Contemporary Classical Music Podcast
The Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival is an ambitious summer program that brings together young string players to work intensively with leading professionals while performing throughout Colchester and the surrounding communities. For the past four years, the festival has also championed new music through its annual Call for Scores. On this episode of Relevant Tones, … Continue reading #479 – Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival
Best known for her acclaimed work with ballet companies across the country, Cristina Spinei has developed a distinctive musical language built on melodic cells, propulsive rhythms and subtle repetition which she affectionately describes as "minimalish." Host Seth Boustead talks with Spinei about her new album, Moved by an Interior Impulse, her long collaboration with choreographers, … Continue reading #478 – Cristina Spinei: Moved by an Interior Impulse
On this episode of Relevant Tones we highlight Ann Arbor, Michigan’s Third Place [MusicFest] as they celebrate their 7th year. Third Place curates an annual, four day performing arts festival comprised of multiple concerts in local spaces. They are founded on principles both simple and often overlooked: that concerts should be radically welcoming, accessible, and … Continue reading #477 – Third Place Music Fest
In the second half of our conversation with conductor, composer and producer Peter Askim, we take a deeper look at his efforts to champion living composers through initiatives like the NC State 10-Year Premiere Project. Askim discusses the importance of creating opportunities for emerging voices, building lasting relationships between composers and performers, and finding new … Continue reading #476 – Peter Askim and the NEXT Festival of Emerging Artists Part II
Composer, conductor, and producer Peter Askim joins Seth Boustead to discuss building vibrant communities around contemporary classical music through the NC State 10-Year Premiere Project, the NEXT Festival of Emerging Artists, and his work with orchestras across North Carolina. From commissioning dozens of World Premieres to mentoring emerging composers and reimagining how audiences experience new … Continue reading #475 – Peter Askim and the NEXT Festival of Emerging Artists Part I
Composer Brent Michael Davids discusses his powerful new work Requiem for America: Singing for the Invisible People—a sweeping musical reckoning with the genocidal foundations of the United States, told through Indigenous voices. Blending Native American musical traditions with orchestral forces, the piece confronts history through texts both personal and political, culminating in a message of … Continue reading #474 Brent Michael Davids – American Requiem
Esteemed composer Bernard Rands has passed away, a huge loss to our musical community. We honor his memory by re-airing this interview with host Seth Boustead from September 2017. Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Bernard Rands reflects on a remarkable career spanning more than a hundred published works and recordings. In this conversation with Relevant Tones, he … Continue reading In Memorium: Bernard Rands
Relevant Tones returns after our hiatus to bring you some of our favorite albums (and concerts) of the year. It was a great year for music! Hosted by Seth Boustead, Matthew Dosland, Stephen Anthony Rawson and Austin Williams. MUSIC For Adrienne I by Martin Gendelman What Stories We Tell by George Hurd Study No. 1 … Continue reading #473 Notable Albums of 2025
At the World’s Edge is a chamber music festival inspired by its roots in the Southern Alps of New Zealand and forging ties to Chicago and beyond. Host Seth Boustead talks with violinist and founding Artistic Director Benjamin Baker about his vision for the festival and features music the festival has commissioned. MUSIC Yabo by … Continue reading #472 At the world’s edge festival
Host Austin Williams and composer guest Neil Quigley chat about Neil’s music and its relationship to speculative history. Neil explains how his relationship to the Kilkenny Electroacoustic Research Laboratory is largely based in that practice. Among many other projects Neil created this love letter to his hometown and lans to wrap up the anthology in the … Continue reading #471 Neil Quigley