Relevant Tones (Access Contemporary Music)

Join us as we celebrate and honor the centennial of Charles Mingus! This episode will take a deep dive into his album Mingus Plays the Piano. Charles Mingus was a pioneer of the modern jazz movement and this album speaks to that.

Amongst his vast discography, this album takes a slight departure from his typical music styles. The listener will hear various influences of early 20th c. composers along with Mingus’ own amount of spice.

In the episode we will feature the album along with excerpts from the biography Beneath the Underdog: His World as Composed by Charles Mingus.

One of the world’s largest cities and a mecca for diverse art and  culture, Mexico City is also the home of a fascinating array of creative   musicians and composers. Part 1 of a two-part series will feature  interviews and music from the city’s musical leaders.

Ana Lara: Y Los Oros, La Luz (excerpt)

Ana Lara: Concierto para Corno di Bassetto, II + III (excerpt)

Georgina Derbez: Double Concerto for Orchestra, Piano and Flute

Jorge Torres Sáenz: Órbitas

Rosino Serrano: Adam & Eve film score (excerpt)

Federico Ibarra: String Quartet No. 2, Prestoo
Cuarteto Latinamericano

For many years the composer-in-residence with the NY Philharmonic, Christopher Rouse combines neoromanticism with hard driving, rock-inspired rhythms to create a fascinating musical style all his own.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Christopher Rouse: Iscariot
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert

Rouse: Phaethon
Houston Symphony Orchestra/Eschenbach

Rouse: Symphony No. 4
NY Phil/Gilbert

Saad Haddad is a composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal, and electroacoustic music who achieves a “remarkable fusion of idioms” (New York Times), most notably in his work exploring the disparate qualities inherent in Western art music and Middle Eastern musical tradition

His music delves into that relationship by transferring the performance techniques of traditional Arabic instruments to Western symphonic instruments, while extending their capabilities through the advancement of technology.

Host Lisa Dell talks with Haddad about his music and recent projects.

Hailed by The Guardian as “a cellist of power and grace” who possesses “mature artistry and willingness to go to the brink,” cellist Seth Parker Woods has established a reputation as a versatile artist straddling several genres.

We talk with him and feature several of his collaborative projects.

Golden Hornet's String Quartet Smackdown is a unique event in which a professional string quartet performs music by sixteen finalists letting the audience decide who will advance to the next round and who will ultimately be the Champion of Smackdown.

Submissions are now open for String Quartet Smackdown VIII through December 1st!  More info at www.goldenhornet.org.

Music by Feona Lee Jones, Chidi Obijiaku, Renato Marsiglia, Kennedy Taylor Dixon, Pertti Jalava, Cecilia Muylaert, Melika M. Fitzhugh, Minzuo LU, Juan Sebastian VarMon, Francis Kayali, James Ogburn.

Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, the festival, Gaudeamus  Muziekweek, in the Netherlands is a powerhouse contemporary music  festival showcasing young talent from around the world.

Every year the Gaudeamus Award is granted to a new music pioneer,  this year nominees include Giulio Colangelo, David Bird, James  O’Callaghan, Anthony Vine, and Shih-Wei Lo, all under the age of 30.

In this first of a two-part series we travel to Utrecht to feature music from the young composers chosen to take part this year.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music

Michel van der Aa
Up Close

David Bird
Drop

Giulio Colangelo
Organismo Aperto no 1

Stefano Scodanibbio
Voyage Started

Shih-Wei Lo
Madhye II

One of the world’s most famous new music festivals has been held in   Darmstadt since 1946. We’ll trace the festival from its beginnings   through modern times and feature some of the seminal works that were   premiered there.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

PLAYLIST
Stockhausen: Kreuzspiel (excerpt)
Alfred Schweinfurter, oboe; Wolfgang Marx, bass clarinet; David Tudor, piano;
Christoph Caskel, Heinz Haedler, & Manfred Wehner, percussion/Stockhausen

Pierre Boulez: Doubles
Het Residentie Orkest/Boulez

Luciano Berio: Sequenza No. 1 for Flute
Severino Gazzelloni, flute
Darmstadt archives

Beat Furrer: à un moment de terre perdue
Klangforum Wien/Furrer

Enno Poppe: Salz
Ensemble Mosaik

In our final exploration of the past 100 years of musical modernism,  we take a look at composers who fit in neither the uptown nor the  downtown traditions of composition.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Aaron Copland – Connotations

Igor Stravinsky – In memoriam Dylan Thomas

Elliott Carter – Cello Sonata

George Rochberg – String Quartet No. 3

John Cage – Music of Changes

George Crumb – Ancient Voices of Children

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich – Piano Trio No. 1

Joan Tower – Petroushskates

Host Austin Williams speaks with composer and sound artist Joo Won Park on a variety of topics related to performance and composition aesthetics and the intersection between them.

Joo Won is an electronic music composer, performer, and programmer. We talk about what makes a laptop orchestra unique and necessary to perform certain types of music.

Joo Won is just as passionate about pedagogy and teaching as he is about composing and performing.

Please check out more of his works and projects at https://joowonpark.net/

Seth talks with the founders of the Chicago Composers Orchestra about  their work and mission and upcoming U.S. premiere of Chen Yi’s viola  concerto.  All pieces conducted by Matthew Kaspar.

Brian Baxter: Roots Run Deep
Randall West: Elements for Orchestra
Chen Yi: Xian Shi (Concerto for Viola and Orchestra), Michael Hall, viola

Brooklyn based quartet Sō Percussion (Eric Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam  Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting) collaborate with composer Dan Trueman on  their newest album, neither Anvil nor Pulley.

They experiment with different ways of creating sound, using a  turntable, a laptop and various gadgets like a video game controller.  The result is a piece in five acts, composed with, rather than for the  quartet.

We have Eric from Sō Percussion and Dan in the studio to talk about their project and some quirky details of the album.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Neither Anvil nor Pulley
Act 1: Another Wallflower [from Long Ago]
Act 2: 120bpm [or, What is zour Metronome Thinking?]
Act 3: A Cow Call [Please oh Please Come Home!]
Act 4: Feedback [in Which a Famous Bach Prelude Becomes Ill-Tempered]
Act 5: Hang Dog Springar [a Slow Dance]

Called “the quintessential modern composer” by the London Independent, Austin, Texas based composer-bandleader-improviser Graham Reynolds records and performs music for film, theater, dance, television, rock clubs, and concert halls with collaborators across a multitude of disciplines.Host Seth Boustead talks with Reynolds about, and features music from, two recent releases: Insectum and Music From Prophet.

The American Composer's Alliance has been a force in new music for nearly a hundred years. During Covid they found a new way to serve their inspiring mission through a program called Shelter Music which facilitated dozens of creative collaborations.

With roots in jazz, classical and sacred music, rhythmic influences  derived from travels in six continents, and a combustible spontaneity,  cellist Eugene Friesen (Paul Winter Consort), pianist and master  harmonica player Howard Levy (Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Kenny  Loggins, Paquito d’Rivera), and percussionist Glen Velez (Paul Winter  Consort, Steve Reich) epitomize the quintessential group for the 21st  century.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters
Engineered by Eric Arunas

Street Corner (E. Freisen)
Steering by the Stars (H. Levy)
Miriam’s Prophecy (G. Velez)
In the Village (E. Freisen)
Drum Improv; Ghost in my Heart (E. Freisen)
Mi Yemalel (Trad.)
Brazilian Dorian Dream (M. Fest/H. Levy)
Lumbriga (H. Levy)

In a series of ten chamber concerts, the Zafraan Ensemble relates the history of Berlin from the 1910s to today through music. Each concert represents a decade, in which a work that premiered in Berlin anchors a program of music centered in or inspired by that decade. Host Seth Boustead talks with pianist Clemens Hund-Goeschel and cellist Martin Smith about this fascinating project. Part 2 covers the 1960’s through the 2000's.

Host Austin Williams chats with LoadBang ensemble members Andy Kozar and William Lang about their most recent Premieres concert.

This is the 20th volume in this concert series where the ensemble continues to champion new works by composers at all stages of their career.

The unique ensemble instrumentation allows for specific writing to showcase each members ability. Together the ensemble creates a wonderfully cohesive and ubiquitous experience throughout the concert.  Featuring music by Alex Burtzos, Christina J. George and Chen Yi. 

In this show we feature music performed by the Ying Quartet from  their LifeMusic project.  The project began in the late 1990s and seeks  to create new works inspired by different facets of the American  experience.  In doing so the group has commissioned works of  contemporary relevance and high aesthetic standards.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Kevin Puts – Dark Vigil
Michael Torke – Corner in Manhattan
Chen Yi – Making the Hand-Pulled Noodles
Augusta Read Thomas – Eagle at Sunrise
Carter Pann – Love Letters
Pierre Jalbert – Icefield Sonnets

Pulitzer Prize and Grammy winning composer Stephen Albert died  tragically in 1992, well before his time.  On the occasion of an  important performance of his seminal piece To Wake the Dead in Chicago, we take a moment to celebrate his legacy and to feature a piece inspired by his music.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Stephen Albert – Symphony No. 1, Movement 1
Christopher Rouse – Symphony No. 2, Movement 2
Stephen Albert – To Wake the Dead
Stephen Albert – Symphony No. 2

One  of the most important new developments in contemporary classical  music is part of a wider societal trend of gender fluidity. We talk  with three  composers who have transitioned about their music before and after, and their personal experiences.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music

Forces Part 1 by Devin Fanslow
Ball  State University Sax quartet: Soprano, Amanda Fratangeli; Alto, Om  Srivastava; Tenor, Ethan Edwards; Baritone, Sean Sumwalt

Rotational Games by Brin Solomon
Brin Solomon, bassoon; Nic Gerpe, piano; Recording by Adam Borecki

Purple Stain by Alex Temple
Julia Holter, Voice; Spektral Quartet

This Changes Everything! by Alex Temple
John Seaton, Soprano Sax

Lake Song by Alex Temple
Jenna Lyle, Voice

Access Contemporary Music has produced a new video series for PBS that explores the intersection of music and architecture. ACM has commissioned ten pieces inspired by culturally and historically relevant buildings and filmed a performance of the piece in the space that inspired it.

They provide context for the performance through interviews that tell the history of the building and how it inspired the composer. Now airing on PBS stations around the country. We feature a sample of this great music.

Access Contemporary Music's popular Sound of Silent Film Festival celebrates twenty years of presenting modern silent films with newly commissioned scores performed live.

Host Seth Boustead features a few of his favorite scores from the last twenty years.

This week host Matthew Dosland talks with composer and teacher Osnat Netzer who has just released her first album Dot : Line : Sigh with New Focus Recordings.

From the liner notes of the album: “Though the pieces differ in musical language and aesthetics, they all share the tropes of a punctuated sustain (Dot-Line) and many forms of pitch bends, glissandi, and stylized portamenti (Sigh).”

Join Matthew and Osnat as they discuss how she went about choosing the music from her catalogue for this album, her inspirations in teaching and composing, and how moving to Chicago and the collaborations that has led to have influenced her music.

Expanding on our recent live show Overlooked No More, we are featuring the music of Tui St. George Tucker, a composer who absolutely deserves to be better known. Host Seth Boustead talks with Roger Tréfousse and Robert Jurgrau, both of whom knew Tucker in person, about her life and music.

We’re opening our doors to Nick  Photinos, David Schrader, and other  Thirsty Ears Street Festival  performers for a preview concert. The  third annual festival kicks off on  Saturday, August 11 and ends on  Sunday, August 12.

You can visit  the festival at Wilson street between Hermitage and Ravenswood; the two  day event will feature fifteen stellar ensembles and soloists performing  music from Beethoven to Shostakovich to Reich and everything in between  on the main stage.

There’s delicious beer from Empirical Brewing, vendor booths, kid friendly activities and food trucks on both days.

$10 suggested donation, all proceeds support the ACM School of Music, a non-profit organization.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Bex Nystedt

Music

Information, from “Artifacts” by Florent Ghys
Nick Photinos, solo cello and electronics

“La” Suite for Flute and Piano by Amy Wurtz
IV. Love
V. Laude
John Wachala, Flute; Amy Wurtz, Piano

Middleground by Shelley Washington
Zafa Collective

Improvisation by David Schrader
David Schrader, piano

Arizona Mirage by Mauricio Arias  
Josephine Yang, piano

On a Windswept Plain by Trevor Patrick Watkin
Trevor Patrick Watkin, flute; Josephine Yang, Piano

Factory and Flowers, from “Artifacts” by Florent Ghys
Nick Photinos, solo cello and electronics

During the LA Philharmonic’s 2018/19 season, they commissioned 50 new  works from artists including Louis Andriessen, Unsuk Chin, Philip  Glass, and Steve Reich, just to name a few.

Composer and curator of the first of the LA Phil’s new music series,  entitled Green Umbrella, Andrew Norman talks about the Southern  Californian composers that he’s presenting.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music

Omie Wise by Bryce Dessner
Eighth Blackbird

Codex Seraphinianus: Machinery, Anthropology, Games by Marcos Balter
International Contemporary Ensemble

Aheym by Bryce Dessner
Kronos Quartet

Templating Tranquility (excerpt) by Tyshawn Sorey
Tyshawn Sorey Trio

New York Tendaberry by Laura Nyro
Renée Fleming, soprano; Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Billy Childs, piano

The Manufacture of Tangled Ivory- Part II by Annie Gosfield
Roger Kleier, electric guitar; Christine Bard and Jim Pugliese, percussion; Annie Gosfield, sampler

Four Rosesby Annie Gosfield
Ted Mook, cello; Annie Gosfield, sampler

Since 2004 New Focus Recordings has put out dozens of wildly creative albums by some of the most interesting figures in contemporary classical music every year.  We talk with founder Daniel Lippel and feature a small sample of their incredible catalog in the first of a two-part series.

The great Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges has had an enormous influence on artists, writers, philosophers and thinkers of all kinds and composers are no exception. 

We spoke with renowned Borges scholar Daniel Balderston about the incredible legacy of one of the most influential writers of all time, and with composers Carla Kihlstedt, Diego Vega and Gheorghi Arnaoudov about how this legacy inspired their musical creations. 

A special broadcast with Chicago’s Kontras Quartet, a group that has  been blending the line between classical and folk music since 2009.

On this program we’ll hear folk-inspired repertoire from South Africa to Japan back home to the Midwest.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music

Strum by Jessie Montgomery

String Quartet No. 1 “White Man Sleeps”: Movement I. “First Dance”
by Kevin Volans

Exodus Quartet: I. “A Tale; Generations of Suffering” by Rudy Perrault

Appalachian Polaroids  by Steven Snowden

Japanese Folk Song Suite No. 2: Movement I. Yagibushi  & Movement II. Nambu ushioi otaby Hajime Komatsu –

Komeng by Mokale Koapeng

8 Chinese folk songs: No. 5: Horse Herds Mountain Song & No. 8: Leaving Home by Zhou Long

Shortnin’ Bread by Florence Price

String Quartet No. 3 “Old Time” by Mark O’Connor

Black Bend by Dan Visconti

We had the fantastic opportunity to travel to  Wrocław, Poland to  attend the storied World Music Days festival, where we met a wealth of  Polish composers who are part of the living legacy of this vibrant  cultural mecca.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Krzysztof Penderecki: Violin Concerto No. 2, Metamorphosen, V (excerpt)
London Symphony Orchestra/Penderecki; Anne-Sophie Mutter, v.

Witold Lutosławski, arr. Marta Ptaszynska: Paganini Variations
Safru Duo and Slovak Piano Duo

Hanna Kulenty: Breathe for String Orchestra
Wrocław Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra/Ernst Kovacic

Mateusz Ryczek: 28 Days of Moon
Ensemble Kwartludium

Marta Ptaszynska: La Novella d’Inverno (Winter’s Tale) for Strings
Polish Chamber Orchestra/Jerzy Maksymiuk

Zygmunt Krause: Fête galante et Pastorale (excerpt)
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Jacek Rogala; Music Workshop

Generous sponsorship of these episodes has been provided by LOT Polish Airlines and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

Composers like Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Bartók and have sought to   musically depict their environs for centuries. How are landscapes, both   urban and pastoral, being represented musically today?

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

David Sampson: Grant Park from Chicago Moves
Gaudete Brass

Toshio Hosokawa: Landscape V (excerpt)
Munich Chamber Orchestra/Alexander Liebreich; Mayumi Miyata, sho

Peter Sculthorpe: From Oceania
New Zealand SO/James Judd

Michael Daugherty: George Washington fr. Mount Rushmore
Pacific Symphony/Carl St. Clair

Joan Tower: Big Sky
Chee-Yun, v.; André Emelianoff, vc.; Joan Tower, p.;

John Luther Adams: The Far Country of Sleep (excerpt)
Cabrillo Music Festival Orchestra/JoAnn Falletta

Christopher Tin: Haf Gengr Hriðum (The Storm-Driven Sea)
Royal Philharmonic & Schola Cantorum/Christopher Tin

Pierre Jalbert: Glass is a Place fr. Icefield Sonnets
Ying Quartet

Seth brings back his findings and experiences from the Bang on a Can  Marathon in New York City. The Bang on a Can Marathon is a yearly  celebration of new musical styles and ideas, designed to bring diverse  performances to a wide public audience.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Louis Andriessen: De Staat (excerpt), Bang on a Can All-Stars

Milton Babbitt: Vision and Prayer (excerpt), Bethany Beardslee, soprano

Steve Reich: Four Organs (excerpt),
Steve Chambers, Phillip Glass, Arthur Murphy, Steve Reich, organs, John Gibson, Maracas

Martin Bresnick: String Quartet No. 2 “Bucephalus”, Mvt. III, Alexander String Quartet

Martin Bresnick: Prayers Remain Forever, (Ashley Bathgate, cello and Lisa Moore, Piano)

Ruben Naeff: Bash

David T. Little: Sweet, Light, Crude,  Newspeak

Much like the novel, people are always pronouncing the symphony to be a dead form.  And yet, composers continue to write symphonies at an   incredible pace.  We’ll feature music by composers around the world who are adding to the symphonic canon.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Erkki Sven-Tüür: Symphony 3
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra/ Dennis Russell Davies

Poul Ruders: Symphony No. 3, Dream Catcher
Odense Symphony Orchestra/Yoo

We commemorate the anniversary of the passing of Robert Black on Relevant Tones. Robert Black was an absolute force in the Double Bass repertoire and new music. Through interviews with his previous students and cohorts, Christie Echols, Sean Rubin, Caroline Doane, and Evan Runyon,  we find out he was so much more than a bass player. Robert was first and foremost a creative, and surrounded himself with other creative individuals. Robert was enthusiastic about artistic projects and would use every resource and effort to make sure projects were done to the best of his ability. Robert thought of himself as a grain in the sand amongst so many other grains, never allowing his ego or status to dictate what or who he worked with. His students enlightened host Austin Williams of all of these aspects about Robert through stories. Please enjoy these stories shared about Robert Black and his legacy.

Adam Marks is a gifted, sensitive pianist with far-ranging interests and an insatiable appetite for new music. We talk with him about several recent projects including One Page Pieces, a new album of piano music by Alex Shapiro and a virtual program for the Omaha Under the Radar festival.

Music by Jamie Evans, Conrad Tao, Johanne Heraty, Anselm McDonnell, Alex Shapiro, Eleanor Alberga and Philip Glass.

Trailblazing composer Louis Andriessen was one of the most influential composers of his generation.  Sadly, Andriessen passed away on July 1st of this year.  We talked to him in 2014 about his life in music and featured some of his best-known pieces.

She's the youngest person to win the Pulitzer Prize for music, she toured with Kanye, and the Met Museum's Limor Tomer called her the "future of music." Caroline Shaw is a wildly successful composer, performer and producer who has created an impressive body of distinctly eclectic work.  Matt Dosland talks with her about life, music, oranges and eggs. 

For the second night of the Relevant Tones Tenth Anniversary Festival we were honored to welcome architect Daniel Libeskind and Open House New York's Dorothy Dunn to the stage. 

We screened a special preview of several videos from Access Contemporary Music's upcoming Songs About Buildings and Moods video series exploring the intersection between music and architecture and had a fabulous discussion. 

Join host Austin Williams as we go through selected modern works for the Organ. The organ has  large history in the context of western classical music and the tradition continues with living composers. The instrument offers a vast range of different colors and textures for a composer to explore.

In this episode we have examples ranging from traditional, extended techniques, adjustments of intonation, and the use of electronic accompaniment for the instrument. This is a wide topic that we hope to continue to explore as we learn about more works that have been written for this instrument.

Suzanne Farrin is a composer and performer of the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument created by the engineer Maurice Martenot in the 1920s as a response to the simultaneous destruction and technological advances of WWI.

Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times called her first opera, dolce la morte, a work of “shattering honesty.” Her debut recording, Corpo di Terra, was described in Timeout Chicago, “like field recordings from inside the cerebral cortex.”

Her works are frequently performed at festivals around the world and she has performed in a wide range of film scores, and appeared as herself in an episode of Mozart in the Jungle.  Matthew Dotson talks with her about several exciting upcoming projects.

ACM's Thirsty Ears Festival is Chicago's only classical music street festival combining stellar performances with great craft beer from Empirical Brewing.

We did an intimate live broadcast the night before from the ACM School of Music featuring performances by Michael Hall, the Wurtz-Berger Duo and the Quijote Duo.

Relevant Tones has been carrying on a correspondence with  several  musicians in this war-torn region, where making music has  recently been  a challenge.  We’ll share their stories and feature  chamber and  orchestral works by composers determined to carry on.

Julia Gomelskaya: Planet “The Life” for String Orchestra and Piano (excerpt)
Kiev Camerata/Valeriy Matiukhin; Dmitry Tavanets, p.

Valentin Silvestrov: “World of Peace” fr. Songs for Vespers
“Our Father” fr. Psalms and Prayers
Kiev Chamber Chorus/Mykola Hobdych

Igor Shcherbakov: Sonata for Violin and Violoncello, I
Olga Akolishnova, v.; Zoltan Almashi, vc.

Vladimir Runchak: Hosanna, to musicians who are no longer or not yet with us (excerpt)
Yevhen Kalyuzhny, saxophones; Christian Orosko, perc.; Nataliya Chuprina, p.

Yevhen Stankovich: Concerto for Violin and Piano (excerpt)
Lemberg/Lviv Youth Orchestra/Volodymyr Sirenko; Valeriy Sokolov, v.

During this week’s Relevant Tones, Seth Boustead continues to share  more music and interviews from the Bang on a Can Marathon 2012.

Part II features composers Evan Ziporyn and David Lang, two galvanizing forces in the Bang on a Can Marathons.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Evan Ziporyn: Tire Fire, Mvts. 1, 4, 5, Gamelan Galak Tika
Evan Ziporyn: Music from Shadowbang, Bang on a Can All-Stars
David Lang: Cheating, Lying, Stealing, Bang on a Can All-Stars
David Lang: Little Matchgirl Passion (excerpt), Theatre of Voices

Access Contemporary Music has begun an innovative collaboration with Warsaw composer Agnieszka Stulgińska   in which a piece of music is publicly performed in installments as  work  on it progresses.

We’ll hear Agnieszka’s thought process, play each  installment, and  sit alongside the composer as she hears the world  premiere of the  completed work.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Agnieszka Stulginska: Dance with My Breath (installments + complete piece)
Palomar Ensemble/Francesco Milioto

Marta Ptaszynska: Moon Flowers
Palomar Ensemble/Francesco Milioto

Access Contemporary Music's Sonic Walkabout is a fun way to explore a neighborhood and see and hear it as never before.

ACM commissioned composers to write music inspired by historic and cultural sites in Chicago's Wicker Park and Lakeview neighborhoods and combined their musical creations with narrative storytelling. Music by Amy Wurtz, Amos Gillespie, Seth Boustead, Kyle Gregory Price, Trevor Patricia Watkin and Jonathan Hannau.

Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, the Gaudeamus Muziekwiek  is a powerhouse contemporary music festival showcasing young talent from  around the world.

The second of our two-part series will feature interviews and audio  from the established mentor composers at this year’s festival.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music

Yair Klartag
There’s no lack of void

Anthony Vine  
For Agnes Martin

Ruud Roelofsen
|<örperlich |||

Shih-Wei Lo
Things Hoped For

James O’Callaghan
Pre-Echo (after empties)

Seung-Won Oh
JungGa

Ton de Leeuw
Modal Music

Anthony Vine
Between Blue

Austin Williams speaks with Same Wells and Adam Vidiksis about their recent collaboration with composer Scott Miller.

Through speaking with Adam and Sam, Austin learned that the process used to create the album was rather strange. All of the tracks that are heard on the album are a result of ‘Zoom Jam Sessions’ where the performers in the height of the lockdown figured out a meaningful way to host virtual jams with one another.

The music was compelling enough for them to create an album of what was created. Listen to the interview to find out more details about how this process went and what it meant to the performers in the moment.

The Relevant Tones team travels to Shanghai for New Music Week, a  relatively new but impressive festival held by the oldest conservatory  of music in China. This first in a four-part series features the music  of Chinese composers featured at the festival.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Wen Deqing: The Glamor of Shanghai Concerto (excerpt)
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra/Gottfried Rabl; Qin Li-Wei, vc.

Chen Musheng – Morning Rays on the Sea (excerpt)
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra/ Rabl; Yunggie Ma, voice

Wen Deqing: The Sound Shining
Ensemble Intercontemporain/Beat Furrer; Lu Yiwen, erhu

Jia Daqun: The Prospect of Colored Desert
Ensemble Offspring/Roland Peelman

Ye Guohui: Beijing Opera Silhouettes
Ensemble Offspring/Peelman

Lu Pei: Rhythm of Shanghai (excerpt)
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra/Gottfried Rabl; Jiang Hanchao, saxophone

Michael Ned Holte is a writer, independent curator, and educator based in Los Angeles, as well as the Associate Dean for the School of Arts at CalArts.

He has held exhibitions at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House, and the Hammer Museum, to name only a few. He has also written monographic essays on artists including Charles Gaines, Richard Hawkins, Alice Konitz, Shio Kusaka, Caitlin Lonegan, Roy McMakin, Steve Roden, Clarissa Tossin, and Shirley Tse. 

On today’s episode, Stephen Anthony Rawson talks with Michael about his recent book, Good Listener: Meditations on Music and Pauline Oliveros. This book is a result of a year-long performance of Pauline Oliveros’s Sonic Meditation XXI, which asks the question: “What constitutes your musical universe?”

With groups like PLOrk and Benoit and the Mandelbrots leading the  way, the laptop ensemble is becoming a force to be reckoned with.  We’ll  feature laptop ensembles improvising,  playing composed music, live  coding and even collaborating with an orchestra.  Listen and believe!

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Benoit and the Mandelbrots – Ghostly

The Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk) – Inline

The Linux Laptop Orchestra (L2Ork) of Virginia Tech – Citadel

The Concordia Laptop Orchestra (CLOrk) – Excerpt from Creation
Performed by CLOrk, the Orchestre Symphonique de l’Isle; Cristian Gort, conductor

PLOrk – FourSquared

The Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana (LOL) Jargos Table (excerpt) by Van SteifelIn
ChucK (excerpt) by Stephen David, BeckCliX (excerpt) by Ge Wang

Manchester Metropolitan University Laptop Ensemble (MMUle – )Cut Up Slow Down
William S. Burrows, text; Martin Blaine, director

The EMU Ensemble – Ginger
Cristine Soeffing, director

Dal Niente's latest release on SIDEBAND RECORDS features works by three composers using elements of pop, musique concrète and film music transformed into a contemporary classical music idiom. 

Austin Williams talks with ensemble members Ben Melsky and Emma Hospelhorn about this remarkable recording.

Scriabin so linked color to his music that he created a “light organ”  to display colors that corresponded to different notes in his pieces.   How does color and visual art affect composers and their music today?

Michael Torke: Bright Blue Music for Orchestra
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Zinman

Morton Feldman: Rothko Chapel
California EAR Unit

Jennifer Higdon: Short Stories for Saxophone Quartet, I & V
Ancia Saxophone Quartet

Dan Welcher: Light Coming on the Plains & Starlight Night from Prairie Light: 3
Texas Watercolors of Georgia O’Keefe
Honolulu Symphony Orchestra/Johanos

Gunther Schuller: The Twittering Machine fr. Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee
Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra/Antal Dorati

Cindy McTee: Twittering Machine
North Texas Wind Symphony/Eugene Migliaro Corporon

Stephen Hartke: King of the Sun, I & IV
Dunsmuir Piano Quartet

Large-scale sacred works might not be the first thing that comes to   mind when you think of contemporary music, but a number of important   composers are creating expansive works inspired by their concept of a   higher power.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

John Adams: When Herod Heard fr. El Niño
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Nagano; Theatre of Voices; London
Voices; Willard White, bass-baritone

Arvo Pärt: Adam’s Lament (excerpt)
Sinfonietta Riga, Latvian Radio Choir, Vox Clamantis/Tõnu Kaljuste

Kaija Saariaho: La Passion de Simone (excerpts)
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra & Tapiola Chamber Choir/Esa-Pekka Salonen; Dawn Upshaw, soprano

Richard Einhorn: The Origin
Voyage of the Beagle
Annie’s Memorial
A Taste for Collecting Beetles

Phil Kline: Kyrie fr. John the Revelator
Lionheart Vocal Ensemble

John Tavener: The Whale (excerpt)
London Sinfonietta/David Atherton

Multidisciplinary artist and composer ess whiteley sheds some insight on their works and the process they engaged with for the compositions. ess is particularly interested in topics such as memory and the post-internet world we currently live in, often belnding topics togethe to create compelling works of media. ess had some lovely comments about process and the variety of ways it can afflict a work. ess is curently finishing up their PhD at UCSD.

Where would Gustav Mahler be without the incredible support of  Leonard Bernstein?  Bach without the support of Mendelssohn?

Being championed by a famous performer or conductor is an incredible leg up to the career of many composers.  Who are the modern day composer   champions, and whose work are they promoting?

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

James Newton Howard: 133… At Least
Hilary Hahn, v.; Cory Smithe, p.

Norbert Moret: En Rêve, I
BSO/Seiji Ozawa

Thea Musgrave: Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (excerpt)
LSO/Norman del Mar

John Psathas: Matre’s Dance
Philip Smith, p.; Evelyn Glennie, perc.

Sofia Gubaidulina: Offertorium (excerpt)
BSO/Dutoit; Gidon Kremer, v.

David Rakowski: Etude, Book 2 No. 14, Martler
Amy Briggs, p.

We had the distinct pleasure of attending two recent opera premieres, the World Premiere of Heresy in Dublin by Roger Doyle and the Met’s premiere of L’Amour de Loin by acclaimed composer Kaija Saariaho.

Both operas explore universal themes in strikingly different ways,  from  Doyle’s setting of the infamous heresy trial of Giordano Bruno, to   Saariaho’s mythic setting of idealized love.

We’ll hear from Eric Fraad,  the director of Heresy on what it’s like  to adapt to experimental music  and storytelling. We’ll also talk with  both composers and feature music  from the operas.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music

At the Court of Elizabeth I Pt. 2 by Roger Doyle
Daire Halpin, soprano; Robert Crowe, male soprano

The Divine Sophia by Roger Doyle
Daire Halpin, soprano; Catriona O’Leary, mezzo soprano

L’Amour de Loin Overture by Kaija Saariaho
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Susanna Mälkki, conductor; Eric Owens, bass-baritone

The Cell – Hallucination by Roger Doyle
Iestyn Morris, counter tenor; Ahmad Alkaran, guest tenor; Caitriona O’Leary, mezzo soprano; Alex Smith, boy soprano

L’amour de Loin, Act II by Kaija Saariaho
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Susanna Mälkki, conductor; Susanna Phillips, soprano; Tamara Mumford, mezzo soprano

Death by Fire by Roger Doyle
Morgan Crowley, tenor

L’Amour de Loin, Act IV by Kaija Saariaho
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Susanna Mälkki, conductor; Susanna Phillips, soprano; Eric Owens, bass-baritone

L’Amour de Loin, Act V by Kaija Saariaho
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Susanna Mälkki, conductor; Susanna Phillips, soprano

The symphonies of Gloria Coates have been hailed as "the spirit of an expressionistic-apocalyptic-mystical world view" by German musicologist Ludwig Finscher.  Over sixteen symphonies, Coates has created an indelible, absolutely unique and highly personal sound world. 

We talk with her and feature movements from symphonies 1, 4, 7 and 14. 

Chopin, Kreisler, Bach and more have written compositions less than  three minutes in length. This trend is no stranger to contemporary  pieces. We’ll pack as many of these tiny gems as possible as we uncover  why composers enjoy creating these mini masterworks.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music
3 Miniatures  for Violin and Piano by Krzysztof Penderecki
Ida Bieler, violin; Nina Tichman, piano

Petit Quatuor, by André Cormier             
Bozzini Quartet

Free Tango Lessons on Wednesday by Jeff Morton       
Bozzini Quartet

Slanted Birds by Anna Höstman             
Bozzini Quartet

Talking with Strangers by Alex Eddington
Bozzini Quartet

Six Fugitive Memories by Vera Ivanova               
Nadia Shpachenko, piano

Piano Miniatures by Mohammed Fairouz
Katie Reimer, piano

Fractal Miniatures by Roger Zare               
EOS Repertoire Orchestra; Jiao Wang, conductor

Seth talks with composer Eve Beglarian about her upcoming River Project release.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Down the Dirt Road Blues (excerpt), Charlie Patton, guitar & vocals
I’m worried now, but I won’t be worried long
I am really a very simple person
In and Out of the Game, Guidonian Hand Trombone Quartet
Pump Music
Waiting for Billy Floyd
Feet Don’t Fail Me Now (excerpt), Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Brownie Feet
The Flood

Persian poet and mystic Jalal al-Din Rumi has had an enormous  influence not only on other poets and writers but on thinkers of all  kinds.  We play music on  today’s program by several composers inspired  by this timeless poet’s work.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Karol Szymanowski: Symphony No. 3, Vienna Phil/Boulez

Augusta Read Thomas: Rumi Settings, III & IV, Stephan and Julian Hersh

Eric Whitacre: “This Marriage” BYU Singers

David del Tredici: “Quietness” from Three Baritone Songs
Chris Pedro Trakas, baritone; David Del Tredici, p.

Christopher Theofanidis: The Here and Now, III & IX
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/Robert Spano; soloists

Christopher Theofanidis: Messages to Myself, Musica Sacra/Kent Tritle

Kamran Ince: (Gloria) Everywhere from And On Earth, Peace, Chanticleer/Joseph Jennings

Yuval Noah Harari’s breathtakingly expansive book Sapiens is a monumental achievement that comprehensively summarizes human history, behavior and thought from primordial times to today.

The book is also the inspiration for a 50-minute piano work by composer Sean Hickey recorded by pianist Vladimir Rumyantsev on Sono Luminus records and available on March 14, 2025.

Host Seth Boustead talks with Hickey about Harari's book and this fascinating new musical release.

Percussionist Payton MacDonald calls Super Marimba the nexus point of   all of his artistic activities. Featuring influences from jazz and   classical to Hindustani and improvisational music, this is the marimba  as you’ve never heard it before.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Ravi Shankar: Raga Bhimpalasi
Shankar, sitar

Payton MacDonald: Jor
Shawn Mativetsky, tabla

Payton MacDonald: For John & For Blake
MacDonald, super marimba

Gundecha Brothers: Raag Gaoti (alap) 2 (excerpt)
Gundecha Brothers

Payton MacDonald: Lifeboat No. 6
JACK Quartet; Young Voices of Colorado

Payton MacDonald: Concerto for Tabla and Percussion Quartet
Shawn Mativetsky, tabla; William Paterson University Percussion Ensemble/Payton MacDonald

Relevant Tones heads into the field to Medellín and Bogota for a two-part survey of the music of Colombian composers.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

PLAYLIST
Victor Agudelo: VueltaOriente
Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad EAFIT/Cecilia Espinosa.

Johann Hasler: Three Pieces for Percussion
Grupo de Percusión de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Andres Posada: Sombra y Luz (excerpt)
Tatiana Pérez, Santiago Bernal, Daniel Arango and Sebastián Forero, cellos

Luis Fernando Franco: Almaguer (excerpt)

Juan Antonio Cuellar: Variations for Violin, Cello and Piano, Op. 32
Lincoln Trio

Two exciting commissioning projects were a bright spot during this very dark year. They are Thomas Piercy's Moments in this Time and Los Angeles-based piano duo Hocket's #What2020SoundsLike. 

For each project composers were asked to write short pieces that represent an incredible array of styles and mental states as we all navigate this difficult time. 

We talk with the performers and feature a sample of the 90 - that's right, 90! - commissioned pieces. 

9th year, Texas New Music Ensemble goes big with its inaugural week-long summer music festival, held at the Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston: MATCH.

Relevant Tones co-host Stephen Anthony Rawson attended the festival, and had the opportunity to speak with many of the contributing artists.
Part 1 of this episode highlights Chad Robinson, composer and artistic director of Texas New Music Festival and guest performer artist Meg Griffith.

Chicago’s storied Association for the Advancement of Creative  Musicians has provided a unique place for musicians of all kinds to  create unique and stunning new creations.

AACM turned 50 in 2015 and we’ll celebrate with performances of  Afterword, an opera about the AACM by longtime member and celebrated  composer George Lewis.

We’ll chat with Lewis about the piece, the AACM, and play music by other AACM composers.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music

Muhal Richard Abrams
Blues Forever [EXCERPT]

George Lewis
Afterword, an Opera; Act I [EXCERPT]

Henry Threadgill
Ceroepic (For Drums And Percussion) [EXCERPT]
In For A Penny, In For A Pound

George Lewis
Afterword, an Opera; Act I [EXCERPT]

Nicole Mitchell
Afrika Rising Mvmt III: Intergalactic Healing
Afrika Rising

George Lewis
Afterword, an Opera; Act II [EXCERPT]

Tomeka Reid
Super Nova [EXCERPT]

Though relatively new, the Classical Next conference attracts  composers, performers and presenters from nearly fifty countries every  year to share performances and new ideas for strengthening classical  music.

Seth travels to Rotterdam to take in the sounds and share them with you.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music

Violin Sonata No. 2, mvt. II Brutal, Fast, by Solomia Soroka
Ralph Van Raat

Squares on the Stairs

Electric Counterpoint, by Steve Reich
Aart Strootman

Dallenas, by Fatima Miranda

Chco Chca, by Fatima Miranda

Untitled, by McDaniel Brothers
Babylon Quartet

Waves, by Peter Adriaansz
Ensemble Klang

The Lost Garden, mvt. II, by Huang Ruo
International Contemporary Ensemble

The 'Paris Chapters' project is centered around new commissions based on works by Irish writers who lived in Paris (James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde, W.B Yeats etc.) for voice, saxophone and piano.

Host Seth Boustead talks with saxophonist Robert Finegan and soprano Clara Barbier Serrano about this fascinating project which also features pianist Tia Ling.

Music by Rhona Clarke, Lise Borel, Denise Ondishko and Kenneth Edge.

Clarinetist Thomas Piercy's Tokyo to New York project presents masterpieces from 20th century Japanese avant-garde composers alongside newly commissioned works from New York City composers of today.

The result is a fascinating collision of musical worlds.  All of the music featured was performed live in a recent concert at the Martha Graham Dance Studio in New York City by musicians from Random Access Music.

Once a year the American Academy in Rome holds a competition,  honoring 15 emerging artists as well as 15 scholars from the US with the  so-called Rome Prize.

The winners are invited to the Academy, where they can thrive on the  presence of cultural heritage as well as the exchange with the fellows  from other fields.

We take a look at some of the compositions,  that winners in musical composition have composed either while staying  in Rome, or based on their experiences there.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Andrew Norman – A Companion Guide to Rome
Performed by the Scharoun Ensemble

Charles Norman Mason – Incantessimi

Steven M. Burke – Over a Moving Landscape
Performed by Paul Hostetter and the Sequitur Ensemble

Michael Hersch – Octet
Performed by members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Pierre Jalbert – Sonata for Solo Marimba
Performed by Makoto Nakura

Polish composer, concert pianist and educator Zygmunt Krauze is  a hugely respected figure on the international contemporary music scene  and the recipient of numerous honors including the French National  Order of the Legion of Honour among many others.

We’ll play selections from his music and talk with him about his storied career.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music

Zygmunt Krauze
Piece for Orchestra No. 1

Zygmunt Krauze
Polychromy

Zygmunt Krauze
Piano Concerto No. 2

For this exciting new series Relevant Tones is teaming up with Open G  Records and Access Contemporary Music to present a quarterly live  broadcast at Brooklyn’s hottest new venue National Sawdust.

Much of the music for this series will be programmed from an international ‘call for scores.’

Music

Squaring the Circle, by J Mark Scearce

Veil, by Seth Boustead

Umber Sepia, by Deirdre McKay

Three by Three, by Eric Nathan

Touching the Fog, by Agnieszka Stulginska

Sleep Now, O Sleep Now, by Alan Theisen

Book of Hours, mvts. 1 & 2, by Jeremy Gill

Performers:
Chris Grymes, clarinet and bass clarinet
Molly Morkoski, piano
Adelya Nartadjieva, violin
Suliman Tekalli, violin
Matthew Cohen, viola
James Kim, cello

Seth explores the country and overseas identifying the hottest  young talents and try to guess at emerging trends that are inspiring the  next generation of composers.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music

Three Epitaphs for singer and chamber orchestra
Alex Weiser, Performed by  Kettle Corn New Music

A Walk (For Emilio) by Conrad Tao
Performed by Conrad Tao – piano

Unusual by Mátyás Wettl
Performed by: Eliza Bagg, soprano; Dan Lippel, guitar; Sam Pluta, live electronics

Beetles, Dragons, and Dreamers Mvt. III “The Inanimate Spider”
by Melody Eotvos
Performed live by Musicians from the Jacob School of Music at Indiana University

Illegal Cycles by José Martínez
Performed by The Mizzou New Music Ensemble/ Stefan Freund – director

Podcast and live radio collide in an evening of music inspired by fractals, dynamic systems, feedback loops and nature.

Open G Records and Access Contemporary Music present:

Caroline Mallonee‘s  Butterfly Effect, a string quartet inspired by the idea that a  butterfly flapping its wings in Australia could cause a tornado in  Texas, Chin Ting Chan’s gorgeously abrasive Fractals, Lyudmila German’s nod to organic systems Six Fragments and Four Miniatures, David Glaser’s  haunting Moonset No. 1 and two world premieres written for acclaimed  soprano Sharon Harms and clarinetist Mark Dover of Imani Winds.

Late Night at National Sawdust is a quarterly live taping of Relevant Tones, a contemporary music podcast hosted by Seth  Boustead that will also be broadcast in real time on the nationally  syndicated WFMT Radio Network and on WKCR in New York. Live radio has  never been so intimate.

The broadcast will be preceded by  the Discovery Series, a  process-oriented exploration of musical  creativity led by  composer/pianist Jeremy Gill. The three composers to  be performed,  chosen from a pool of more than five hundred, are Henrique Coe, Adina Dumitrescu and Ryan Homsey.

The second in a two-part series featuring the music of George Flynn.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

St. Vincent’s Words, DePaul University Singers/Clayton Parr
Chicago Mood, Cory Tiffin, cl.; George Flynn, p.
From an Island, Nessinger, ms.; Feinberg, p.
Density of Memory, Larry Combs, Julie DeRoche, Wagner Compos, cl; Colnot, DePaul Orchestra
American Howl, Anaphora Ensemble
Moods for Orchestra, Oistrakh Orchestra
Toward the Light (excerpt)Flynn, p.

The twentieth century saw an interesting movement as composers banded together in collectives to help promote each other’s work. The  movement  has only gotten stronger in the twenty-first century with the rise of entrepreneurialism in classical music.

We’ll feature the music of  several composer collectives and take a close look at their inner  workings.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

PLAYLIST
Ed Harsh: Not a Single Night’s Sky (excerpt)
New Millennium Ensemble

Greg Simon: Blood on the Curb
Stepan Rudenko, p.
Melos Music (San Francisco)- live recording

Timothy Edwards: The Conjecture
Antonin Hradil, v.; Ludmila Bubenícková, vc.; Lucie Kaucka, p.

Belinda Reynolds: coming around?
New Millennium Ensemble

Eric Wubbels: Shiverer
Wet Ink Ensemble

David Gordon: The Alchemist and the Cat-flap
Adam Summerhayes, v.; Catherine Summerhayes, p.

Christopher Cerrone: Still Life with Arms Extended
Cerrone, p. & electronics

Carolyn Yarnell: Lapis Lazuli
New Millennium Ensemble

Ben Roidl-Ward is a bassoonist interested in expanding the repertoire and possibilities of his instrument through collaboration, improvisation, and the exploration of unusual instrumental pairings. 

Ben’s dedication to working with and advocating for composers of his generation has led him to commission and premiere numerous works featuring the bassoon with the goal of broadening the repertoire and expanding the possibilities of the instrument.

As the William Ferris Chorale enters their 50th Anniversary season, they celebrate the idea of movement. Movement, as an idea, exists throughout music in a myriad of ways: momentum, tempo, change, renewal, phrasing.

This season, the celebrated chorus will celebrate this idea of patterns, of detail, of movement – the vision of contemporary vocal music and living composers in Chicago for the last 50 years.

Join Austin Williams and Chris Windle, Artistic and Music Director of the William Ferris Chorale, as they chat about the ensemble, the music they champion, and this strange intersection that seems to occur between early vocal music and modern, new vocal music.

We had the fantastic opportunity to travel to  Wrocław, Poland to  attend the storied World Music Days festival, where we met a wealth of  Polish composers who are part of the living legacy of this vibrant  cultural mecca.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Jacek Sotomski: beautiful to me. ah (excerpt)
NFOM Chamber Orchestra Leopoldinum/Ernst Kovacic; Rafał Łuc, accord.; Jacek Sotomski, live electronics

Agata Zubel: Not I (excerpt)
Klangforum Wien/Clement Power

Michał Moc: stuntmen’s relay
AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of Tychy/Marek Moś

Paweł Hendrich: Emergon αβ (excerpts)
Ensemble Musikfabrik/Masson

Zygmunt Krauze: Piano Concerto No. 1 (excerpt)
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Wojciech Michniewski; Krauze, p.

Generous sponsorship of these episodes has been provided by LOT Polish Airlines and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

For more than twenty years the Tribeca New Music Festival has brought bold new classical music infused with American pop culture to audiences in New York City and, increasingly, to the world.

We talk with composer and Artistic and Executive Director Preston Stahly about their mission, history and creative pivots during the pandemic.

In light of Steven Stucky’s recent and sudden death, we will be  featuring works from his impressive repertoire. Stucky had a chameleon  -like composing range using influences from Debussy, Schönberg,  Lutoslawski, and more.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

In this live taping of Access Contemporary Music’s award-winning podcast Relevant Tones we'll talk with John McWhorter about the development of language and perform several new pieces of music inspired by and incorporating language and created especially for this evening.

McWhorter teaches linguistics, philosophy, and music history at Columbia University, and writes for the New York Times on language and race issues. His book The Power of Babel is the first book written for the layperson about the history of language.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Shulamit Ran crafts music of an   intimately personal nature, making her one of the most often performed   composers of her generation.

We’ll talk with Shulamit about her music,  the Contempo music series,  and her legacy at the University of Chicago,  where she was a highly  regarded professor for many years.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

PLAYLIST
Shulamit Ran: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, II (excerpt)
BBC Concert Orchestra/Charles Hazlewood; Ittai Shapiro, violin

Ran: Legends, I
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Barenboim

Ran: Credo/Ani Ma’amin
Chanticleer

Ran: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, I & II
BBC Concert Orchestra/Charles Hazlewood; Ittai Shapiro, violin

Ran: Mirage (excerpt)
Da Capo Chamber Players

One of Poland’s most significant 20th century composers, Henryk  Górecki led a quiet revolution against the Soviet authorities through  his inimitable style of mystical minimalism. We’ll dedicate an hour to  his music and life.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Symphony No. 3 (excerpts)— London Sinfonietta, David Zinman, Conductor, Dawn Upshaw,
Piano Preludes (excerpts) — Stephen de Pledge, p.
Scontri — Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra
Beatus Vir (excerpts) — Czech Phil Prague Philharmonic Choir/John Nelson, Nikita Storojev,
Miserere (excerpt) — Krakow Choral Society, Krakow State Philharmonic/Roland Bader

Great music is a game of expertise,  luck, and chance. Seth deals out  a playlist of great music including David Maslanka and discusses why  it’s a winner in this year’s Dealer’s  Choice.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music

A Child’s Garden of Dreams by David Maslanka
Illinois State University Wind Symphony; Stephen K. Steele, conductor

Shadow Light by Elena Ruehr
New Orchestra for Washington; Marcus Thompson, viola

The Glass Bead Game;  Mvmt III. The Glass Bead Game (Fantasia)
by Claude Baker
St. Louis Symphony; Leonard Slatkin, conductor

The Shaman by Vincent Ho
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra; Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor; Dame Evelyn Glennie, percussion

Elastic Band; Mvmt II. Pure Happenchance by Joel Philip Freidman
New Orchestra for Washington

The country's largest chamber music conference was back this year after a three-year hiatus and Relevant Tones was there. One of the highlights of the conference was two days of incredible ensemble showcases at Drom in lower Manhattan.

We feature audio recorded live at these showcases from Shouthouse, Interwoven, the Beo String Quartet and the Johnston Brothers plus a piece featuring Lucy Shelton, one of the conference honorees.

Featuring music by Gabriela Ortiz, Thomas Osbourne, Liu Tianhua, Chan Yaoxing, Nigel Westlake, Will Healy, Daron Hagen and Paolo Bellinati.

Relevant  Tones is highlighting the performers and works featured in  the second annual Thirsty Ears Festival: Chicago’s only classical music  street  festival!

This LIVE broadcast is coming straight our broadcast studio on Friday  August 11th featuring several of the exciting ensembles and soloists  taking the stage at the fest.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Chicago musician & composer Raquel Gonzalez has spent the last five years as a studio and live musician for various bands throughout the Midwest, often involved in the composing and arranging process. Their composition series, Sonic Creations with a Lyra-8 highlights a synthesized violin sound and duets between the instrument and a Lyra-8 synthesizer.

About the album & its process, Gonzalez says, “Sonic Creations for Violin and Lyra yielded experimentation with my electric violin and a Soma Lyra-8 both separately and together. Side A is mostly standalone Lyra. Straight up, a fair amount of it is harsh noise.

I enjoyed tuning the Lyra, which was an excruciating process, to create resonance and dissonance intentionally. Side B challenged my ability to compose for violin and my ability to improvise. I would plug my electric violin into the Lyra and mess with the LFO or use other pedals. I love exploring how I can make my instrument beautiful in unconventional ways, and this album is exactly that.“

This is Gonzalez’s debut release, where near-industrial soundscapes bump shoulders with radiophonic ambience. “Sonic Creations For Violin And Lyra” is a stunning intro to a beguiling new voice who transcends the “woodshedding” nature of the tracks & elevates them toward a conscious whole.

We live in a charged political environment and though music is often  seen as an escape, many composers have chosen to use their work to make a  statement.

From Ted Hearne’s The Source, based on the story of Chelsea  Manning, the US Army Private who infamously leaked classified military  documents to WikiLeaks in 2010 to David T. Little’s operas about modern  warfare to Bright Sheng’s music about the Cultural Revolution, we  feature several composers who are speaking out.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Q2 Music’s Phil Kline joins us to chat about music that strikes a  chord. The newest recordings that are certain to become a classic.

Hosted by Seth Boustead and Phil Kline
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music

Double Happiness by Christopher Cerrone

Duet with Shifting Ground by Meredith Monk

Pavement Steps by Meredith Monk

Dark, Light 2 by Meredith Monk

Expectancy by Marcin Bortnowski

Tassel by Anna Meredith

Symphony No. 2 Innerspace, mvt. IV Fast by Jonathan Leshnoff

The first in a three-part series looking at composers whose simple  but remarkable music transports many listeners to a deeply spiritual place.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

Pärt: Miserere (excerpts), Hilliard Ensemble/Hillier
Schoenberg: Five Pieces for Piano, Op. 23, V Gould, p.
Pärt: Sonatina, Op. 1 No. 2 (excerpt), Stephen de Pledge, p.
Pärt: Perpetuum Mobile, Bamberg Symphony Orch/N. Järvi
Pärt: Collage on the Theme B-A-C-H, Estonian Nat’l Symphony Orchestra/P. Järvi
J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 1 from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Jarrett, p
Pärt: Credo, Swedish Radio Symphony/Salonen
Pärt: Für Alina, Arden, p.
Pärt: Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, Stuttgart State Orchestra/Davies

Once relegated solely to the status of folk instrument, the accordion  is being used more and more by composers around the world in a stunning  variety of different musical contexts.

We’ll feature music for this storied instrument and talk to a few of the composers about how it inspired them.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Music

A Way Through by Jane O’Leary
Dermot Dunne, accordion; Madeleine Staunton, alto flute; Paul Roe, bass clarinet

Slow Motion by Toshio Hosokawa
Teodoro Anzellotti, accordion

Gate Keepers by Tomi Raisanen
Wu Wei, sheng; Pascal Contet, accordion

Glimmer by Richard Warp
Stas Venglevski, accordion

Metal Work by Magnus Lindberg
Sofia Ahjoniemi, accordion; Julien Mégroz, percussion

Recall by Per Norgard
Bjarke Mogensen, accordion; Danish National Chamber Orchestra; Rolf Gupta, conductor

Tina Davidson creates music that stands out for its emotional depth and lyricism. She has been acclaimed for her authentic voice, her “vivid ear for harmony and colors” (New York Times) and her works of “transfigured beauty” (OperaNews).

Join co-host Stephen Anthony Rawson and Tina Davidson as they discuss her music and new memoir Let Your Heart Be Broken: Life and Music from a Classical Composer.

Composer-vocalist Lisa Bielawa is a 2009 Rome Prize winner in Musical  Composition. She takes inspiration for her work from literary sources  and close artistic collaborations.

Gramophone reports, “Bielawa  is gaining gale force as a composer, churning out impeccably groomed  works that at once evoke the layered precision of Vermeer and the  conscious recklessness of Jackson Pollock,” and The New York Times  describes her music as, “ruminative, pointillistic and harmonically  slightly tart.”

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

This Time from Seven Kafka Songs
Carla Kihlstedt, violin & voice

Double Violin Concerto, II
Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Rose; Kihlstedt & Jacobsen, vlns.

#11 from Synopses– “It Takes One to Know One”
Robert Schulz, drumset

Concerto for Orchestra, In Medias Res
Boston Modern Orchestra Project/RosePurchase

Nothing fr. Chance Encounter
The Knights; Susan Narucki, sop.

On this episode of On the Radar join Austin and Matt as they discuss some music that has been on their listening for the past couple months!

Matt shares a compelling work by a collective of Greek composers demonstrating noisy yet formally organized music.

Austin speaks largely about the composer Ted Moore his ability to effectively write concert music while also maintaining the ability to improvise in other projects.

Have a suggestion or would like to share some music you have been listening to? Drop us a line! We’d love to hear from out listeners and what is on their radar.”

Violist Michael Hall, described by the New Music Connoisseur as “utterly masterful,” and Chamber Music Today as having “superb technique" is a major champion for new music who has commissioned hundreds of composers over the years.

In addition to global concertizing, he's also the Co-Artistic Director and the Director of Educational Programs with the Bandung Philharmonic. Simply put, Michael Hall is the best friend a composer could have. Austin Williams talks with him about his life in music and features a sample of pieces written for him.

Host Seth Boustead features a variety of pieces by composers who ask the performers to vocalize in some way while also playing their instrument.

Music by Frederick Rzewski, George Crumb, Daniel Bernard Roumain and Tom Johnson.

Called a composer of “uncompromising brilliance” by the Washington Post, Michael Hersch is considered among the most gifted composers of his generation whose work has been described by The New York Times as “viscerally gripping and emotionally transformative music ... claustrophobic and exhilarating at once, with moments of sublime beauty nestled inside thickets of dark virtuosity.” 

Host Matthew Dosland talks with him about his music and current projects

The Contemporary Music Centre in Ireland is one of the world’s   foremost models of government support for composers, with dozens of   composers receiving financial support, commissions and travel grants. We   plunge into the incredible wealth of music created by this program.

Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Jesse McQuarters

PLAYLIST
Donnacha Dennehy: “He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead” fr. That the Night Come
Crash Ensemble/Pierson; Upshaw, s.

Eric Sweeney: Ceol Rince Ros Mhic Treoin (New Ross Dance Music)
Finghin Collins, Dearbhla Collins & Alexander Bernstein, p.

Stephen Gardner: The Mayfly
Fidelio Trio

Jane O’Leary: Reflections II
Concorde Contemporary Music Ensemble/O’Leary; Harry Sparnaay, bs. clarinet

Karen Power: Relocating Elk … By Train
Carin Levine, bs. flute, tape

Adam Melvin: Little Engines
Mary Dullea, p.

Seán Clancy: Changing Rates of Change
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra/Maloney

Pierre Boulez: Notations I – IV
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, p.

Esa-Pekka Salonen: Concerto for Violin, I
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Salonen; Leila Josefowicz, v.

Anna Thorvaldsdottir: Hrím
Caput Ensemble/Snorri Sigfus Birgisson

Anna Clyne: Fits + Starts
Ben Capps, vc.; Anna Clyne, 2nd cello

Shulamit Ran: Mirage (excerpt)
The Da Capo Chamber Players: Patricia Spencer, fl.; Laura Flax, cl.;  Eric Wyrick, v.; Andre Emelianoff, vc.; Sarah Rothenberg, p.

Thea Musgrave: Concerto for Orchestra, I (excerpt)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Sir Alexander Gibson