Relevant Tones

Puerto  Rican-born composer and multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón  writes  music for accordions, toys and electronics as well as chamber  ensembles  and orchestras. Her works  Bubblegum Grass Peppermint Field  and  La Isla Magica  are  as whimsical as their names suggest. Leap into Negron’s mind and music  in the latest installment of our...

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...

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 Zwinkli...

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 Music Canticles of the Holy Wind , mvt. I...

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 Music Loose Changes by Jed Distler Quattro Mani Three...

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 Music Désintégrati...

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 Music 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 Marc...

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 Fracta...

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 Bo...

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 &n...

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...

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

Once relegated solely to the status of folk instrument, the accordion  is being used more and more by composers around the world in a stunning  variety of different musical contexts. We’ll feature music for this storied instrument and talk to a few of the composers about how it inspired them. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Music A Way Through by Jane O’Leary Dermot Du...

For this exciting new series Relevant Tones is teaming up with Open G  Records and Access Contemporary Music to present a quarterly live  broadcast at Brooklyn’s hottest new venue National Sawdust. Much of the music for this series will be programmed from an international ‘call for scores.’ Music Squaring the Circle, by J Mark Scearce Veil , by Seth Boustead Umber Sepia , by&nb...

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams, who until very  recently made his home in Alaska, is far from the only composer to be  inspired by winter landscapes. We’ll celebrate the season with music from around the world by composers inspired by winter. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Music Der Greise Kopf by Franz Schubert Schnee by Hans Abrahamsen Tundra Song...

The Open House movement began in  the 1980’s in London as a  celebration of the city’s justifiably famous architecture but it was so  successful that it soon spread to more than 40 cities around the world. For the last six years Access Contemporary Music has commissioned  composers to write music inspired by the spaces and put musicians in the  spaces to perform the music....

Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, the Gaudeamus Muziekwiek  is a powerhouse contemporary music festival showcasing young talent from  around the world. The second of our two-part series will feature interviews and audio  from the established mentor composers at this year’s festival. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Music Yair Klartag There’s no lack of vo...

Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, the festival, Gaudeamus  Muziekweek, in the Netherlands is a powerhouse contemporary music  festival showcasing young talent from around the world. Every year the Gaudeamus Award is granted to a new music pioneer,  this year nominees include Giulio Colangelo, David Bird, James  O’Callaghan, Anthony Vine, and Shih-Wei Lo, all under the...

It’s quite common in academia, journalism and literature for two  authors to team up to write an article or book but significantly less so  in music. Still, it does happen and the results are often fascinating.  Where  does one idea start and the other continue?  How do two composers work  together to write a seamless piece? Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Z...

For more than thirty years, young composers have traveled to Holland  to worship at the altar of Louis Andriessen, perhaps most notably the  three composers from the storied collective Bang on a Can. As a result Andriessen, and Bang on a Can themselves, have had an outsize influence on the music of our time. We’ll feature Andriessen’s work and many of the composers who have made the pilg...

Not surprisingly, the natural world is a never-ending source of fascination and inspiration for composers. From the datura plant in southern China to a rare bird in the wilds  of Australia to strange animals that exist only in the composer’s  imagination, we’ll feature music inspired by the boundless creativity of  nature. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Music Mas...

The second part in our two-part feature of the Warsaw Autumn  International Festival of Contemporary Music includes interviews with  composers, performers and organizers of the event and more audio  performances recorded live in the concert halls of Warsaw. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Music Wojciech Blazejczyk Trash Music Krzysztof Woleck un Claro del Tiempo M...

Since its beginning in 1956 the Warsaw Autumn International Festival  of Contemporary Music, for many years the only festival of its kind in  Eastern Europe, has presented new music by leading Polish composers and  composers from around the world. Today it is one of the most prestigious contemporary music festivals  in the world and we are honored to have the chance to travel t...

Polish composer, concert pianist and educator  Zygmunt Krauze  is  a hugely respected figure on the international contemporary music scene  and the recipient of numerous honors including the French National  Order of the Legion of Honour among many others. We’ll play selections from his music and talk with him about his storied career. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by S...

After discovering Sebastian Huydts’ newest album, Delicias de  Blancanieves or Snowwhite’s Delights, Seth is sharing his newest musical  ‘delights’. We’ll share selected works of Huydts, Caroline Eyck, and Johann Johannson and more with you. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis