Ballet. And my elder sister and I must have watched this production over 50 times... I remember there was a green sofa. You know how when you're a child you're really aware of the fabric of furniture? You put your face against it and it feels cool or it feels warm. I used to leap off the sofa and dance around. It was one of my earliest memories. My pirouettes are not precise shall we say but I've always found the piece lifts me out of wherever I am..."

You can really feel Tom's childish enthusiasm for this music shining through when he speaks. It is so descriptive you feel like you were there..

Ms. Burton-Hill shared a picture of Tom on her Instagram. 

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Happy holidays from the #OpenEarsProject! 🎄✨As a bonus festive treat @twhiddleston is my guest today, reminiscing about one of his earliest childhood memories and a piece of music that still brings him energy, joy and vitality today - the Russian Dance from #Tchaikovsky’s #TheNutcracker. Link in bio and wherever you get your podcasts - subscribe! ⭐️♥️

A post shared by Clemency Burton-Hill (@clemencybh) on Dec 20, 2019 at 6:49am PST

There's been a lot of questions about when was this recorded. On all their social media posts Tom, the host, and the studio mention today but based on the clock in the studio it was definitely pre-recorded at some point. The clock says 17:26 (5:26pm) but the pictures were released much earlier in the day. 

It is very possible Tom recorded this in September when he and Zawe did an interview with WNYC. 

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Thanks to Zawe Ashton & Tom Hiddleston for coming by to talk about their work in the critically acclaimed Broadway revival of Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal”. We talked about the power of silence, maturing as actors, & why Zawe performs barefoot. Click on our bio link to listen. 🎧 #betrayal #betrayalbroadway #tomhiddleston #zaweashton #theater #haroldpinter #allofit #allofitwnyc #publicradio #nyc

A post shared by All Of It With Alison Stewart (@allofitwnyc) on Sep 17, 2019 at 6:52am PDT

You can see that Tom put his red sweater (John Smedley Crowford) over his blue sweater (John Smedley Lundy). Hey, that's one way to change up your outfit.