Our amazing guest last week, pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown, gave hosts Tamzin and Finola Merivale their first Creativity Challenge: Set your timer for 5 minutes and write about memories you might be forgetting.

Inspired by Michael, Finola dove into her own memories of piano performance – from inspiring first teachers to distressing exams – while Tamzin reflected on old homes and the significance of our doorways and keys.

Meet your hosts, the sister-duo Tamzin and Finola:

Tamzin Merivale is a visual artist and writer, on a mission to explore diverse stories and to guide people to process their life experiences through art. Tamzin’s visual art facilitates people in their quest to unearth their true, powerful selves — work which is unique and transformational. Tamzin’s writing was recently published in the New York Times best-selling memoir The Book of Alchemy (2025) by Suleika Jaouad, alongside Gloria Steinem, Elizabeth Gilbert, Salman Rushdie and more. Subscribe to Tamzin’s Newsletter here or follow her on Instagram @tamzinmerivale.

Finola Merivale is a composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music, based between France and Ireland. She is currently a 2025–26 Fellow at Columbia University’s Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris. Her music has been described as “edgy and discomforting, yet exciting and distinctive.” Finola completed her DMA in Composition at Columbia University. Recent accolades include fellowships from MacDowell (2025) and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation (2024), a 2025 Music Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland and an award from the New York Council on the Arts. Her music has been performed internationally. Follow Finola on Instagram @finolamerivale.

Connect with Michael Stephen Brown: @michael_stephen_brown

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In this episode we sit down with Michael Stephen Brown, the New York‑based pianist‑composer hailed by The New York Times as “a leading figure in the renaissance of composer‑performers” and celebrated for his “fearless performances.” A graduate of The Juilliard School, Michael has been awarded many accolades including an Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. 

He shares the story behind his witty “Breakup Etude for the Right Hand Alone,” a piece that appears on his new album Twelve Blocks, which was just released, and he reflects on what success truly means to him.

Tune in to hear about Michael’s rituals for creativity, the not-so-glamorous truth about performing internationally, the isolation and connection of composing music and How to Name Your Piano. Also, we announce our very first Creativity Challenge!

To learn more about Michael you can follow him @michael_stephen_brown on Instagram. And check out his new album here.

Tamzin Merivale is a visual artist and writer, on a mission to explore diverse stories and to guide people to process their life experiences through art. Tamzin’s visual art facilitates people in their quest to unearth their true, powerful selves — work which is unique and transformational. Tamzin’s writing was recently published in the New York Times best-selling memoir The Book of Alchemy (2025) by Suleika Jaouad, alongside Gloria Steinem, Elizabeth Gilbert, Salman Rushdie and more. Subscribe to Tamzin’s Newsletter here or follow her on Instagram @tamzinmerivale.

Finola Merivale is a composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music, based between France and Ireland. She is currently a 2025–26 Fellow at Columbia University’s Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris. Her music has been described as “edgy and discomforting, yet exciting and distinctive.” Finola completed her DMA in Composition at Columbia University. Recent accolades include fellowships from MacDowell (2025) and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation (2024), a 2025 Music Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland and an award from the New York Council on the Arts. Her music has been performed internationally. Follow Finola on Instagram @finolamerivale.

Audio editing and production by Finola Merivale

Music by Finola Merivale

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why do we chase creative sparks that burn bright and hot one moment, only to flicker and die the next?

In this debut episode of Lodestar, sisters Finola Merivale (composer / musician) and Tamzin Merivale ( writer/visual artist) introduce the podcast’s mission: to explore the messy yet magical relationship we all have with our creativity. They share why they decided to begin this podcast and how they’ve created a space to interview writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers and more about how they navigate the highs and lows, feast and famine of a life in the arts.

In this episode, you can learn more about Tamzin and Finola and hear about their own eclectic careers in music, visual art and writing. Drawing on their diverse experiences, spanning across continents, they set the stage for candid conversations about what it’s really like to have a creative job.

About your hosts:

Finola Merivale is a composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music, based between France and Ireland. She is currently a 2025–26 Fellow at Columbia University’s Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris. Her music has been described as “edgy and discomforting, yet exciting and distinctive," by The Wire and "a wild ride," by The Washington Post. Finola completed her DMA in Composition at Columbia University. 

Tamzin Merivale is a visual artist and writer, on a mission to explore diverse stories and to guide people to process their life experiences through art. Tamzin’s visual art facilitates people in their quest to unearth their true, powerful selves — work which is unique and transformational. Tamzin’s writing was recently published in the New York Times best-selling memoir The Book of Alchemy (2025) by Suleika Jaouad, alongside Gloria Steinem, Elizabeth Gilbert, Salman Rushdie and more. 

Subscribe now, leave a review, send it to your friends and join the conversation on social — #lodestarpodcast. Got a story about creative resilience or want to jump in on a challenge? Get in touch on Instagram @tamzinmerivale and @finolamerivale

Production and audio editing by Finola Merivale

Theme music by Finola Merivale

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.