Violist Stephanie Griffin: The Momentum Of Four Momenta
Although she calls it ‘a violist’s Book of Job,’ founding and leading the Momenta Quartet is a longtime labor of love for Stephanie Griffin, as she tells us in Music for Writers.
Q2 Music’s Alex Ambrose: Man Behind the Music
Since 2009, New York Public Radio’s Q2 Music has been giving crucial airtime to living composers on its free 24/7 Internet stream. Who orchestrates all this gorgeous sound? Alex Ambrose.
Maya Beiser: ‘Singing With The Cello’
Drawing on her childhood on a kibbutz—fears of violence and the grace of music—cellist Maya Beiser embarks on personal exploration, ‘TranceClassical.’
Composer Gregory Spears: ‘Fellow Travelers’ And ‘The Nature Of Homophobia’
In the wake of the unthinkable killings in Orlando, composer Gregory Spears’ new opera on the historic persecution of homosexuals in 1950s Washington gets its world premiere in Cincinnati.
Composer Lewis Pesacov: A 5,000-Year Love Story’s Moment In Eternity
Composer Lewis Pesacov’s chamber opera for the end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar cannot be performed again: it was made for a one-time only event. But a new recording is being released, putting this tale of ancient affection on ‘The Edge of Forever.’
Cellist Michael Nicolas In Transition: ‘All Art Is Technology’
Cellist Michael Nicolas releases his solo debut, to call for peaceful Transitions to technologically engaged music. “I welcome our robot overlords.”
Matthew Welch, Bagpiper and Composer: ‘My Music Sounds Like An Optimistic View Of The Future’
The Sound ‘Continues To Move In Space’ An avant-garde bagpiper may not be the guy you expect to meet, even here at our eclectic Music for Writers. But last week, that’s exactly who MATA Festival audiences in New York heardfrom.
Kronos’ David Harrington: ‘There Is No Such Thing As Easy Music’
Kronos: Commissioning 900 Pieces So Far When we spoke with Kronos Quartet founder and violinist David Harrington last year about the group’s Fifty for the Future project, the effort was just getting off the ground.
Mehmet Ali Sanlikol: ‘Reconstructing My Identity’ In Music
‘Those Who Don’t Know Us’ Sufi, of course, is the mystical dimension of Islam. Many of us may appreciate its essential beauty through the work of the 13th-century poet Rumi.
Matthew Guard’s Skylark Ascending: Music To Die To
‘End Of Life Visions And Meditations’ As our colleague Doyle Armbrust is writing over at New York Public Radio’s and WQXR Q2 Music, it’s just too bad that when your time comes to leave this Earth, you don’t get to…
