Compose Like a Girl

In this episode, Jocelyn talks with Naomi LaViolette about moving from singer/songwriter to choral composer and her piece Racing the Moon, which features poetry by her daughter. 

Episode Transcript

Companion playlists featuring Naomi and other Compose Like a Girl published composers: Youtube, Spotify

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Naomi LaViolette

Yale Emerging Composer Competition winning piece Brave Light 

Raphael Fusco

Naomi's work SHE will be performed at the Oregon Music Education Association (OMEA) State Conference by the Oregon City High School Bella Voce choir, under the direction of Julia Voorhies, on January 16, 2027 at 1:30pm. 

In this episode, Jocelyn talks with Tara Mack about the nostalgia of Good Morning and the impact of hearing your own work. 

Episode Transcript

Learn more: https://linktr.ee/ComposeLikeaGirl 

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Tara Mack 

Good Morning 

Recording performed by Brown University Chorus under the direction of Fred Jodry

Pembroke House, community center in London 

London Oriana Choir 

The Esoterics 

Vox Urbane album ‘London Calling’ featuring Good Morning and Harlem Night Song 

In this episode, Jocelyn talks with Aviva Jaye about her piece City Trees and her multi-faceted artistic life. 

Episode Transcript

Companion playlists featuring Aviva and other Compose Like a Girl published composers: Youtube, Spotify

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Aviva Jaye

City Trees with text by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Shara Nova / My Brightest Diamond

Dessa 

Arthur Moon 

MƆɹNIŊ [MORNING//MOURNING] by Gelsey Bell

Chicago Children’s Choir/Uniting Voices Chicago

Brooklyn Youth Chorus 

In this first of five Choral Bonus Series episodes ahead of Season 3 in 2027,  Jocelyn talks with Marybeth Kurnat about their meet cute, how her piece for the sake of your journey came to be, and what’s next.  

Companion playlists featuring Marybeth’s music and others from the Compose Like a Girl series: Youtube, Spotify

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Marybeth Kurnat

for the sake of your journey

Capela dos Ossos poem by Padre António da Ascenção

True Concord Voices & Orchestra 

St. Charles Singers

withonevoice 

Upcoming: 

La Caccina premiere of Thanks for Sharing 

Windy City Performing Arts premiere of 11:59PM

Consonance: Chicago Choral Artists performance of This is Christmas Morning!

In this episode, Jocelyn talks with composer and her long time close friend, Abbie Betinis. They talk about their entwined education history, how they charted their own paths through motherhood and composition, and discuss how they approach and recognize craft and style in music. 

Episode Transcript

Companion playlists: Youtube, Spotify

Learn more: https://linktr.ee/ComposeLikeaGirl 

Support us: Buy Me a Coffee 

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A Blessing of Cranes with poetry by Michael Dennis Browne 

Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight

American Suzuki Foundation

St. Olaf College 

University of MN Twin Cities School of Music 

European American Musical Alliance 

Peter Hamlin 

Judith Lang Zaimont 

Nadia Boulanger 

Philip Lasser

Stephen Paulus 

Having it All by Corrine Low

On Being with Krista Tippett: Alice Parker – "Singing Is the Most Companionable of Arts"

In this episode, Jocelyn talks with Georgia Stitt about her career in musical theater, the multifaceted Maestra project, navigating the need for community and isolation in creativity, and what it means to be in the very small club where your husband is also a composer. 

Companion playlists: Youtube, Spotify

Episode Transcript

Learn more: https://linktr.ee/ComposeLikeaGirl 

Support us: Buy Me a Coffee 

Order Here I Am: Choral Music of Jocelyn Hagen from True Concord Voices and Orchestra 

Relevant Links:

Snow Child based on the novel by Eowyn Ivey

Bell Tower 

Stop from the album A Quiet Revolution 

The Danger Year 

Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower

Maestra 

Maestra Directory

Maestra Mentorship run by Meg Zervoulis Bate and Sonya Hayden

Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt 

NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program

Summer Stock Stage (SSS) 

Princeton University

John Morris Russell

Eric Whitacre 

Mary Mitchell Campbell 

Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

Time’s Up Plus One initiative

The Artist’s Way 

Violet by Jeanine Tesori 

The Last Five Years (movie version)

tick, tick... BOOM! directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda (movie version)

Sweet Charity with Sutton Foster, directed by Lee Silverman 

In this episode, Jocelyn talks with Cynthia Lee Wong about how she incorporates visuals and animations into her music as a way to invite audiences in. 

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Support us: Buy Me a Coffee 

Follow us: @composelikeagirl on Instagram and Facebook

Learn more: Compose Like a Girl

Episode Transcript

Ashley Stone, mezzo-soprano

Relevant Links:

Cynthia’s Website

Cynthia’s Youtube

Carnival Fever

In the Blink of An Eye composed for ROCO Chamber Orchestra 

Fates and Furies

Piano Quartet inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's story “Ligeia”

Six Gupta Songs

Juilliard Journal 

League of Composers/ISCM

Milton Babbitt

David Del Tredici

Samuel Adler 

New England Conservatory Preparatory Division 

Python coding

Blender (3D animation program)

Apple Motion 

Stable Diffusion (AI image generator)

Jocelyn’s The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci and filmmaker Isaac Gale 

In this episode, Jocelyn talks with Nathalie Joachim about different musical modalities as vehicles for creative expression, being present and resisting the pressures of capitalist-demanded output, and unlearning perfectionism. 

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Nathalie Joachim

Flutronix

Fanm d'Ayiti, Album

Ki moun ou ye, Album

Erin Patrice O’Brien, photographer 

Malin Lindaeus Vintage Store in Brooklyn, NY

Blood Sister from She is Called: Dear Stranger, Brooklyn Youth Chorus

In this episode, Jocelyn talks with Alex Shapiro about writing from your gut and your heart, the compositional process behind her pieces Spark and Tight Squeeze, and how to prevent the gerbils in your mind from taking over your creative process. 

Companion playlists: Youtube, Spotify

Follow us: @composelikeagirl on Instagram and Facebook

Learn more: Compose Like a Girl

Transcript PDF

Relevant Links:

Tight Squeeze commissioned through Composers and Schools in Concert consortium 

Spark written in honor of Dale Mara Bershad

Lights Out

Paper Cut

Bioplasm 

Proximity to Europe Theory, Pages 18-19

San Juan Islands

American Composers Forum 

Libby Larsen

Mary Ellen Childs 

Alex’s Photography and Her Studio

Ursula Mamlok

Arnold Schoenberg

Anton Webern  

Serialism, Twelve-Tone

Columbia College Chicago Music Department 

Cocktails With Creatives: Episode 1

Cocktails With Creatives: Episode 2 

In this episode, Jocelyn talks with Gabriela Lena Frank about the multitudes of her music, which spans intimate explorations of love and loss to the multi-generational effects of colonialism. They also discuss responsibly engaging with trauma, mentoring the next generation of composers, and writing music for a universe where there’s no oppression. 

Companion playlists: Youtube, Spotify

Follow us: @composelikeagirl on Instagram and Facebook

Learn more: Compose Like a Girl

Transcript

Relevant Links:

Gabriela Lena Frank’s website

Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music and their Eco-Citizenship program

A Psalm of Disquiet, written for the Fry Street Quartet

Conquest Requiem, premiered by The Houston Symphony 

El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego), libretto by Nilo Cruz, premiered by the San Diego Opera

LA Opera Digital Shorts: The Five Moons of Lorca by Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz 

La Llorona: Tone Poem for Viola and Orchestra

Meyer Sound 

Anna and the Tropics by Nilo Cruz 

Frida by Robert Rodriguez

Dead Man Walking by Jake Hegge