Music Crush with FNMC

KIMBERLY OSBERG truly lives by her mantra, “original music for anyone, anywhere”. Today she visits with Elizabeth and Nicole about her love of chamber music, the secrets to her relationship success with her performers, and how she came to write music for combat scenes (!) A genuine life learner and giver of musical gifts, Kim builds upon her omnivorous liberal arts education to stay forever fascin...

JESSICA RUDMAN is a collaboration queen! Elizabeth and Nicole met her back in March 2023 at the Music By Women Festival in Mississippi, where she had multiple pieces performed, and just had to know more. Besides claiming a heap of composition awards and residencies, Jessica teaches at University of Utah. Today, she talks to us about writing meaningful music for these meaningful times, remaining fl...

File this one under career advice–we’re back after a lil’ summer break, and getting ready to gig again! Nicole muses on the privilege on display at music festivals and mourns the dying art of supporting each other in the audience. Elizabeth shares some hot takes on the hierarchy of hotel stays and she and Nicole both celebrate having graduated from shower shoes-mandatory motels. And we exhaust the...

And networking is haaaard. Elizabeth is looking for an efficient way to shop for new music. Nicole doesn’t really have a solution, but they do dive into a laundry list of helpful organizations who curate their own lists (listeners, add to our directory in the comments to this show!). This leads to a discussion about the usefulness of social media to make new music connections, our own social fails...

JANE K (Evgeniya Kozhevnikova) is a composer, pianist, educator and a PhD student in composition from University of Florida. She defies the rigid lines of genre, preferring to  blend genres from classical to jazz and tango. In 2022 she released her latest album, a collection of her art songs called Lift Up Your Hearts. We fell in love with her unique and extremely quaffable style at the Music By W...

CHERISE LEITER, composition and theory professor at Metropolitan State University in Denver, won FNMC’s Composition Competition back in 2017 with The Life in a Day for flute, cello, and guitar. She has since been commissioned by FNMC for her solo flute work, a voice silenced, a voice sings, which was given its delayed premiere by our very own Elizabeth Robinson back in February of this year.  Toda...

ZAQ LATINO (they/them) works as an actor, arts administrator, and crafter of extremely beautiful compositions in New York, but perhaps the most meaningful title for what they do is “storyteller”. Today, Zaq gives us a window into all of their worlds and shares their wonderfully generous perspective on collaborating with others! We also explore feelings–about performance anxiety, imposter syndrome,...

MEERENAI SHIM is a flutist, chamber musician, Feldenkrais practitioner, artist, record producer, music educator, movement coach in the San Francisco Bay Area. She’s also a vocal advocate for under-represented artists in her part of the world. With Elizabeth and Nicole, Meerenai explains how she got into Feldenkrais and what she gets out of it, how new music became her gateway to physical wellness,...

LAUREN MCCALL is a composer and educator from Atlanta, Georgia who is dedicated to helping all music students explore their creativity in accessible ways. Today we catch up with Lauren as she fills us in on her amazing grad school work involving computer music programs in pre-college classrooms around Atlanta, introduces us to the concept of a laptop orchestra (!!), and gives us some great advice...

Nicole Chamberlain, Nicole Riner, and Elizabeth Robinson puzzle over how to find creative solutions to artistic problems. This leads to personal retrospectives regarding what we thought we’d do as grown ups vs. what we are doing as grown ups. Nicole C. also shares some sage advice on how to commission composers AND the importance of communication between composer and performer. Nicole Chamberlain:...

MIKEL KUEHN says “don’t be afraid”! Kuehn is currently Professor of Creative Arts Excellence at Bowling Green State University where he served as director of the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music and the Bowling Green New Music Festival from 2007-2010. He also won FNMC’s Composition Competition in 2021 with his piece for flute and piano, Chimera . Today, he discusses his process, the (some...

ERIKA BOYSEN is optimistic about the music community. She is the Associate Professor of Music at UNCG, flutist in Four Corners Ensemble and Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and the creator of the Moving Sound app. Today, she visits with Elizabeth and Nicole about being true to herself as an interdisciplinary artist, creating a more inclusive world for her students, and the unavoidable truth that cha...

ELLEN RUTH HARRISON has experienced impostor syndrome. The composer of Beneath a Canopy of Wings for flute and clarinet (FNMC composition competition winner, 2021), discusses her humble upbringing and disdain for snooty restaurants, the limitations of composing for unfamiliar instruments, the function of all-female music festivals, and she fills us in on her new orchestral piece, which will be pre...

YOSHI WEINBERG is a flutist, harpist, arts administrator, and composer extraordinaire. They also completed a commission for FNMC back in 2020 with the intricate solo flute piece, Some people are flowers . Today, we chat about their DMA coursework at CUNY Graduate Center, their compositional process, the slow acceptance of queer culture, the magic and heartbreak that is NYC, and why they want you t...

Flutist and composer NICOLE CHAMBERLAIN visits with Elizabeth and Nicole her recent struggles trying to compose during tragedy, the challenge of remaining relevant as a freelancer, and the balance between self care and grit. Nicole C. shares some great marketing for other musicians of all stripes, as well. Nicole Chamberlain: https://www.nikkinotes.com Railroaded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y...

LISA NEHER, a singer and composer based in Portland, won FNMC’s 2022 Composition Competition with her solo flute work Reach Out . She discusses the dichotomy between performing and composing, the importance of genuine social connection, and some great practical advice for composers looking to pay their rent (spoiler alert: you will not make all of your money from sheet music sales). https://www.li...

Elizabeth introduces Nicole to some new-to-her music she’s working on, explains her deep love for Jennifer Higdon as a human being, and discusses her commissioning experiences. Nicole also explains her weird coordination issues with extended techniques and they both explore the plight of the composers whose work isn’t accurately represented in performance. (Side note: we misidentified Cherise's pi...

Hey, it's the episode that earned us an "explicit" rating! ROBERT MCCLURE, composer of writhe unfurl for flute quartet, (winner, FNMC 2022 Composition Competition), schools Elizabeth and Nicole in desert grasshoppers and the linguistic controversies surrounding how to pluralize the word octopus, explores the visual aspect of his soundscapes, and fills us in on his excellent composer collective, AD...

Elizabeth and Nicole discuss the ups and downs of all-ages performance competitions, things we didn’t learn in grad school, musical taste and professional guilt, doing right by composers, and being middle aged ladies. And because we’re nerds, there’s a little flute pedagogy talk, too. Fiona Apple, Shadow Boxer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnXjISlKLuE Bikini Kill, Feel Blind https://www.youtube....

MICHAEL GENESE, composer of The Highest Arm for flute and electronics (winner, FNMC 2022 Composition Competition), chats with Nicole and Elizabeth about how different NYC communities dealt with the pandemic, social justice in music circles, the great importance of having a collaborative community, and some great advice on learning how to wear multiple hats as a musician. https://www.michaelgenese....

MUSIC CRUSH preview: first full episode drops December 7, 2022. In the meantime, get to know us at www.flutenewmusicconsortium.com https://www.robinsonflute.com/ https://www.nicoleriner.com/ Follow FNMC https://www.instagram.com/flutenewmusicconsortium/ https://www.facebook.com/FluteNewMusicConsortium Send us questions at musiccrushfnmc@gmail.com for inclusion in a future episode …and go ahead and...