This week, Ray Riccomini (2nd trumpet, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra) sits down with me to talk music. We cover growing up in a household of musicians, differing teaching styles, music students these days, putting down the instrument for another profession (and then picking it back up again), handling the day-to-day rigors of an orchestra lifestyle without losing the love for music.

You can go hear Ray play almost any day of the week at the Met at Lincoln Center:

http://www.metopera.org/Season/2015-16-Season/?

OR on any of dozens of the Met HD broadcasts in over 2,000 cinemas worldwide.

For more information: http://www.metopera.org/Season/In-Cinemas/

This week, delightful and passionate Marie Incontrera, leader of the Eco-Music Big Band comes in to talk about her band, her music, the legacy of Fred Ho, Sun-Ra, the new Eco-Music album, David Taylor, and the use of the word mother-f*cker as a compliment(!). Yeah, we covered a lot.

Featuring two songs from the band: Hey Goddamit Things Gotta Change, and Double Tier (featuring David Taylor on bass trombone)

For all things Eco-Music:

facebook.com/ecomusicbigband

twitter.com/ecomusicbigband

soundcloud.com/ecomusicbigband

This week, percussionist Chihiro Shibayama sits and talks about her experiences starting as a musician in Japan and transitioning to a music life in the US. We also talk about Juilliard, freelancer challenges, and MuSE (Multi-cultural Sonic Evolution), the non-profit she co-founded.

In addition, Chihiro's founding partner and the Artistic Director of MuSE, Yui Kitamura, stops by to talk about MuSE's upcoming Sounds of the Arts Festival (SOAF) 2015.

For all things Chihiro:

chihiroshibayama.com

For all things Yui:

yuikitamura.com

AND for all things MuSE and SOAF 2015:

musefriends.org

This week, I talk to the delightful woodwind quintet, the Washington Square Winds. We talk about the challenges of keeping a chamber group together long-term, adding new members, the delights of chamber music, commissioning new music, and MORE! Lots of laughs in this one. Also, composer Stephanie Ann Boyd, who wrote a piece for the quintet's upcoming concert at Spectrum NYC, stops by for a few minutes to talk about the piece she wrote for the group, among other things.

Links:

washingtonsquarewinds.org

twitter.com/wswinds5

facebook.com/washingtonsquarewinds

soundcloud.com/washingtonsquarewinds

For Stephanie:

stephanieannboyd.com

facebook.com/stephanieannboydcomposer

twitter.com/stephaniannboyd

This week, as Part 2 of the ongoing Radical Brass Series partnership, the great trombonist Will Lang (loadbang, The Guidonian Hand, etc.) sits down to talk about working on and commissioning pieces for solo trombone, contemporary music, his two (main) chamber groups, and relating to an audience while performing music that they may not like.

Featuring Will's performance of Iannis Xenakis' Keren for solo trombone.

Links:

williamlang.org

twitter.com/WillLangTbone

For loadbang: loadbang.com

For The Guidonian Hand: trombonehand.com

Because the The Chelsea Symphony is a group that I am consistently involved with (and love being so), this episode was a special one for me. I sit down with co-artistic director Mark Seto and president Emily Wong of The Chelsea Symphony to talk about what makes the orchestra unique in a city where orchestras pop up and fold every week. We cover backgrounds, and programming, and concerto selections, and the special organic way in which the orchestra is run.

In addition, Angela Shankar, freelancer and clarinetist with the orchestra, stops by the pod and we talk briefly about her upcoming concerto showcase and why she enjoys being a member of The Chelsea Symphony.

Links for The Chelsea Symphony:

chelseasymphony.org

instagram.com/chelseasymphony

facebook.com/TheChelseaSymphony

And for all things Angela:

angelashankar.com

This week, my friend Trevor New stops by to talk! We talk about his passion for music education, how he dealt with severe performance injuries, breaking in as a freelancer in NYC, and his excellent series of teaching YouTube videos.

For all things Trevor-related (i.e. links to Facebook, Instagram, his YouTube channel, and upcoming performance), head on over to trevornew.com!

Jay Rozen's career encompasses so many things that there was no way we were going to get through everything, but we spend an hour covering: how he got pieces written for him by famed critic Virgil Thomson and A Clockwork Orange author Anthony Burgess, the joy of live performance, the art of free improv, and his new CD! Today's episode features Jay's arrangement the Frank Zappa song Peaches and Regalia, with him playing all of the overdubbed tuba parts.

Jay's new album Killer Tuba Songs, Vol. 2: Naked Singularity is available now on iTunes and Amazon.

This episode is also the first in my series partnering with David Whitwell's Radical Brass concert series at Spectrum NYC.

This week, I sit down with the wonderfully talented Adrianna Mateo to talk about her music, why she does things that might be considered risky with her music, how to manage a social media presence, Kickstarter-ing her upcoming album, and Jesse Eisenberg?

Featuring clips of Adrianna's music, and a full single, "Like a Little Kid With a Raging Heart", from her rapidly approaching rock album.

Follow her online:

facebook.com/adriannas.violin

adriannamateo.tumblr.com

soundcloud.com/adriannamateo

Twitter: @AdriannaMateo

Instagram: @adriannamateo

Talking to trombonist David Whitwell