Classically (Un)Trained

This is an episode of the old podcast, called Artists on the Verge. I decided to keep these conversations up in the feed because they are, in fact, part of what led me to create Classically (Un)Trained. I have taken down all except the artist interviews - but you can check out an expanded archive here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/former-podcast-archive/

Check out the current podcast here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/

Mike Miller and I met on our first day of undergraduate music studies when we were both 18. Mike studied voice, as a countertenor, and, later, organ. When I found out, years after we both graduated, that he had become a protestant pastor in Texas, I was puzzled, at first – he was openly gay and I had heard him complain about his conservative relatives who used the Bible to condemn who he was. But then I realized - Mike had never condemned Christianity or God or religion as such – his complaints centered around how selectively people read the Bible. And, talking to him about his life as a pastor, I realized there are many parallels between what he does as a spiritual guide, and the function that artists might have as cultural guides.   

Mike and I talk about the unpredictable life of a pastor, mistranslations of the Bible, myths about Christmas,  and how creating things is one of the bests paths towards greater spirituality, among other things.    

Mike's blog: https://gaybythegraceofgod.com/ 

💋👁👂🏼 Website: https://onthevergetrilogy.com/

This is an episode of the old podcast, called Artists on the Verge. I decided to keep these conversations up in the feed because they are, in fact, part of what led me to create Classically (Un)Trained. I have taken down all except the artist interviews - but you can check out an expanded archive here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/former-podcast-archive/

Check out the current podcast here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/

Jim Osman is a 25-year-old theater and opera director based in the UK who has already directed a range of interesting projects across mediums and genres - like a sci-fi opera and a fantasy-puppet-satire short movie. He also produced and directed a monthly surreal comedy and puppetry night at Cairo, Brixton, made a video essay about cyberpunk opera for the Cyberpunk Research Network, and had a 1-1 12-week intensive with Daniel Kramer, former artistic director of English National Opera, who supposedly called him one of the most interesting young director he’s worked with. He is currently earning a Masters in opera directing from Royal Welsh College of Music.  

Jim and I talk about the commodification of spirituality and identity, sci-fi as the modern-day fairytale and as a device to better talk about divisive issues, Terry Pratchett as pan-paganism, the problematic union of capitalism and technology, and the future of theater, among other things.   

Jim's video essay on cyberpunk opera: http://cyberpunkculture.com/1st-cyrn-workshop-cyberpunk-music/%C2%A73-jim-osman/

Music:  

Motherload (sci-fi opera produced at Tete a Tete theater), text by Susan Gray and soundscape by Liam Noonan, sopranos: Natasha Agarwal and Julieth Lozano: https://vimeo.com/608895790 

💋👁👂🏼 Website: https://onthevergetrilogy.com/

This is an episode of the old podcast, called Artists on the Verge. I decided to keep these conversations up in the feed because they are, in fact, part of what led me to create Classically (Un)Trained. I have taken down all except the artist interviews - but you can check out an expanded archive here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/former-podcast-archive/

Check out the current podcast here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/

Kate Gale is a poet, prose writer, librettist, president of the American Composers Forum, and founder of Red Hen Press, a Los Angeles-based independent literary publishing house, one of the foremost of its  kind in the US. Her story is both all-American and quite unusual: It involves escaping a cult, going to college just to spite a conservative boyfriend, and becoming a divorced mom who decided to transform Los Angeles into a literary city. The result was Red Hen Press, named after the American fable about the Little Red Hen who sowed her own wheat to make her own bread.    

Kate and I talk about the healing power of storytelling, how a manuscript goes from being one of thousands submissions to being published, how stories aren’t always enough, the taboos around money, the insight manuscript submissions give into the collective psyche, and why e-Books aren’t replacing print books any time soon, among other things.

Website of Red Hen Press: https://redhen.org/ 

🎵Music:  

Moses Concas harmonica beatbox 

Nina Simone, "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" 

Sonny Boy Williamson harmonica solo

Iain Farrington, piano arrangement of ABBA's "Money"

Marina Lebenson, piano improvisation on "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof

Mark Abel (w/ text by Kate Gale), "Those Who Loved Medusa" 

💋👁👂🏼 More about this podcast and related blog and YouTube channel: https://onthevergetrilogy.com/

This is an episode of the old podcast, called Artists on the Verge. I decided to keep these conversations up in the feed because they are, in fact, part of what led me to create Classically (Un)Trained. I have taken down all except the artist interviews - but you can check out an expanded archive here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/former-podcast-archive/

Check out the current podcast here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/

Christoph Ogiermann is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improvisor based in Bremen, Germany. He is founder of Klank, a quartet of musicians who improvise on everything from their instruments to cardboard boxes or balloons.   

We talk about feeling like an outsider, the ballet of improvising on piano, the Kafkaesque bureaucracy of German arts funding and also how well supported many German artists are, building one’s music career around making opportunities for others, and playing on boxes, among other things.  

🎵Music:  

Schubert's Symphony No. 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWnKMzAedK4

Malcolm Goldstein, Vision Soundings, "From Center of Rainbow": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBbiVI8IkeI

Klank improvisations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogXwSwrf-6A

TOCH M for feedbacking Voice Transformer (Ogiermann): https://soundcloud.com/ogiermann/toch-m-for-feedbacking-voice-transformer

Cheryl Ong & Vivian Wang, "Singaporous": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8qYF70FlZw 

Klank website: https://www.klank.cc/en/ 

💋👁👂🏼 For moe about this podcast: https://onthevergetrilogy.com/

This is an episode of the old podcast, called Artists on the Verge. I decided to keep these conversations up in the feed because they are, in fact, part of what led me to create Classically (Un)Trained. I have taken down all except the artist interviews - but you can check out an expanded archive here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/former-podcast-archive/

Check out the current podcast here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/

Olivia Fuchs is an opera director with roots in indie theater. Her story involves founding her own experimental theater company in London, a burned down performance space, and the UK tradition of performing above pubs. Recently, Olivia has been working on environmental activism, which she hopes to incorporate into her work in theater. Olivia and I spoke about techniques to approaching theater directing, how almost any story can be feminist,  the advantages of growing up bicultural, Margaret Thatcher’s unexpected help in starting a small theater company, and, of course, finding ways to make ecologically-conscious, sustainable theater.

Olivia’s website: https://www.olivia-fuchs.com/

Music:

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson sings Dido’s lament 

Excerpts from Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen

More about this podcast: onthevergetrilogy.com 

This is an episode of the old podcast, called Artists on the Verge. I decided to keep these conversations up in the feed because they are, in fact, part of what led me to create Classically (Un)Trained. I have taken down all except the artist interviews - but you can check out an expanded archive here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/former-podcast-archive/

Check out the current podcast here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/

Cassandra Kaczor is a classically trained pianist and composer whose dream was to make a living performing pop music. She’s also the first composer whose work I premiered back when we were both in undergrad.   We talk about millennial angst, our fraught experiences with music education, the greed of American colleges, standing up for yourself as a freelance musician, and the coolness of nuns, among other things.   

Cassandra's website: http://www.cassandrakaczormusic.com/ 

🎵Music: 

"Rigid, Fluid" by Cassandra Kaczor

"Animal" by Cassandra Kaczor

Excerpt of Cassandra's high school musical, Deadlines 

Jennifer Higdon, "Zaka" 

"Sam's Song No. 1: Hi" by Cassandra Kaczor 

"The Goldfish Forgets" by Cassandra Kaczor 

💋👁👂🏼 For more about this podcast: https://onthevergetrilogy.com/ 

This is an episode of the old podcast, called Artists on the Verge. I decided to keep these conversations up in the feed because they are, in fact, part of what led me to create Classically (Un)Trained. I have taken down all except the artist interviews - but you can check out an expanded archive here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/former-podcast-archive/

Check out the current podcast here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/

Reginald Edmund is a Chicago-based playwright and founder and managing curating producer of Black Lives Black Words, an activist theater organisation which "commissions, develops and produces bold and unapologetic artistic responses to current social and political issues." Since its inception in 2015, Black Lives Black words has served two continents, three countries, nine cities and counting. Reggie and I talk, among other things, about the artist as griot, the changing nature of the idea of "community" in a globalized world, the importance of live performance, and what it means for an artist to be, in Nina Simone's words, "with the times."   

Website of Black Lives, Black Words: www.blacklivesblackwords.org

Music:  

Nina Simone, "Good Bait" 

Nina Simone, "You'll Never Walk Alone"

Nina Simone, "I've got life"

💋👁👂🏼 For more about this podcast: https://onthevergetrilogy.com/

This is an episode of the old podcast, called Artists on the Verge. I decided to keep these conversations up in the feed because they are, in fact, part of what led me to create Classically (Un)Trained. I have taken down all except the artist interviews - but you can check out an expanded archive here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/former-podcast-archive/

Check out the current podcast here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/

Jason Cady is a New-York-based composer, librettist, pedal steel guitar and modular synthesizer player, and co-founder and co-artistic director of Experiments in Opera. We talk about following one’s musical curiosity, the definition of opera, music and storytelling, leaving the 20th century avant-garde behind, and how when “everything goes” in art, we might as well make it fun.   

Jason's website: jasoncadymusic.com 

🎵 Music:  

Herbie Hancock, "Rockit" 

Jason Cady, The Sounds of San Donato: Radio Symphony Orchestra

Jason Cady, Three Quintets 

Generation X, "Your Generation" 

Gene Krupa, compilation 

Ornette Coleman, Free Jazz 

Arnold Schönberg, "Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte"

Richard Lerman, Concert Version 

Harold Budd, "The Real Dream of Sails" 

Anthony Braxton, Trillium (opera) 

Glenn Branca, Symphony 13 (Hallucination City) 

Jason Cady, I Screwed Up the Future (opera) 

Jason Cady, Buick City 1 a.m (trailer + song "The Same Answer for Every Question") 

Jason Cady, Nostalgia Kills You (opera) 

Jason Cady, Happiness is the Problem

Jason Cady, "I Could Not Allow That To Stand" 

Jason Cady, Candy Corn (opera) 

Monteverdi, Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria (opera) 

Jason Cady, Another One Bites (podcast opera, part of Aqua Net & Funyuns) 

And finally:

💋👁👂🏼 For more about this podcast: https://onthevergetrilogy.com/

This is an episode of the old podcast, called Artists on the Verge. I decided to keep these conversations up in the feed because they are, in fact, part of what led me to create Classically (Un)Trained. I have taken down all except the artist interviews - but you can check out an expanded archive here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/former-podcast-archive/

Check out the current podcast here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/

Malena Dayen is a versatile vocalist and exciting opera director who works a lot with new media. Recently, Malena directed the first opera in virtual reality (The Presence of Odradek with Bare Opera.) She is also a versatile vocalist who sings both “standard” operatic repertoire and, most prominently with her duo New Airs Tango, Spanish music and tango. She is also part of the vocal improvisation ensemble Moving Star based at Carnegie Hall and a collaborative artist at the Weill Music Institute, among other performance engagements. 

Malena and I talk about virtual reality, how technology changes singing, the magical elements of opera, and the so-far still irreplicable qualities of live performance, among other things. 

Links: 

Malena's website: https://www.malenadayen.com/

The Presence of Odradek at Bare Opera: http://www.bareopera.org/the-presence-of-odradek

Moving Star ensemble: http://www.movingstarvoices.com/

Malena's upcoming projects🔮: 

With Teatro Grattacielo (grattacielo.org): Idomeneo July 2021 (Crete, Greece), L’Amico Fritz November 2021, El Amor Brujo November 2021 (New York City)

With Fairfield County Chorale (https://fairfieldcountychorale.org/): Vivaldi’s Gloria, April 2021

The Late Walk, at the Library of Congress. More info here: http://www.bareopera.org/decameron

Stay fully up-to-date on Malena's website! 

Music on this episode: 

Malena Dayen sings Blizzard Voices by Paul Moravec

New Airs Tango, Nostalgia 

Moving Star improvisation

New Airs Tango, Cielito lindo 

💋👁👂🏼 For more about this podcast: https://onthevergetrilogy.com/

This is an episode of the old podcast, called Artists on the Verge. I decided to keep these conversations up in the feed because they are, in fact, part of what led me to create Classically (Un)Trained. I have taken down all except the artist interviews - but you can check out an expanded archive here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/former-podcast-archive/

Check out the current podcast here: https://classicallyuntrainedpodcast.com/

Miriam Gordon-Stewart is both a world class soprano and co-founder and artistic director of Victory Hall Opera, an artist-led opera troupe in Charlottesville, Virginia. While still an active soloist, she and two other singers turned away from what she calls the "arena" (i.e. the opera industry) to embark on what she calls the "frontier" (i.e. the world of independent creation). Miriam and I talk about the freedom and hard work of the opera frontier, about the stage magic that happens when singers get to lead, about the advantages, both personal and artistic, of having a close-knit performance troupe, and about upcoming projects, which include Unsung, a film that takes a raw look at the lives of opera singers and includes footage and music from Victory Hall Opera’s recording of La Traviata. It premieres online this February, 20201 - see link below for tickets! 

Links: 

Miriam Gordon-Stewart's website: www.miriamgordon.com

Victory Hall Opera's Website: www.victoryhallopera.org

Trailer for upcoming opera Fat Pig 

Trailer for Unsung 

Get virtual tickets for Unsung: https://victoryhallopera.ticketspice.com/unsung

🎵 Music: 

Miriam Gordon-Stewart sings Berg's Wozzeck (Act 3 Scene 1)

Miriam Gordon-Stewart sings Barber's /Knoxville, Summer of 1915

Overture to Verdi's La Traviata 

💋👁👂🏼 For more about this podcast: https://onthevergetrilogy.com/