Helga

Teacher, author and speaker, David Kyuman Kim shares the concept of "radical love" in halls and on college campuses across the country as well as on his former podcast,  Love-Driven Politics . In 2015, David presented a TEDx Talk on the topic at Connecticut College where he is also a Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies and the Peace and Conflict Coordinator. In this episode, David...

Author Jacqueline Woodson won the 2014 National Book Award for  Brown Girl Dreaming , and this past January began her two-year tenure as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature; her latest book  Another Brooklyn  was a  New York Times  best-seller. In this conversation, host Helga Davis sits down to talk with Woodson about family – the alternative one she was born into and the one sh...

Director, playwright and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan is widely known for winning the Oscar for best original screenplay at the 89th Academy Awards for his film  Manchester By the  Sea, and as a co-writer on Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York . In this episode, host Helga Davis and Lonergan work through their shared upbringing at the Walden School in New York – exploring memories both charged an...

Thelma Golden is the director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, an appointee to then President Obama's Committee for the Preservation of the White House, and the recipient of the 2016 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence. In this conversation, Golden discusses being taught canon revision with her father growing up, her first memories of seeing the world through art, and the...

Hilton Als is an intellectual omnivore who roots his art and criticism in reality and a search for the truth. A writer,  New Yorker  theater critic, curator, photographer, director and professor, Als’s work gracefully slips between genres to comment on contemporary American politics, pop culture and the African-American experience and to place the current condition in a longer history. In this ten...

Playwright and stage actress Sarah Jones dexterously hops from one character to the next. In her one-woman shows, she seamlessly slips into characters of different class, race and gender backgrounds. Her award-winning multi-character performances cover topics such as sex work, post-9/11 America and racism in the healthcare system and illuminate the differences and strengths between one another. Sa...

When soprano Julia Bullock took the stage recently to sing the legacy and history of Josephine Baker, the groundbreaking African-American singer and performer who fought in the civil rights movement, she didn’t dress it up. There was no marcelled hair, no banana skirt. Just a woman using her voice to speak truth to power and telling the story of a woman who paved the way. Her star ascending, the J...

For conductor Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, an attentive and hungry audience is one of the essential parts of creating a transcendent musical experience. That’s why he scatters his Musica Viva choir at All Souls Church on the Upper East Side throughout the church. So the audience is in the middle of the action. In this conversation, Helga and Alejandro talk about the challenges of managing both choi...

Alan Gilbert believes that conducting an orchestra is a process of “letting go together.” When the energy between a conductor and an orchestra is right, he says, it’s almost impossible to tell who’s leading who. Alan and Helga sat down in the New York Philharmonic music director's office to talk about what he means by serving a community, the moments in performance he lives for, and how maybe he c...

Solange is determined to express herself fully and with integrity. The musician, singer and songwriter has been writing music since she was in the fourth grade. In this episode, Solange and Helga retrace the pop-star’s journey from being a young mother in Idaho with a major-record publishing deal, to self-autonomy and accountability in the music business. The two also discuss the themes behind her...

Violin soloist Jennifer Koh has never cancelled a gig. Even when she had pneumonia, bronchitis and strep throat... at the same time. That drive comes through in the intensity of her live performances and the fierceness of her determination. Davis speaks with her former colleague in Philip Glass and Robert Wilson's epic opera Einstein on the Beach about the toll her exacting performances take on th...

Henry Threadgill wants to know how to build the house. Whether it Moby Dick or jazz composition, the 72-year-old jazz composer and multi-instrumentalist has spent his life figuring out what goes into building the greatest works of arts. Recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize, Threadgill talks with Helga about giving license to your imagination in order to create, the life energy that connects a perfo...

After moving to Detroit from New York and separating from her husband, My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden decided to change her last name to Nova. The frontwoman for the indie-rock band, singer and composer talks to Helga about about her upcoming album and Southern roots, about leaning into vulnerability, and why being uncomfortable is crucial in art-making. She also talks about why it was import...

Peter Sellars is one of the most all-around inspiring people you'll ever come across. The acclaimed, unconventional opera and theater director invites himself and audiences to embrace challenge and push their emotional and spiritual boundaries. “Let go and fall forward” is his credo. Helga and Peter talk about his work with the Flexn dancers and Bach's St. Matthew Passion, his sister who runs a da...

Get an advance listen today to Q2 Music's newest podcast, Helga, a show featuring conversations with diverse, uncompromising and socially conscious artists across the creative spectrum. Hear excerpts of upcoming conversations with opera director Peter Sellars, My Brighest Diamond's Shara Nova and jazz composer Henry Threadgill. --- About the podcast: HELGA with host Helga Davis features probing co...