Relevant Tones

Founding cellist of Eighth Blackbird,  Nick Photinos, joins us in  WFMT’s Levin Studio in Chicago to play  pieces from his first solo  album.

Nick worked with an exciting array of  diverse composers on the album  including David T. Little, Angélica  Négrón, Florent Ghys, Andrew  Norman and Bryce Dessner.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Lewisburg, by Bryce Dessner

Sit and Dance, by Molly Joyce

and the sky was still there, by David T. Little

Panorama, by Angélica Negrón

Petits Artéfacts, by Florent Ghys

The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) holds  arguably the world’s most important contemporary music festival in a  different city each year.  Much like the Olympics, cities bid to be the  host and this year it’s in Vancouver.

In this second program of two, we hear from Canadian composer,  Jennifer Butler, Lituanian composer,  Sabina Ulubeanu, young American  composer, Robert J Coe, and more, all performed by Vancouver’s best  musicians.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Klee Wyck Woman, by Jennifer Butler

Tonight My Shadow Sinks Into the Wall, by Vytautas Germanavicius

Vox Terminus, by Frederik Gran

Gestalt X, by Frederick Neyrinck

Freycinet, by Robert J Coe

Cadenza lirica, by Sabina Ulubeanu

Production company Access Contemporary  Music has partnered with the  esteemed Manhattan venue, LPR – (Le)  Poisson Rouge a multimedia art  cabaret founded by musicians on the site  of the historic Village Gate.

Pianist Jenny Lin is taking the stage for  the first in this exciting  new series.  This concert is celebrating  Philip Glass’s 81st birthday  with a live performance of his Piano Etudes  coinciding with her album  release.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Composer Jeremy Gill recently had the  opportunity of a lifetime when  the Boston Modern Orchestra Project  agreed to record not one, not two,  but three of his concertos.

We’ll  talk with Jeremy and clarinet soloist Chris Grymes about this fantastic  new release and play as much of it as we can.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Before the Wresting Tides

Serenada Concertante

Notturno Concertante

Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Gil Rose, conductor

Four-time Grammy winning super group Eighth Blackbird unveils their  newest creative project: “to inspire the next generation of performers  and composers to share in the ensemble’s vision: to champion a  distinctive, dynamic and engaging performance aesthetic.”

We’ll talk to the birds and this year’s participants and bring you into the creative process as the lab comes to life.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Conduit; Mvmt I: Touch; Mvmt II: Pulse by Robert Honstein

Duos: Mvmts 21-24 by Jörg Widmann 

Cold Mountain: “Listen” by Jennifer Higdon

Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say by Kate Soper 

Electric Aroma by Viet Cuong  

Dogs by Invoke

The International Society for  Contemporary Music (ISCM) holds  arguably the world’s most important  contemporary music festival in a  different city each year.

Much like the Olympics, cities bid to be the host and this year it’s  in  Vancouver.  In this first program of two, we hear from Jordan  Nobles,  Charlotte Bray, Jocelyn Morlock, and Stefan Prins.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Skywriting, by Jordan Nobles

At the Speed of Stillness, by Charlotte Bray

Lux Antiqua, by Jordan Nobles

My Name is Amanda Todd, by Jocelyn Morlock

Hände Ohne Orte, by Stefan Prins

A special broadcast with Chicago’s Kontras Quartet, a group that has  been blending the line between classical and folk music since 2009.

On this program we’ll hear folk-inspired repertoire from South Africa to Japan back home to the Midwest.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Strum by Jessie Montgomery

String Quartet No. 1 “White Man Sleeps”: Movement I. “First Dance”

Exodus Quartet: I. “A Tale; Generations of Suffering” by Rudy Perrault

Appalachian Polaroids  by Steven Snowden

Japanese Folk Song Suite No. 2: Movement I. Yagibushi  & Movement II. Nambu ushioi otaby Hajime Komatsu –

Komeng by Mokale Koapeng

8 Chinese folk songs: No. 5: Horse Herds Mountain Song & No. 8: Leaving Home by Zhou Long

Shortnin’ Bread by Florence Price

String Quartet No. 3 “Old Time” by Mark O’Connor

Black Bend by Dan Visconti

One  of the most important new developments in contemporary classical  music is part of a wider societal trend of gender fluidity. We talk  with three  composers who have transitioned about their music before and after, and their personal experiences.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Forces Part 1 by Devin Fanslow

Rotational Games by Brin Solomon

Purple Stain by Alex Temple

This Changes Everything! by Alex Temple

Lake Song by Alex Temple

Produced by Access Contemporary Music, the Discovery Series is a process-based exploration of musical creativity.

Three pieces are chosen for each program from a pool of more than  seven hundred submissions. These pieces were workshopped at National  Sawdust in Brooklyn and the sessions were led by composer/pianist Jeremy  Gill.

The Discovery Series is an exciting sneak peak into the creative  process, and the process of putting the piece together for the musicians  tasked with bringing the music to life.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Recurrent Stages: Stage II, by Ryan Homsey

Deux Fois Miro, by Adina Dumitrescu

Tune My Heart, by Roger Briggs

Soundtrack of an Open Road, by Ted King

Sonata form is one of the oldest composition structures in classical  music but it’s being rediscovered, and in many cases re-purposed, by  contemporary composers.

What is the lasting appeal? We’ll play music by four composers  looking to the past for formal inspiration.  This episode also features a  tribute to David Maslanka who passed away shortly before the taping.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Piano Quintet, mvt. I by Thomas Adès

Camille for Sax and Piano, mvt. I by David Maslanka

2, by Keeril Makan

Piano Quintet by Thomas Adès