Following the success at the Metropolitan Opera house of his beloved oratorio, Lamb of God, earlier this year, Rob Gardner talks with guest host, composer Benjamin Taylor, about his ways of writing music, from first ideas and deadlines to orchestration choices, lyrics, and why the best idea is often the first instinct. They uncover how the oratorio began years before it was written, why deadlines are essential to finishing a new work, and how Gardner uses sketches, voice memos, cryptograms, Logic mockups, notation software, and how he learns from other beloved composers’ orchestrations—also how Gardner can’t help tinkering and reorchestrating after a piece is finished. He shares practical lessons from working with choirs, orchestras, copyists, and live performers, offering an honest and energizing reminder that a composer’s voice is often strongest before they try to make it “better.”

Music: "Please Only Tell Me Good News” by Stephen Anderson; used with permission.

Liked this episode? Send us a text.

More than an early figure in Mormon frontier painting, C.C.A. Christensen helped to invent the visual language of Latter-day Saint history and theology. In this interview on the occasion of her new book on Christensen, art historian Jennifer Champoux reveals how the Danish artist’s Mormon history panoramas, Book of Mormon paintings, missionary images, and Scandinavian paintings and writings shaped Mormon memory, gospel teachings, and identity in surprising and under-appreciated ways.

Music: "Please Only Tell Me Good News” by Stephen Anderson; used with permission.

Liked this episode? Send us a text.

This episode features an interview with the editors Richard Benjamin Crosby and Isaac James Richards about their new book, Latter-day Eloquence: Two Centuries of Mormon Oratory. They discuss why public speaking is central to Latter-day Saint life, how touchstone speeches from the 19th century to the present tell the story of the LDS people, and why they remain essential reading and relevant today.

For a 30% discount for the book, use the code: S26UIP at the publisher’s website: https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p089329 

Music: "Please Only Tell Me Good News” by Stephen Anderson; used with permission.

Liked this episode? Send us a text.

Part 1. Why We Make Art - We celebrate our 100th monthly episode with a survey of special moments from our history. This first of four episodes, Why We Make Art, is a sampler of a few stories of artists and why they create or in some way a description of trying to see the big picture. These stories come from painters Brian Kershisnik and Fidalis Buehler, scholars Mason Kamana Allred and Amanda Beardsley, dancer/choreographer Lisa Hess Jones, and artist/animator Annie Poon. I wanted to share some performances of artists, too. Included, too, are short clips of Lance Larsen reading a newly published poem and Stephen Anderson talking about and playing music inspired by the Dominican Republic. 

Music: "Please Only Tell Me Good News” by Stephen Anderson; used with permission.

Liked this episode? Send us a text.

Part 2. Moments of Faith - This second celebratory episode of our 100th podcast includes six conversations with artists and includes intimate stories with a spiritual touch: Historian Richard Bushman in New York, then choreographer Vanessa Cook in Switzerland. James Faulconer tells a miraculous story from Brazil, we hear about a treasured but divided heirloom from Salt Lake City, Utah and the miracle of its reunion. We listen to religious music from Texas, and hear from a political prisoner and painter in Angola. 

Music: "Please Only Tell Me Good News” by Stephen Anderson; used with permission.

Liked this episode? Send us a text.

Part 3: Unexpected Insights - In this third of our Audio Exhibition to celebrate The Center’s Studio Podcast’s 100th episode, 7 clips were collected from podcasts where artists inform us about the world. These artists become the most engaging and delightful teachers you can imagine on a variety of topics: Barrett Burgin talks about horror films, Jeremy Grimshaw speaks about music and traditions in Bali, Jihea Hong-Park muses about classical music and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage, Kate Monson gives some surprising statistics about Utah and dance, Gonzalo and Susana Silva bring their Argentinian art and ideas to New York, Steven L. Peck talks about the ways that scientific truths can be even truer in a novel, and Trevor Reed provides illuminating thoughts on Native American objects and music and their repatriation to the tribes from which they sprang. 

Music: "Please Only Tell Me Good News” by Stephen Anderson; used with permission.

Liked this episode? Send us a text.

Part 4: Emotional Moments -- In the finale of our celebration, we revisit clips from guests: Jamie Erekson, Samuel Evensen, Laura Allred Hurtado, Mauli Bonner, and Valerie Atkisson. These moving discussions become teary and include family tragedy, real-time stories happening during Covid, the highs and lows of careers, and complex social challenges. Finally, Glen Nelson summarizes some of the lessons he's learned from 100 episodes spread out over nine years.

Music: "Please Only Tell Me Good News” by Stephen Anderson; used with permission.

Liked this episode? Send us a text.

Take a listen to the innovative, forthcoming Art Lab by the Center for Latter Day Saint Arts. It focuses on how art enhances family and group and experiences through interaction. Join four volunteers--Lauren and Nick Bazzarone and Emily and Jamie Erekson--as we preview a lesson from Art Lab about music, and jump into the experience with us.

Music performed by Scott Holden, The Unknown Galaxy: A Century of Classical Mormon Music, part of the Center's Art Festival.

Liked this episode? Send us a text.

Choreographer Vanessa Cook discusses her newest work, A Brief Collection of Moments, premiering at the Utah Metropolitan Ballet. Cook explores how dance combines with music, text, and visual art into this ambitious new piece, winner of the 2025 Ariel Bybee Endowment Prize. The conversation ranges from philosophy and choreography to the power of a single voice, echoing Bybee's own, growing into something much larger.

What begins with a single voice becomes a duet, then a group, then something larger than any one artist. In this episode, choreographer Vanessa Cook takes us inside the making of a new work blending dance, with LDS collaborators in music, text, and visual art. Along the way, she reflects on curiosity, creative processes, and why movement can sometimes say what words cannot.

Music: "Please Only Tell Me Good News” by Stephen Anderson; used with permission.

Liked this episode? Send us a text.

Explore the fascinating profession of scenic art with Tessa Jorgensen, a professional artist working on Broadway, opera, ballet, tv, film, advertising, and immersive experiences. Learn about her unique skills painting 50-foot murals, backdrops, cycloramas, and theatrical set pieces for some of the country's biggest theatrical productions.

Music: "Please Only Tell Me Good News” by Stephen Anderson; used with permission.

Liked this episode? Send us a text.