Composer's Studio

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Dr. Pedro Henriques da Silva is a Portuguese composer, multi-instrumentalist, professor, and lecturer in various fields of music, arts, and sciences; whose numerous awards include the 2015 and 2016 American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Plus Award, the 2017 International Portuguese Music Award for Best Instrumental Performance, and the Best Emerging Filmmaker Documentary Award at the American Pavilion at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. He is a member of the New York University faculty in composition, classical guitar, mandolin, banjo, and sitar. Bridging the space between classical, folk, and popular music, his music defies categorization and breaks down artificial barriers erected between genres.

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Composer Daniel Thomas Davis’ wide range of musical activities has taken him from the stages of Carnegie Hall and the Royal Opera House to monasteries in the Horn of Africa to directing new-music festivals in the rural South. In the past year, he has enjoyed the premieres of two new operas – SIX. TWENTY. OUTRAGEOUS, in an American Opera Projects/Symphony Space co-production directed and designed by polymath artist Doug Fitch, and Family Secrets (or Kith & Kin) with North Carolina Opera in Raleigh. With a special connection to Hillsborough, home of WHUP radio, Daniel’s music holds a special place in our hearts.

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Practicing good Coronavirus social distancing, the Composer’s Studio phones it in with Steven Spiel, a composer who paints with sound. Steven has written music for large and small ensembles, choir, film, and even jazz combos. We talk with Steven about how music in film manipulates our emotional response to the image, what it is like to write music for film, and why he decided that the film industry was not for him. Steven’s music has something for everyone. Gather the kids to listen to Steven’s musical rendition of the story of the Three Little Pigs. Can you hear the wolf threaten to huff and puff and blow the house down? Then in his choral setting of the poem Invictus by William Earnest Henley, he reminds us that even during dark times, we are the captains of our own souls. Closing with Adonai Roi, an orchestral work inspired by The Lord’s Prayer, Steven’s music provides comfort and hope when we need it most.

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In this premiere episode, Amy Scurria, Anna Linvill, and Tarik Ghiradella find humor, wit, deep intelligence, and a deeply down-to-earth rarity in Steven Bryant. With music chiseled in its structure and intent, fusing lyricism, dissonance, silence, technology, and humor into lean, skillfully-crafted works, Steven’s music enthralls listeners and performers alike. His seminal work Ecstatic Waters, for wind ensemble and electronics, has become one of the most performed works of its kind in the world, receiving over 250 performances in its first five seasons.