Music Crush with FNMC

Today, Elizabeth and Nicole catch up with their friend Lisa Bost to discuss her work as a flutist and composer. Elizabeth commissioned the gorgeous flute quartet, Starling , back in 2021 for her album, and the three chat about the piece’s inception and listen to some snippets from the official recording. Lisa also shares fascinating perspectives on her fluid experiences moving between the flute an...

Christian Glascock is back (again!) to discuss his award-winning piece, Echoes of the Deep for flute and electronics. Whale lovers, you’re in for a real treat (and good company).  Christian Glascock: https://www.christianglascock.com/ Echoes of the Deep: https://www.christianglascock.com/product-page/echoes-of-the-deep-for-alto-flute-and-fixed-media-electronics

Elizabeth and Nicole welcome back multi-year Composition Competition winner, composer and flutist Christian Glascock. Christian catches us up on his latest venture: grad school at BGSU! He talks about the value of taking a “gap year”, and then the gang listens to and discusses his composition, Ascension for flute quartet.  Christian Glascock: https://www.christianglascock.com/ Marilyn Shrude: http...

In honor of FNMC's current commissioning project, we're delighted to revisit this interview with Kevin Day from season 2! Flutists can still join the Day Commission through April 15 RIGHT HERE !

Nicole and Elizabeth explore the various levels and types of community which exist in the music world and how to nurture them. They also play a little armchair psychology as they reflect upon different generations’ approaches towards stress and anxiety.  https://www.flutenewmusicconsortium.com/nmf2026.html

Lebanese composer Sami Seif fills us in on his 2025 solo competition winner, “Miniatures from Phoenicia”, originally premiered by the amazing Mary Kay Fink, and nerds out with Elizabeth and Nicole about how extra cool flutists are (admittedly, this is Nicole’s paraphrase). Sami also shares some fascinating tidbits about Lebanese music and inspires us with his delightfully positive pedagogical phil...

Elizabeth and Nicole talk high-brow music in humble places, curating thought-provoking recital experiences, and shirking traditional “responsibilities” attached to the repertoire canon. What makes a concert interesting? What are the performer’s responsibilities to the audience? And how does this translate into pedagogy? Deep thoughts to kick off 2026 with Music Crush (and listen to the end for an...

Flutist-composer Kyrese Washington won FNMC’s 2025 composition competition in the flute and piano category. Today they explain how their winning composition, “Poem” came to life and how their compositional persona really blossomed during the pandemic, despite improvising and composing for fun from an early age. There are some grateful shout-outs to mentors Tim Hagen and Valerie Coleman, and a fasc...

Today’s episode features an awe-inspiring conversation with harpist, arts administrator, and new music advocate Elizabeth Huston . As the Executive Director of the L.A.-based composer collective, Synchrony, she has been involved in commissioning, producing, and educating numerous composers over the years. She tells us how she creates an engaging show, describes the process by which composers get p...

This episode features an inspiring conversation we had with award-winning flutist and arts advocate Dr. Iva Ugrčić , the founder and director of LunART Festival, a celebration of women artists in its eighth year.  She takes us through her educational journey, from Serbia to Paris to Madison, Wisconsin, and walks us through the criteria she uses for selecting composers, both for her festival and fo...

Elizabeth and Nicole are catching up after a long, luxurious summer. Elizabeth crocheted, and Nicole learned how to swim. Nicole might have gotten too detailed about the process of learning how to swim as a 51-year-old…then Elizabeth got all fancy and tied it into metacognition as she learned it in her back-to-school faculty seminar. Discussions on skill vs talent and the general superiority of mu...

Asha Srinivasan , composer of the 2015 FNMC Composition Competition winner for flute and cello, Dviraag , joins us today to discuss her auspicious beginnings as a classical singer in India, how she blends her Indian and American heritage in her work, and so much more! She stresses how making art is a process of self-discovery, but her specific tips can really help us all collaborate better with on...

Composer Daniel Kessner came up in the SoCal composition world in the 60s and 70s, and he has Seen Some Things. Today he discusses the wild experimentation of the 20th century and the importance of learning your Bach inventions. Stick around for some great advice for up-and-coming composers and a fun preview of his bass flute and electronics piece, Imaginary Temples . ⁠ https://www.universaleditio...

Nicole asks Elizabeth if she has any age-related non-negotiables, in performance and in life. Like, how do you know you’re too old to learn a new technique? When do you give yourself permission to prefer happiness over work? And furthermore, for whom are you accepting the work? Nicole spills the beans about getting fired from her first teaching gig and Elizabeth wonders how gender affects likeabil...

Inga Chinilina , winner of FNMC’s 2024 Composition Competition in the solo flute category, joins us today to discuss her winning piece, “Learning to Love America” and how she weaves immigrant experiences into her works. She also explains her PhD research, which wrestles with the inherent solitude in personal listening and the limits of human perception. She is a composer who seeks first and foremo...

Christian Glascock won FNMC’s composition competition in 2024 with his flute-piano work, but it’s not her . Today he fills us in on his book "Plugged In: Practice and Performance Method for Flutists," which he co-wrote with his former flute professor, Abigail Walsh. He also discusses the therapeutic role composition plays during turbulent times and the joy of meeting his composition hero...

Kari Cruver Medina was born a composer and storyteller! She prefers to live a life which dwells in possibilities (thank you, Emily Dickinson), and chooses to “tend and befriend” whenever she can. Today she chats with Nicole and Elizabeth about not doing it all in favor of a life led with intentionality and exploration. We also learn more about her wildly varied duet for flutes, Cabinet of Curiosit...

Are you regularly cooking up new, complicated projects in need of funding? This episode’s for you. Elizabeth reveals her super-secret project, South Dakota Chamber Winds, which came to fruition this past summer. What follows is a pretty specific discussion about how to strategize for grant writing, how to survive running The Thing, and for dessert, a delightful lil’ name drop of some perhaps new-t...

An eclectic and versatile performer, NYC-based clarinetist Chris Grymes has made a name for himself in the new music scene, as a performer, show producer, and the founder of Open G Records, which he started in 2012. Today he talks about his decades-long friendship with Joan Tower, the surprisingly inherent music of Jiu-Jitsu, and the guiding principle that drives his choice of projects: making nic...

Season 3 of Music Crush is coming soon!

In this season finale episode, Nicole is puzzling over how to keep a healthy balance between ambition and personal boundaries. Elizabeth is starting to see her past experiences through a more nuanced lens. No one is everyone’s cup of tea, and this conversation is all about being kind to yourself and acknowledging the things you can’t control…this is middle age, folks!

 Up-and-coming composer, Dianna Link , won FNMC’s Composition Competition in 2023 with her flute-piano piece, “Old As Time”. It’s a feminist reimagining of the tale of Beauty and the Beast, and she spoke with us about her interest in exploring themes of resilience and self-determination in her reworking of this classic fairy tale. She also discusses the existential crisis of having to fit neatly i...

Composer Reena Esmail sat down with us today to fill in some background for the beautiful new solo flute piece that FNMC recently commissioned, Pathways of Desire . She also shared some surprising insights on the differences (musical and pedagogical) between Western and Hindustani classical musics, discussed the value of carving your own path, and revealed the secret to pleasing her with your perf...

Flutist Christine Erlander Beard enjoys an active international career as a soloist, chamber artist and teacher. You may know her from her current commissioning project, #theflutistactivist initiative. Today she joins Elizabeth and Nicole to discuss her social advocacy work, both on and off stage, her lifelong love affair with the piccolo, and the importance of teaching the whole person, with your...

Expat flutist Chelsea Czuchra is puzzling over the divide between “classical” and popular music in Western culture and how to build an authentic bridge to art music in our communities that doesn’t involve academia. We don’t exactly figure out the answer in this delightful chat, but we’re confident you will be as charmed and fascinated by her Switzerland-based work as we were!  Making Music in Look...