Stay ConnectedA podcast about the most fascinating time in classical music history: right now.
Relevant Tones features interviews with and music by some of the most creative figures in contemporary classical music, themed shows exploring new trends in classical music and frequent live streamed shows featuring conversations and music performances.
Hosted and produced by Seth Boustead, Austin Williams, Stephen Anthony Rawson and Matt Dotson.
Copyright: © Seth Boustead
Ramon Llull was a leading philosopher, logician and writer in medieval Catalonia and the foundation that today bears his name works to export Catalonian culture and music throughout the world.
Their most recent project in the U.S. is an exciting weekend of concerts and workshops in New York and a window into current trends in Catalonian music.
Relevant Tones travels in the field to feature the music and interviews with the composers.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis
Aproximación a lo Indivisible by Luis Codera Puzo
Cantiga Vazia by Octavi Rumba
Meta-Morphé by Joan Bagés i Rubi
18byJoan Arnau Pàmies
G-Waves by Mateu Malondra Flaquer
A Memory Palace is a technique for memorizing long lists of names or places by associating each list item with an object in your imaginary “memory palace”.
This is derived from the method of loci developed in ancient Greece and Rome. Many composers have been inspired by this technique and have written pieces with this title.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis
Memory Palace by Elizabeth Brown
Elizabeth Brown, flute; Greg Hesselink, cello; Margaret Kampmeier, piano
Memory Palace by Michael Small
Momenta Quartet
String Quartet in F Major by Maurice Ravel
Parker Quartet
Helix Spirals, mvt. I Loci, Memory Palace by Augusta Read Thomas
Parker Quartet
Memory Palace, mvts. I Harriman and III Foxhurst by Chris Cerrone
Ian David Rosenbaum, percussion; Jennifer Koh, violin; Shai Wosner, piano
It’s a format as old as time: two guys sit down to play music and talk about it.
Soundward, a continuing collaboration between Relevant Tones and Q2 Music, features lively conversation, new releases from composers around the globe and interesting new discoveries.
Hosted by Seth Boustead and Phil Kline
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis and Hannis Brown
Canticles of the Holy Wind, mvt. I Sky With Four Suns by John Luther Adams
The Crossing chamber choir; Donald Nally, conductor
Crumbling Arches by Vytautas Germanavičius
Trio Kaskados: Albina Šikšniūtė, piano; Rusnė Mataitytė, violin; Edmundas Kulikauskas, cello
A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke: Uncut Emeralds by Vijay Iyer
Wadada Leo Smith, trumpet; Vijay Iyer, piano and electronics
Songlines by Michael Ippolito
Attacca Quartet: Amy Schroeder, violin; Keiko Tokunaga, violin; Nathan Schram, viola; Andrew Yee, cello
Canticles of the Holy Wind, mvt. IV Hour of the Doves by John Luther Adams
The Crossing chamber choir; Donald Nally, conductor
From Mozart and Chopin to Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland the composer-pianist is easy to trace through time. Now, in the 21st century, there is a resurgence in the tradition.
Relevant Tones is examining the diverse composer-performer community from Philip Glass to Yiruma.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis
Loose Changes by Jed Distler
Quattro Mani
Three Landscapes for Peter Wyer by Jed Distler
Margaret Leng Tan, Toy piano
Home Stretch by Timo Andres
Timo Andres, piano; Metropolis Ensemble
Secondhand: Used Poetry by Jessica Krash
Jessica Krash, piano
Four Movements for Piano Trio, mvts. I Eighth Note=54 and II Quarter Note=66 by Bright Sheng
Bright Sheng, piano; Nicholas Tzavaras, cello; Weigang Li, violin
The Dumbarton Quintet by Joan Tower
Blair McMillen, piano; Daedalus Quartet
Though it’s definitely not true of all composers, many have a facility and fascination with math. We’ll talk to several composers who use math in their compositions and find out how this affects the resulting music.
Is it all cerebral? What is the balance between emotional expression and mathematical precision?
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis
Désintégrations by Tristan Murail
Sudden Light by Mark Bowden
Love Obsession by Mischa Zupko
As The Sunflower Turns on her God by Timothy Takach
Thèses-Antithèse-Synthèse by Ionel Petroi
Diasporas by Ravi Kitappa
Counting Duets by Tom Johnson
Q2 Music’s Phil Kline joins us to chat about music that strikes a chord. The newest recordings that are certain to become a classic.
Hosted by Seth Boustead and Phil Kline
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis
Double Happiness by Christopher Cerrone
Duet with Shifting Ground by Meredith Monk
Pavement Steps by Meredith Monk
Dark, Light 2 by Meredith Monk
Expectancy by Marcin Bortnowski
Tassel by Anna Meredith
Symphony No. 2 Innerspace, mvt. IV Fast by Jonathan Leshnoff
Podcast and live radio collide in an evening of music inspired by fractals, dynamic systems, feedback loops and nature.
Open G Records and Access Contemporary Music present:
Caroline Mallonee‘s Butterfly Effect, a string quartet inspired by the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in Australia could cause a tornado in Texas, Chin Ting Chan’s gorgeously abrasive Fractals, Lyudmila German’s nod to organic systems Six Fragments and Four Miniatures, David Glaser’s haunting Moonset No. 1 and two world premieres written for acclaimed soprano Sharon Harms and clarinetist Mark Dover of Imani Winds.
Late Night at National Sawdust is a quarterly live taping of Relevant Tones, a contemporary music podcast hosted by Seth Boustead that will also be broadcast in real time on the nationally syndicated WFMT Radio Network and on WKCR in New York. Live radio has never been so intimate.
The broadcast will be preceded by the Discovery Series, a process-oriented exploration of musical creativity led by composer/pianist Jeremy Gill. The three composers to be performed, chosen from a pool of more than five hundred, are Henrique Coe, Adina Dumitrescu and Ryan Homsey.
Cambodian composer Chinary Ung came to the U.S. to study clarinet and composition but was forced to stay when the Khmer Rouge uprising broke out in his home country killing millions.
Over the years he has helped many family members and friends escape that regime and has documented his struggles in music. He talks to Relevant Tones about his life and music.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis
Oracle by Chinary Ung
Da Capo Chamber Players; Lucy Shelton, soprano; Michael Adelson, conductor; William Anderson, guitar
Singing Inside Aura by Chinary Ung
Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Susan Ung, viola and voice
Grand Spiral: Desert Flowers Bloom by Chinary Ung
Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Gil Rose, conductor
We had the distinct pleasure of attending two recent opera premieres, the World Premiere of Heresy in Dublin by Roger Doyle and the Met’s premiere of L’Amour de Loin by acclaimed composer Kaija Saariaho.
Both operas explore universal themes in strikingly different ways, from Doyle’s setting of the infamous heresy trial of Giordano Bruno, to Saariaho’s mythic setting of idealized love.
We’ll hear from Eric Fraad, the director of Heresy on what it’s like to adapt to experimental music and storytelling. We’ll also talk with both composers and feature music from the operas.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis
At the Court of Elizabeth I Pt. 2 by Roger Doyle
Daire Halpin, soprano; Robert Crowe, male soprano
The Divine Sophia by Roger Doyle
Daire Halpin, soprano; Catriona O’Leary, mezzo soprano
L’Amour de Loin Overture by Kaija Saariaho
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Susanna Mälkki, conductor; Eric Owens, bass-baritone
The Cell – Hallucination by Roger Doyle
Iestyn Morris, counter tenor; Ahmad Alkaran, guest tenor; Caitriona O’Leary, mezzo soprano; Alex Smith, boy soprano
L’amour de Loin, Act II by Kaija Saariaho
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Susanna Mälkki, conductor; Susanna Phillips, soprano; Tamara Mumford, mezzo soprano
Death by Fire by Roger Doyle
Morgan Crowley, tenor
L’Amour de Loin, Act IV by Kaija Saariaho
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Susanna Mälkki, conductor; Susanna Phillips, soprano; Eric Owens, bass-baritone
L’Amour de Loin, Act V by Kaija Saariaho
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Susanna Mälkki, conductor; Susanna Phillips, soprano
With important commissions from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic among others, and a new and highly praised album release, James Matheson has established a reputation as a composer of finely tuned, individualistic music with wide ranging appeal.
We’ll chat with him about his career and play his music.
Hosted by Seth Boustead
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis
Chaconne by James Matheson
Caprice by James Matheson
Dance by James Matheson
Taught, Energetic by James Matheson
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