Composers At Play Podcast

On the heels of the release of the Evil Genius album “Bitter Human,” Max Kutner talks about how the trio came together and how it fits into a stunningly wide musical landscape that, for him, includes folk, rock, jazz, improvisation, and general ass-kickery. Intro: “For Healthy Living” – Of Healthy Living Other excerpts: “(Share in […]

It’s a listener request! In a slight deviation from our usual format, we convene a panel of three composers and one writer to discuss how people write about music: the words they use to describe the sounds, the instruments, and the process of composition/performance itself. Listener and author Geoffrey Wells reached out with this topic […]

Communal music-making, stylistic extremes, the importance of song titles, and the relativity of musical time. On omni-present fixture of the LA chamber scene, Lauren joins me and Max for some, as she calls it, “mumbling outside of your brain,” or as most people call it – talking. Lauren and Max also bond over the delicate […]

Following the (pre-)release of her first physical album, “Night Travels,” Stephanie Smith reveals how these tracks came together, starting from Bach chorales arranged on a Dark Energy Synth and then dipping into her musical mainstays of violin and voice. We touch on the role of boredom in the creative process and what it’s like to […]

I relentlessly attempt to force Louis Lopez to circumscribe his expansive musical identity only to be justifiably rebuffed. It’s akin to a very polite and effusive wrestling match. And why should he rein in an impressive collection of activities that span playing trumpet and electronics in projects like Grampus, scoring dance works by Szalt, and […]

Enthusiasm and open ears are a mainstay for composer, arranger, and trumpeter, Andrew Rowan. Max and I invade his work area and inadvertently reveal some secrets behind his process of writing an as-yet-unwritten string quartet (no pressure, AR!). Also discussed are collaborative projects including Large Ensemble and River Song Quintet (both with Lauren Baba – […]

Max and I sit down with the ever-amiable, earnest, and buoyant Steven Van Betten. We spend the better part of the hour transfixed as he chronicles his recent adventures in Ghana and his harrowing bout with malaria. Along the way, we get the skinny on the origins of Fell Runner and on how the music […]

Heralding a new chapter in CAP, I ambush Maxwell Gualtieri with a request to become my co-host (he ultimately says yes!). But not before he and I hash it out over issues like project diversity, influence saturation, and the potential (both good and bad) for over-extension.

I'm joined by the super insightful, generous, and dynamic presence that is Chris Kallmyer. Punk rock fostering community, the social architecture of classical music, creating "platforms for intimacy and exchange," the challenge and necessity of documentation, and concerts in a coat closet.

Andrew and I talk about the difficulty of incorporating "feelings" and other ethereals into academic research, the power of titles, LA's own crossover chamber group wildUp, and the joys of mixing notatation with improv with recordings to create an experience that would make even the most ornery reception analyst smile.