Legendary Brazilian guitar duo Sérgio and Odair Assad have been   performing and recording together for 50 years, reinventing guitar   technique along the way.  We’ll talk with Sérgio about their remarkable   career and feature music by a wide variety of composers who have  written  for them.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Altamir Penha: Nós e o rio (excerpt)

Ástor Piazzolla: Tango Suite

Egberto Gismonti, arr. Sérgio Assad: Baião Malandro

Sérgio Assad: Divertimento fr. Aquarelle

Sérgio Assad: Sephardic Passage fr. Interchange for Guitar Quartet and Orchestra

Sérgio Assad: Uarekena

Ástor Piazzolla: Libertango

From Stravinsky’s famous In Memoriam: Dylan Thomas to Hindemith’s Trauermusik,   composers have long written their most personal and moving music as a   tribute to a friend or great figure they admired.  We’ll remember   several great personalities with musical tributes by modern day   composers.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

William Mayer: Brass Quintet, II

Ross Harris: Symphony No. 4 “To the Memory of Mahinarangi Tocker” (excerpt)

David Maslanka: Concerto for Trombone and Wind Ensemble

Fred Lerdahl: First String Quartet (excerpt)

David Lang: Memory Pieces for Solo Instruments: Cage

Robert Paterson: Elegy (for Two Bassoons and Piano)

Alex Shapiro: Perpetual Spark

Access Contemporary Music has begun an innovative collaboration with Warsaw composer Agnieszka Stulgińska   in which a piece of music is publicly performed in installments as  work  on it progresses.

We’ll hear Agnieszka’s thought process, play each  installment, and  sit alongside the composer as she hears the world  premiere of the  completed work.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Agnieszka Stulginska: Dance with My Breath (installments + complete piece)

Marta Ptaszynska: Moon Flowers

Relevant Tones partners with the Santa Fe Opera to feature a sneak preview of Jennifer Higdon’s soon-to-be-premiered first opera, Cold Mountain, based on Charles Frazier’s best-selling novel.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Jennifer Higdon: String Poetic, III (excerpt)

Jennifer Higdon: Cold Mountain (excerpts)

Jennifer Higdon: Cold Mountain (excerpts)

Relevant Tones has been carrying on a correspondence with  several  musicians in this war-torn region, where making music has  recently been  a challenge.  We’ll share their stories and feature  chamber and  orchestral works by composers determined to carry on.

Julia Gomelskaya: Planet “The Life” for String Orchestra and Piano (excerpt)

Valentin Silvestrov: “World of Peace” fr. Songs for Vespers

Igor Shcherbakov: Sonata for Violin and Violoncello, I

Vladimir Runchak: Hosanna, to musicians who are no longer or not yet with us (excerpt)

Yevhen Stankovich: Concerto for Violin and Piano (excerpt)

Gabriela Ortíz: Denibee, Para Flauta, Percusión Y Contrabajo- Siempre Ritmico (excerpt)

Gabriela Ortíz: Concierto Candela, I (Marimba Candela)

Mario Lavista: String Quartet No. 6, Suite in cinco partes

Javier Álvarez: Metal de Corazones

Arturo Márquez: Danzón No. 2

Samuel Zyman: Música para Cinco- Con anima

It gives technicians fits, but composers and performers are always   experimenting with new “wrong” ways to play their instrument.

From  Bartok pizz to prepared piano, multiphonics to slap tongue,  many of  these techniques have made it into the standard repertoire.   What new  extended techniques are being pioneered today?

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Stephen Scott: Four Note Aria fr. Baltic Sketches

George Crumb: Black Angels, III (excerpt)

Frances-Marie Uitti: Britsum 2 Bow Chorale

Junghae Lee: Sonorence (excerpt)

Helmut Lachenmann: Pression (excerpt)

Eric Mandat: Sub(T)Rains O’ Strata’s Fears

Meredith Monk: Dolmen Music (excerpt)

Dai Fujikura: Calling, for solo bassoon (excerpt)

One of the leading composers of our time and an ardent promoter of   new music throughout the world, Augusta Read Thomas is an artistic force   to be reckoned with.

Championed by Pierre Boulez in her early years  and later named  composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony  Orchestra, Thomas rose  early to the top of her profession and has  remained there ever since.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Augusta Read Thomas: Words of the Sea, III

Thomas: Aureole (excerpt)

Thomas: In My Sky at Twilight, I. Deeper than all Roses

Thomas: Terpsichore’s Dream

Thomas: Caprice fr. Traces

Thomas: (kiss me) fr. Two E.E. Cummings Songs

Literally “light-dark,” chiaroscuro in art is the creation of depth   through the play of light and shadow.  This artistic technique has   inspired legions of composers to try and create the same contrasts in   music through timbral shadings and instrumental colors.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Jacob Druckman: Chiaroscuro (excerpt)

Steven Block: Shadows

Colin Brumby: Chiaroscuro, III

Huck Hodge: Pools of Shadow from an Older Sky, II. Ave Maris Stella

John Corigliano: Chiaroscuro, I & II

Richard Lavenda: Chiaroscuro

Laura Schwendinger: Chiaroscuro Azzurro, III

Acclaimed micro-tonal composer Ben Johnston is justifiably famous for   his rigorous work ethic, attention to detail and for constructing a   sound world entirely his own.

One of the few composers using just intonation who is also interested  in writing rhythmic music, Johnston is  a true original and we’re happy  to shine the spotlight on this modern  master.

Hosted by Seth Boustead

Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 9 (excerpt)

Johnston: String Quartet No. 3 (excerpt)

Johnston: Sonata for Microtonal Piano, I & II

Johnston: String Quartet No. 4, Amazing Grace

Johnston: Prelude, The Many Wines & The New Rule fr. The Tavern

Johnston: Trio

Johnston: Calamity Jane (excerpt)

Johnston: String Quartet No. 10, III