Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

The focus of this episode is violinist Winston Webber’ss wonderful book “ Best Seat in the House: love letters to a profession” and you’ll be hearing Winston read from the book, and share memories with us of musicians such as Pinchas Zukerman, Karl Ancerl, Ida Haendel and Greta Kraus. He also shared his experiences of violin lessons with Lorand Fenyves and conducting lessons with Sixten Ehrling, m...

The composer Stanley Grill joins me for a conversation about his beautiful compositions with a focus on some of his award-winning albums including The Mystic Trumpeter and Two Symphonies . Every composer’s path is unique and I was curious to learn about his personal career and creative choices which have sometimes gone counter to what people expect of a composer, and why his accidental career outs...

Andrew Arceci is an Early Music Specialist who performs on the viol family and is also a founding member of Floyds Row ensemble. You’ll be hearing music excerpted from their new album The Carlisle Sessions and also from Andrew’s earlier album with soprano Elizabeth Hungerford Love and Lust of wonderful music from the 16th and 17th centuries. Andrew also speaks about the tragic loss of his father,...

Rupert Guenther is an Australian improvising violinist and pedagogue. Some of the music you’ll be hearing is excerpted from his 5 albums commissioned from the ABC. You’ll hear stories from his varied career, in both Australia and Vienna, and influences and mentors from Melvyn Cann, Terje Moe Hansen, Igor Ozim and Allan Zavod. He shares his approach to creating fully improvised music as a classical...

Ashley Kahn is a Grammy-winning music historian, author, professor and producer. He joins me to discuss his wonderful new book, Days of Miracle and Wonder: Paul Simon and the Trials and Triumphs of Graceland . You’ll hear about Joseph Shabalala and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, with whom Ashley toured, and many of the musicians who helped define the Graceland sound, including Bakithi Kumalo, Ray Phiri,...

JoVia Armstrong is a an award-winning percussionist, composer and educator whose work blends rhythm, technology, and experimental composition. This year she was voted as one of the best percussionists in the world by DownBeat Magazine’s 74th Annual Critics Poll. She leads the electroacoustic ensemble Eunoia Society which explores sound as a healing tool and you’ll be hearing music from their first...

Cellist Coleman Itzkoff joins Leah Roseman to discuss his multi-disciplinary career spanning baroque music, contemporary ballet, and theatre . Discover the surprising links between his youth as a competitive skateboarder and his physical artistry on stage. He shares insights into co-founding AMOC , accessing peak creativity, and how family and mentors shaped his unique path. You can also watch the...

Internationally renowned composer and Oberlin professor Jesse Jones joins host Leah Roseman. Jesse has been awarded the Guggenheim and Rome Prizes, he also thrives in bluegrass-fusion with the group EZRA, and we're featuring music excerpted from several albums. We explore Jacob Jolliff ’s album of Jesse's music—including his recent mandolin concerto—and also feature clips from Xak Bjerken’s perfor...

The award-winning pianist Donna Weng Friedman enjoys a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, curator, producer, and filmmaker. She spoke to me about many of her inspiring projects, including the Joy Luck Trio, Microvids with composer Stefania de Kenessey and collaborators including violinist Curtis Stewart. You’ll hear how she got into film making and her award-winning per...

I was honoured to record this interview with Boman Desai, whose wonderful recent novel “Brahms Comes to Dinner” I highly recommend. You’ll hear how this work came out of Boman’s larger novel “Trio” and he shared stories about several of his other acclaimed novels including “The Memory of Elephants”, “Portrait of a Woman Madly in Love” and his book about the Lennon-McCartney Beatles songs “Dancing...

I have been so inspired to discover the brilliant British-American violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen’s wonderful discography and I so enjoyed this opportunity to talk to her about her creative life. She spoke to me about the debut of her sister’s violin concerto and you’ll hear about Freya Waley-Cohen’s earlier work Permutations. Tamsin has performed and recorded extensively with the great pianist and...

Mary Beth Orr is a wonderful award-winning horn player and folk vocal artist. Throughout this moving episode you’ll be hearing short excerpts from her album “The Singing Horn” which celebrates traditional Appalachian songs with Mahler and contemporary works composed for Mary Beth through Vox Novus’ Fifteen Minutes of Fame Project. Mary Beth is currently 3rd Horn of the Grand Rapids Symphony, and s...

This is my third conversation with Ian Brennan in this mini ongoing series with him, within my podcast. If you missed Parts 1 and 2 they are linked in the show notes for you. Today you’ll hear about how he recorded some of the oldest voices in the world in Azerbaijan, and some of the bonus tracks including the Kronos quartet and The Good Ones. Ian shared how he met the Malawi Mouse Boys and then b...

I’m so happy to bring you this episode with the British Ivor-nominated composer, violinist and sound artist Ruby Colley. She grew up with her artist parents and her brother Paul who is neuro-divergent and non-speaking. This conversation shines a light on her beautiful album Hello Halo with the brilliant Exaudi vocal ensemble. She composed this alongside her brother, transcribing Paul’s sounds and...

This episode is with Duo FAE violinist Charlene Kluegel and pianist Katherine Petersen. The first part of this conversation focuses on their album Dissidents of the Gilded Age. You’ll be hearing excerpts from this beautiful program and learning about the composers Dame Ethel Smyth, Cécile Chaminade and Amy Beach. Charlene and Katherine are long-time collaborators and close friends and we got into...

Jayne Dent is a British interdisciplinary artist, singer and composer and I was absolutely delighted to explore ideas around a creative and playful life with her. You’ll be hearing clips of music from Me Lost Me, with inspirations from folk culture old and new. She opened my mind to what folk creativity and community can mean in the 21st century. You'll also hear about community music making, coll...

I was fascinated to meet PJ Adzima, and learn about his path from his childhood on a farm to his career as a Broadway performer in the Book of Mormon. A chance encounter with a legendary composer changed his life forever and now as the CEO of the production company Stage Time, he’s paying that forward by discovering and curating talent across genres through many projects. He talked about how embra...

Vivienne Aerts is a NYC-based Dutch Singer, Educator, and Psychologist, for many years on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music. I’ve been following her inspiring creative practice for a couple of years and I’m excited to tell you that for this episode you’ll be hearing clips from her beautiful upcoming album Current, produced on a tiny 1951 Dutch sailboat, blending jazz, electronics, and vo...

I was so honoured and delighted to have this opportunity to have this conversation with Nancy Shear, whose diverse career in classical music will fascinate you. I loved reading her memoir “I knew a man who knew Brahms” which is very much a book about appreciation for great music making as well as the importance of reflecting on the legacies our elders. You’ll hear about insights gleaned from her c...

This is my second conversation with Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan, whose work continues to make a meaningful impact around the world. If you missed Part 1 of our interview, be sure to check the link in the show notes. In this episode, we explore Ian Brennan’s remarkable approach to recording music in some of the most remote and overlooked places on Earth. You’ll hear stories from his travels...

Max ZT is a superb Grammy-nominated hammered dulcimer player. I am really inspired by his broad and deep musical approach, improvisation skills, and virtuosity. You’ll be hearing inspirations and clips from his recent album with the handpan virtuoso Manu Delago, and in fact this was recorded during their album release tour of the U.K. and Europe. Max explained fascinating details about his approac...

Trombonist Jeff Albert joins me for a two-part conversation. The beginning of this episode explores the unique Guthman Musical Instrument Competition at Georgia Tech which celebrates musical inventors from around the world. You’ll be hearing some of these instruments from this year’s competition and you’ll find that information linked in the show notes. The second half of this episode is about Jef...

I’m delighted to welcome back Gaelynn Lea , the disability rights advocate, author, singer-songwriter, and fiddler. If you missed my first conversation with her last year it’s linked in the show notes. I really enjoyed reading her memoir It Wasn’t Meant to be Perfect , and if you haven’t ordered it yet we hope you will after listening to this episode. Gaelynn goes into some of the themes in the bo...

You may know Scott Nygaard from his career as a guitarist in the bluegrass and acoustic scene for more than 30 years, his work as former editor and writer with Acoustic Guitar Magazine, or as one of the co-founders of Peghead Nation. You may not know his novel Evergreen, based on his transformative first year at Evergreen College in 1973. I love a coming of age story, and this is very much a tale...

Carolyn Kendrick is a fiddler, songwriter, and producer based in California. I’m really looking forward to her upcoming podcast with Tristan Scroggins “Don’t Call Me Darlin’,” based on an archive of Women in Bluegrass newsletters. You’ll also be fascinated to learn about Carolyn’s project “ Each Machine” and you’ll be hearing some of that music and about her research into the Satanic Panic . She a...