Relevant Tones

Relevant Tones is proud to partner with  The Look + Listen Festival,  an annual event dedicated to presenting  contemporary music in  contemporary art galleries like Pratt Manhattan Gallery, Brooklyn’s BRIC  House and The Studio Museum in Harlem. The festival seeks to expand and engage audiences of 20th and 21st  music by  providing a unique opportunity to simult...

Great music is a game of expertise,  luck, and chance. Seth deals out  a playlist of great music including David Maslanka and discusses why  it’s a winner in this year’s Dealer’s  Choice. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Music A Child’s Garden of Dreams by David Maslanka Illinois State University Wind Symphony; Stephen K. Steele, conductor Shadow Light by Elen...

Mexican composer Javier Alvarez uses his  travels to create eclectic  electroacoustic works using influences from  Mexico to Cuba, the  Caribbean to Korea. Composer John Adams said the  music of Alvarez “reveals influences of  popular cultures that go beyond  the borders of our own time and  place.” Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Mus...

The  ever-busy New York-based chamber orchestra The Knights has  worked with  some of the top composers and musicians in the world  including Osvaldo  Golijov on a stunning new release of his large scale  symphonic work, Azul . The piece draws on several world music traditions as do the other   pieces on the album. We talked to founding violinist and compose...

JUNO-nominated composer Nicole Lizée  creates new music from an  eclectic mix of influences including the  earliest MTV videos,  turntablism, rave culture, Hitchcock, Kubrick,  1960s psychedelia and  1960s modernism. She is fascinated by the glitches  made by outmoded and well-worn  technology and captures these glitches,  notates them and integrates &n...

We  invite some of our favorite musical friends to bring a new  recording  into the studio for listening, lively discussion and the joy  of new  discoveries. Seth sits down with violinist Doyle Armbrust and  composers Kyong Mee Choi, Nomi Epstein, and Jeff Kowalkowski. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Music In the Light of Air: I. Luminance , by Anna...

Since his early teens, Thomas Adès has  been a commanding figure in  the world of classical music as a triple  threat pianist, conductor and  composer. Seth talks with him about his career including his work at, among  others, the Los Angeles  Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, London Symphony  Orchestra, Royal  Concertgebouw, Melbourne and Sydney Symphonies, BB...

Founding cellist of Eighth Blackbird,  Nick Photinos, joins us in  WFMT’s Levin Studio in Chicago to play  pieces from his first solo  album. Nick worked with an exciting array of  diverse composers on the album  including David T. Little, Angélica  Négrón, Florent Ghys, Andrew  Norman and Bryce Dessner. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Mus...

The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) holds  arguably the world’s most important contemporary music festival in a  different city each year.  Much like the Olympics, cities bid to be the  host and this year it’s in Vancouver. In this second program of two, we hear from Canadian composer,  Jennifer Butler, Lituanian composer,  Sabina Ulubeanu, young A...

Production company Access Contemporary  Music has partnered with the  esteemed Manhattan venue, LPR – (Le)  Poisson Rouge a multimedia art  cabaret founded by musicians on the site  of the historic Village Gate. Pianist Jenny Lin is taking the stage for  the first in this exciting  new series.  This concert is celebrating  Philip Glass’s 81st birthday &...

Composer Jeremy Gill recently had the  opportunity of a lifetime when  the Boston Modern Orchestra Project  agreed to record not one, not two,  but three of his concertos. We’ll  talk with Jeremy and clarinet soloist Chris Grymes about this fantastic  new release and play as much of it as we can. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Music Before the Wres...

Four-time Grammy winning super group Eighth Blackbird unveils their  newest creative project: “to inspire the next generation of performers  and composers to share in the ensemble’s vision: to champion a  distinctive, dynamic and engaging performance aesthetic.” We’ll talk to the birds and this year’s participants and bring you into the creative process as the lab comes to life. Hos...

The International Society for  Contemporary Music (ISCM) holds  arguably the world’s most important  contemporary music festival in a  different city each year. Much like the Olympics, cities bid to be the host and this year it’s  in  Vancouver.  In this first program of two, we hear from Jordan  Nobles,  Charlotte Bray, Jocelyn Morlock, and Stefan Prin...

A special broadcast with Chicago’s Kontras Quartet, a group that has  been blending the line between classical and folk music since 2009. On this program we’ll hear folk-inspired repertoire from South Africa to Japan back home to the Midwest. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Music Strum by Jessie Montgomery String Quartet No. 1 “White Man Sleeps”: Movement I. “First Dance” b...

One  of the most important new developments in contemporary classical  music is part of a wider societal trend of gender fluidity. We talk  with three  composers who have transitioned about their music before and after, and their personal experiences. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Music Forces Part 1 by Devin Fanslow Ball  State University Sax quartet:...

Produced by Access Contemporary Music , the Discovery Series is a process-based exploration of musical creativity. Three pieces are chosen for each program from a pool of more than  seven hundred submissions. These pieces were workshopped at National  Sawdust in Brooklyn and the sessions were led by composer/pianist Jeremy  Gill. The Discovery Series is an exciting sneak peak into t...

Sonata form is one of the oldest composition structures in classical  music but it’s being rediscovered, and in many cases re-purposed, by  contemporary composers. What is the lasting appeal? We’ll play music by four composers  looking to the past for formal inspiration.  This episode also features a  tribute to David Maslanka who passed away shortly before the taping. Hos...

Composer Mason Bates brings Steve Jobs’ life story to the stage in Santa Fe Opera’s production of  The (R)evolution of Steve Job s. The opera combines expressive  electronics with electric guitar,  Bates’ signature rich orchestration  and sleek lighting design for a  truly modern experience. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Music Dark Interlude and S...

Pulitzer  Prize winning composer, Bernard Rands shares his thoughts  on his  catalogue of over a hundred published works and recordings. From his 1963 premiere at Darmstadt to 1986 Kennedy Center Friedheim Award winning orchestral suites  Le Tambourin , to his 2011 Chicago Symphony Orchestra commission,  Danza Petrificada  and beyond. Hosted by Seth Boustead...

Relevant  Tones is highlighting the performers and works featured in  the second annual Thirsty Ears Festival: Chicago’s only classical music  street  festival! This LIVE broadcast is coming straight our broadcast studio on Friday  August 11th featuring several of the exciting ensembles and soloists  taking the stage at the fest. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced...

Puerto  Rican-born composer and multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón  writes  music for accordions, toys and electronics as well as chamber  ensembles  and orchestras. Her works  Bubblegum Grass Peppermint Field  and  La Isla Magica  are  as whimsical as their names suggest. Leap into Negron’s mind and music  in the latest installment of our...

Ramon Llull was a leading philosopher, logician and writer in  medieval Catalonia and the foundation that today bears his name works to  export Catalonian culture and music throughout the world. Their most recent project in the U.S. is an exciting weekend of  concerts and workshops in New York and a window into current trends in  Catalonian music. Relevant Tones travels in the...

A Memory Palace is a technique for memorizing long lists of names or  places by associating each list item with an object in your imaginary  “memory palace”. This is derived from the method of loci developed in ancient Greece  and Rome. Many composers have been inspired by this technique and have  written pieces with this title. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinkli...

It’s a format as old as time: two guys sit down to play music and talk about it. Soundward, a continuing collaboration between Relevant Tones and Q2  Music, features lively conversation, new releases from composers around  the globe and interesting new discoveries. Hosted by Seth Boustead and Phil Kline Produced by Sarah Zwinklis and Hannis Brown Music Canticles of the Holy Wind , mvt. I...

From Mozart and Chopin to Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland the  composer-pianist is easy to trace through time. Now, in the 21st  century, there is a resurgence in the tradition. Relevant Tones is examining the diverse composer-performer community from Philip Glass to Yiruma. Hosted by Seth Boustead Produced by Sarah Zwinklis Music Loose Changes by Jed Distler Quattro Mani Three...