Artist Propulsion Lab

For the final episode from the Artist Propulsion Lab class of 2023, cellist Zlatomir Fung wrote a new Christmas audio drama, The Elves and the Cello Maker, based on the Brothers' Grimm fairytale, "The Elves and the Shoemaker," for which he also composed the music. He updated the original fairytale to focus on a young cellist in New York, her cello maker father, and two of Santa's elves, as she prepares for a solo in her school concert.

Cast (in order of appearance): 

Q - Thorgy Thor
Spy Boss - Brooke Gladstone
June - Briana Hunter
Henry - Jeff Spurgeon
Dorothy - Lulu Miller
Fi - Nicholas Canellakis
Sev - Miyan Levenson
North Pole Network Announcer #1 - Kerry Nolan
North Pole Network Announcer #2 - Arun Venugopal
Cello Teacher - Clayelle Dalferes
Music Boss - Elizabeth Nonemaker
North Pole Network Announcer #3 - Paul Cavalconte
Carter Brey appears as himself
Uber Driver - Zlatomir Fung
NYPD Officer - LaFontaine Oliver
Nimet Habachy appears as herself

Music composed by Zlatomir Fung, and performed by cellists Zlatomir Fung and Nicholas Canellakis. Additional cello performances by Carter Brey and Robbie Craigmyle. Accordion performed by Max Fine.
 

For her time with the Artist Propulsion Lab, mezzo Briana Hunter wanted to focus on highlighting Black women. As part of that, she commissioned a new song cycle At Ease, by composer Jasmine Barnes. At Ease sets three poems by poet Rio Cortez from her collection Golden Ax, "Black Annie Hall," "Black Mary Wilkie," and "Black Lead in a Nancy Meyers Film," focusing on Black women at leisure. In this podcast, Briana, Jasmine, and Rio take us inside At Ease, and then we will hear the complete song cycle.

Program:

At Ease by Jasmine Barnes, poems by Rio Cortez
-Briana Hunter, mezzo; Eric Sedgwick, piano

Golden Ax  by Rio Cortez is published by Penguin Books. Copyright © 2022 by Rio Cortez

In this audio essay, violinist Alexi Kenney reflects on the music of two composers who had vastly different musical careers, but were also almost exact contemporaries and both lived in New York City: Samuel Barber and John Cage. 

Special thanks to the New York Public Radio archives for audio of interviews with Samuel Barber and John Cage, and to the Bellingham Festival Orchestra.

Music:

John Cage: Six Melodies for Violin and Keyboard
-Alexi Kenney, violin; Janice Carissa, piano

Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto
-Alexi Kenney, violin; Bellingham Festival Orchestra, cond. Tito Muñoz

Samuel Barber: Canzone for Violin and Piano
-Alexi Kenney, violin; Janice Carissa, piano

John Cage: Eight Whiskus
-Alexi Kenney, violin

For her Artist Propulsion Lab residency, composer Shelley Washington wanted to pull back the curtain on composers’ lives and work. As part of that, she composed a new work for the ~Nois saxophone quartet and recorded voice memos documenting her process. The piece, Eternal Present, is about Shelley’s experiences of time-blindness, and premiered on New Sounds in September. In this podcast, Shelley takes us inside her process of composing Eternal Present.

While mezzo Briana Hunter has had many meaningful conversations behind closed doors about important issues in opera today, like power dynamics and the use of Blackface, she has also been frustrated with how these conversations frequently play out online. Often these differences are generational. As part of her residency with the Artist Propulsion Lab, she convenes singers from four different generations to bring these conversations out into the open. She is joined by soprano Martina Arroyo, mezzo Denyce Graves, and soprano Hannah Jones.

The Artist Propulsion Lab podcast is back with the class of 2023. Violinist and composer Curtis Stewart begins with an audio essay reflecting on the life cycle of grief. In June 2023, Curtis released his latest album Of Love, which he dedicated to the memory of his mother, violinist, composer, and teacher Elektra Kurtis, who passed away in 2021. In this episode, he reflects on his experiences of grief and of creating Of Love.

As part of his exploration of grief, Curtis also composed The Grief Monologues, based on listener-submitted voice memos, which you can hear on the episode webpage at wqxr.org. 

At the start of his time with the Artist Propulsion Lab, composer and saxophonist Steven Banks set out to compose a piece of music that explores meditation and mindfulness, and in which the music and meditation were supportive partners. The result is Begin Again, created in collaboration with Ten Percent Happier meditation teacher Matthew Hepburn. Begin Again uses guided meditative exploration and musical composition to lend insight into the ways that we relate to struggles within ourselves and in the world. On the final episode of this year's Artist Propulsion Lab, Steven and Matthew take us inside Begin Again, followed by a performance of the entire piece.

Program:

Steven Banks and Matthew Hepburn: Begin Again

Steven Banks, saxophone; Matthew Hepburn, meditation; Andrew Yee, cello; Xak Bjerken, piano

Cellist and composer Andrew Yee (she/they) presents an audio memoir of identity and belonging through music. For several years, they have been exploring their identity through a recital series called Halfie. This memoir draws on their Halfie recital in the Greene Space, as well as conversations with Andrew, their dad Harry Yee, and their friend, composer and cellist Paul Wiancko.

All works performed by Andrew Yee, except where otherwise noted:

Leilehua Lanzilotti: kʻou inoa

Caroline Shaw: In Manus Tuas

Andrew Yee: The Light After

Andrew Norman: For Ashley, by arrangement with Concord Music

Andrew Yee: The Sea As It Is

Paul Wiancko: American Haiku  (with Ayane Kozasa, viola)

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II: "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'" from Oklahoma! by arrangement with Concord Music

This episode contains discussions of syphilis. If you are concerned you have syphilis or another sexually transmitted infection, you can find information about sexual health clinics in New York City here.

This Composer is Sick wraps up with an exploration of how syphilis affected the life, works, and death of American composer Scott Joplin. Host Emi Ferguson and her guests, Joplin biographer and ragtime scholar Edward Berlin, and syphilis researcher Sheila Lukehart, look at Joplin's life as he battled syphilis, particularly his last years in New York, as he worked to stage a production of his opera, Treemonisha.

Recordings:

“Frolic of the Bears” by Scott Joplin, performed by The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra and Singers. From the sound recording Scott Joplin: Treemonisha. New World Records #80720-2 (p) & © 2011 Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc. Used by permission. Available here.

"The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin, performed by Benjamin Loeb, courtesy of Naxos of America

"Maple Leaf Rag" performed by the United States Marine Band

"Maple Leaf Rag" performed by Jade Simmons; "A Real Slow Drag" from Treemonisha performed by Laquita Mitchell and Joshua Rifkin, from WQXR Presents: Joplin at 150 in the Greene Space, November 2019

"Magnetic Rag" performed by Lara Downes from Scott Joplin's New York in the Greene Space, March 2022

Additional recording of "A Real Slow Drag" from Treemonisha by Emi Ferguson

Additional thanks to the NYC Municipal Archives, the National Archives, and the New York Public Radio Archives for archival audio.

This episode contains discussions of syphilis. If you are concerned you have syphilis or another sexually transmitted infection, you can find information about sexual health clinics in New York City here.

There's something strange in the last movement of Bedřich Smetana's String Quartet No. 1, "From My Own Life." In the middle of a lively finale, the quartet breaks off, followed by a mysterious high note. What does it all mean? How is it connected to his syphilis? All that and more on this episode of This Composer is Sick.

Our Favorite Smetana videos:

Featured recordings of Smetana's works:

“The Moldau" from Má vlast by Bedřich Smetana, performed by the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Antoni Wit, courtesy of Naxos of America, Inc.

String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor, "From My Own Life," 4. Vivace - performed by the Travnicek Quartet, courtesy of EMG Classical