Music & Dance: Musicians, Composers, Singers, Dancers, Choreographers, Performers Talk Art, Creativity & The Creative Process

Michael Daugherty is one of the ten most performed living American composers. Recordings of his pieces Metropolis, Deus ex Machina and Tales of Hemmingway have earned him a total of 6 GRAMMY Awards, including Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2011 and 2017. Daugherty has written music for orchestra, band, and chamber ensemble. He is currently a Professor of Composition at the University o...

“I try to preserve the Chinese music flavor. So, you imagine in Chinese band, the country music that people usually reserve for weddings or for big moments or for funerals. That kind of a feeling. Drums and music playing. I try to preserve it from my memory because what we have now is just a tune. You can probably recognize the tune, but the execution of translating that for a Western orchestra an...

Bright Sheng is a composer, conductor, and pianist. His work has been commissioned and performed by many prestigious institutions throughout the world, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and special commissions from the White House and for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Sheng has collaborated with many distinguished artist...

“The harp or the instrument that I play is a traditional instrument from Columbia (I’m from Bogota, Columbia). We have traditional music there called Janetta music. It’s the music from the plains of Colombia and Venezuala. It’s like the cowboy music… I met the harp when I was seven years old. That’s the first time I saw this instrument. I was like–Wow! I knew I was born to play the harp that day!”...

Colombian-born harp virtuoso Edmar Castaneda has forged his own path in music by bringing the harp into an unexpected genre–jazz. Castaneda’s style mixes jazz with the South American folk style harobo, and other Latin American styles. He has four acclaimed albums as a leader and several others in collaboration with artists like trombonist Marshall Gilkes and pianist Hiromi. He has performed with S...

Political, outspoken and passionate, Chilean singer-songwriter and activist Nano Stern has created his own musical language – an otherworldly sound that blends the youthful exuberance of folk music mixed with years of classical and jazz training against the powerful force of traditional Chilean revolutionary songs. What has emerged is a brilliantly layered confluence of indigenous African, Europea...

Political, outspoken and passionate, Chilean singer-songwriter and activist Nano Stern has created his own musical language – an otherworldly sound that blends the youthful exuberance of folk music mixed with years of classical and jazz training against the powerful force of traditional Chilean revolutionary songs. What has emerged is a brilliantly layered confluence of indigenous African, Europea...

Trish Sie is a multi-talented director whose work spans the realms of music videos, commercials, and short and feature films. After spending a decade as a professional dancer, championship ballroom competitor and choreographer, she built a successful and championed career in filmmaking. The first music video that she produced, “Here it Goes Again” for the band OK Go, won her a Grammy award. Her su...

Trish Sie is a multi-talented director whose work spans the realms of music videos, commercials, and short and feature films. After spending a decade as a professional dancer, championship ballroom competitor and choreographer, she built a successful and championed career in filmmaking. The first music video that she produced, “Here it Goes Again” for the band OK Go, won her a Grammy award. Her su...

A veteran composer with many high-profile film and television scores to his credit, Brazilian pianist Marcelo Zarvos was born in São Paulo. Initially studying classical music, Zarvos attended Berklee College of Music and CalArts, and later became active in the jazz world, releasing a highly praised collaboration with saxophonist, Peter Epstein called Dualism. His creative endeavors also expanded t...

“This museum, this institution has a long history and actually, the idea of a museum goes back to maybe 100 years ago when Civil War veterans wanted a monument recognizing the service and the sacrifice of African Americans during the war effort. It wasn't until the mid-late 80s when congressman John Lewis with some other colleagues started to bring forth the idea that the Smithsonian needed to hav...

Dr. Dwandalyn Reece is a storyteller, ethnomusicologist, and museum professional. Reece studied American Studies and Music at Scripps College, American Culture and Museum Practice at the University of Michigan, and Musical Performance at New York University. Her research and projects include exhibitions at the Louis Armstrong House and Archives, the Brooklyn Historical Society, the New Jersey Stat...

Composer John Powell is a multiple Annie Award winner for “Best Music in an Animated Feature Production” and “Best Original Score”. Since rising to prominence with his scores to the Matt Damon Bourne trilogy, he has become known for family animated films, scoring Shrek, Chicken Run, Ice Age (2 & 3), Bolt, Rio, Happy Feet (1 & 2) and Kung Fu Panda (1 & 2) and action music for Hancock, G...

Composer John Powell is a multiple Annie Award winner for “Best Music in an Animated Feature Production” and “Best Original Score”. Since rising to prominence with his scores to the Matt Damon Bourne trilogy, he has become known for family animated films, scoring Shrek, Chicken Run, Ice Age (2 & 3), Bolt, Rio, Happy Feet (1 & 2) and Kung Fu Panda (1 & 2) and action music for Hancock, G...

Aaron Dworkin is a multifaceted artist and entrepreneur with passion for diversifying and amplifying the arts. Epitomizing how art, leadership, and diversity all play a vital role in advancing our society, Dwokin founded The Sphinx Organization, a non-profit organization that molds Black and Latinx classical musicians, and he serves on the advisory board for several prestigious arts organizations....

Aaron Dworkin is a multifaceted artist and entrepreneur with passion for diversifying and amplifying the arts. Epitomizing how art, leadership, and diversity all play a vital role in advancing our society, Dwokin founded The Sphinx Organization, a non-profit organization that molds Black and Latinx classical musicians, and he serves on the advisory board for several prestigious arts organizations....

Itamar Kubovy, Executive Director of Pilobolus Dance Company, speaks with The Creative Process Founder Mia Funk about play, collaboration, and dance as a mode of storytelling.

The Creative Process exhibition and international educational initiative is traveling to leading universities, culture centers, museums, and libraries. The exhibition is composed of interviews and portraits of notable creative thinkers, alongside projection elements of works by contributors from over fifty countries. Made with the participation of students and faculty, it is a celebration of the h...

“To not honor that we are all creative, beautiful, interesting deep, rich individuals. We’re not zeros and ones on a spreadsheet. We’re not scientifically explained. We are not mathematically judged. We are imperfect blobs of emotion and bone and spirit and life and when we come together there is nothing greater than the chemistry and the alchemy of musical theater… There’s a joy, there’s a bounce...

Most highly noted for his stunning work in musical theater, Gavin James Creel is a Tony & Olivier Award-winning actor, singer and songwriter. On Broadway, he’s performed in shows including Throughly Modern Millie, Hair, The Book of Mormon, Waitress and Hello, Dolly!, his performance in which won him his first Tony Award. Creel is also a LGBTQ+ activist, having done much to raise awareness and...

Kate Mueth is the Founder and Artistic Director of the award-winning dance theater company The Neo-Political Cowgirls. In their 13th year of devised theater making, NPC continues to present bold, "Mind bending" theater that seeks to deepen and challenge the ways in which audiences experience theater. Committed to shining light on female-identifying theater makers, NPC produces and supports work by...

Kate Mueth is the Founder and Artistic Director of the award-winning dance theater company The Neo-Political Cowgirls. In their 13th year of devised theater making, NPC continues to present bold, "Mind bending" theater that seeks to deepen and challenge the ways in which audiences experience theater. Committed to shining light on female-identifying theater makers, NPC produces and supports work by...

"When I look at a film, I normally think what is missing from that, and that's what I'm trying to bring. I'm trying to find something that I think isn't there and that I could bring that would make it more interesting, make it more cinematic, more dramatic." Carter Burwell is an Academy Award nominated composer of film soundtracks. He has had a long working relationship with filmmakers the Coen br...

Carter Burwell is an Academy Award nominated composer of film soundtracks. He has had a long working relationship with filmmakers the Coen brothers, scoring every film they have made, as well as all of Spike Jonze's films. His credits include Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, True Grit, Carol, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, The Hudsucker Proxy, Rob Roy, Fargo, The Spanish Prisoner, G...

Grammy nominated songwriter Terry Radigan mixes her gritty Brooklyn girl sensibility with a deep respect for classic American roots, country and soul. Her solo releases have been oft played and well-received. She has had her songs covered by a wide variety of artists and her songs can be heard on big and small screens alike. She is also a member of the musical group Vickikristinabarcelona. · www.t...