Relevant Tones

Virtuosic flutist Robin Meiksins has a unique series called Beers and Flutes that she has curated over the past couple years. Austin and Robin chat about the series and how it came about. Both individuals are involved in the craft beer community in Chicago and love to showcase the craft and care that a lot of these brewers place in their products. Robin showcases this appreciation by offering her...

Violist Michael Hall, described by the New Music Connoisseur as “utterly masterful,” and  Chamber Music Today  as having “superb technique" is a major champion for new music who has commissioned hundreds of composers over the years. In addition to global concertizing, he's also the Co-Artistic Director and the Director of Educational Programs with the Bandung Philharmonic. Simply put, Mic...

What is art worth and who determines its value? Join host  Seth Boustead  and special guests composer  Douglas J. Cuomo  (operatic adaptation of Doubt;  Sex and the City  theme), art curator  Tod Lippy  ( Esopus  magazine) and filmmaker  Juliet Ellis  ( The Virtues ) for a lively discussion of this pertinent topic. The music performed includes Cuomo's piece  A Far Playground  for cello and pia...

We celebrate our 400th episode by revisiting some of our favorite interviews to include new material that didn't make it into the original show. Music and conversation from Annie Gosfield, Felipe Perez Santiago, Mario Lavista, David Harrington and Nick Zoulek. Viva Relevant Tones!

Composer Aleksandra Vrebalov left her native Serbia for San Francisco in 1995 where she was soon commissioned by the Kronos Quartet with whom she has formed a long and fruitful collaboration. Her music ranges from concert music to opera and modern dance and music for film. She has been commissioned and performed by some of the most innovative musicians working today and her music is energetic, hig...

Holding to the belief that creativity is an elemental part of human nature, composer Rain Worthington has followed her own instinctive path. Self-taught and cross-disciplinary, her creative impulses include concert music and sculptural concepts in search of new spaces for attentive reflection. Host Matthew Dosland talks with her about her fascinating musical journey.

A one page score is where a composer imparts all of the musical information the performers need on a single page. One-page pieces often incorporate graphic elements, written instructions and improvisation from the players. Enjoy this program of one-page pieces curated by Sam Alvarez.

Called a composer of “uncompromising brilliance” by the Washington Post, Michael Hersch is considered among the most gifted composers of his generation whose work has been described by  The New York Times  as “viscerally gripping and emotionally transformative music ... claustrophobic and exhilarating at once, with moments of sublime beauty nestled inside thickets of dark virtuosity.”  Host Matthe...

The iconic, groundbreaking Kronos Quartet celebrates an incredible 50-year run this year. Host Matthew Dosland talks with founding violinist and Artistic Director David Harrington about the quartet's history and their most recent project 50 For the Future, an unprecedented initiative to commission 50 new works and distribute materials—including scores, recordings, and coaching materials—online...

It’s another On the Radar Episode! Austin and Matt take the listeners through some of their recent finds with tunes they have been interested in lately. We have a variety of works ranging from purely electronic to chamber music with some Toy Piano even sprinkled in there. Please enjoy this musical dialogue we have created!

Host Austin Williams talks with Cassie Wieland about the intersection of her classically informed compositional techniques and her newest endeavor into singer songwriter material. Her latest album ‘Birthday Party’under the moniker Vines is a collaboration with the saxophone quartet ~nois. We discuss this collaboration and how there are a lot of similarities between standard classical composition i...

We met violist Nathan Sherman at the New Music Dublin festival in April and were excited to learn that he had not one but two albums featuring commissioned music written as companion pieces to works by Luciano Berio. Host Seth Boustead talks with Sherman and features music from the albums Folk Songs featuring Michelle O'Rourke and Ficino Ensemble and Totemic featuring the Sherman Petcu Duo.

Bassoonist Dana Jessen and composer Taylor Brook team up for a collaborative album length electro-acoustic work, Set, that combines through composed (Songs) and improvised sections. Much attention in the the composed sections is devoted to an exploration of a range of extended techniques on the bassoon that Jessen has cultivated. The improvised sections are framed by guidelines and rules that Broo...

In its 9th year, Texas New Music Ensemble goes big with its inaugural week-long summer music festival (July 10-16). Held at the Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston: MATCH, the Texas New Music Festival 2023 featured 6 concerts, a film screening, 10 lectures, and included 20 composer participants. Relevant Tones co-host Stephen Anthony Rawson attended the festival, and had the opportunity to spe...

Host Austin Williams had the opportunity to travel to Kalamazoo Michigan to be a participant at the Splice festival at the end of June. The program offered a plethora of seminars on a variety of topics dealing with electronic and electroacoustic music. While attending Austin interviewed other participants that had their works premiered at the festival. This is merely a snapshot of the depth and cr...

9th year, Texas New Music Ensemble goes big with its inaugural week-long summer music festival, held at the Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston: MATCH. Relevant Tones co-host Stephen Anthony Rawson attended the festival, and had the opportunity to speak with many of the contributing artists. Part 1 of this episode highlights Chad Robinson, composer and artistic director of Texas New Music Fest...

Expanding on our recent live show Overlooked No More, we are featuring the music of Tui St. George Tucker, a composer who absolutely deserves to be better known. Host Seth Boustead talks with Roger Tréfousse and Robert Jurgrau, both of whom knew Tucker in person, about her life and music.

Raíces Imaginadas (Imagined Roots) presents four works written by Tomás Koljatic, Igor Marques, Felipe Pinto d’Aguiar, and Vicente Atria, performed by the Nuevo Mundo Baroque Orchestra (Chile). The idea was to frame writing for historical instruments in contemporary perspectives; its title alludes to this notion and suggests a music that is speculative, nonexistent, or historically and hypothetica...

Happy Juneteenth! Relevant Tones would like to extend a warm celebration for this day. We are featuring a plethora of new music that has been composed by a variety of Black American composers. As always, we are excited to share the depth and variety that these different artists and composers bring to their audiences. We hope this setlist is a nice accompaniment to your holiday, please enjoy!

Tina Davidson creates music that stands out for its emotional depth and lyricism. She has been acclaimed for her authentic voice, her  “vivid ear for harmony and colors”  (New York Times) and her works of  “transfigured beauty”  (OperaNews). Join co-host Stephen Anthony Rawson and Tina Davidson as they discuss her music and new memoir  Let Your Heart Be Broken: Life and Music from a Classical Comp...

Kaija Saariaho was a force to be reckoned with in the new classical music world: an innovator in so many ways while maintaining the highest musical integrity. From her early work at IRCAM to her operas and the many works she wrote for ensembles large and small, Saariaho developed a distinctly individual voice that was instantly recognizable. We mourn her premature death as it is truly a loss to th...

Join host Austin Williams as we go through selected modern works for the Organ. The organ has  large history in the context of western classical music and the tradition continues with living composers. The instrument offers a vast range of different colors and textures for a composer to explore. In this episode we have examples ranging from traditional, extended techniques, adjustments of intonati...

Join host Austin Williams with guest’s Chris Windle (Artistic Director of Williams Ferris Chorale) and composer Kile Smith as they break down Kile’s newly commissioned work by the ensemble. Kile has a lot to say about the fugal nature of his work and how he approaches this older technique to a modern context. Kile worked with a unique text that heavily juxtaposes the topics of life and death. He e...

Join Austin Williams and Angelica Olstad as they talk about her fourth debut album America n. In this album Olstad explores what it means to be an American as a mixed race Chinese individual that grew up in rural Colorado in the 90’s and now lives in New York City. This album touches on topics ranging from racial discrimination, old music tastes that continue to influence her works, gun violence i...

The New York Times’   Overlooked   series   was introduced on March 8, 2018 for International Women's Day, when they published fifteen obituaries of "overlooked" women, and has since become a hugely successful bi-weekly feature in the paper. As part Relevant Tones: Live,  Access Contemporary Music  has commissioned five composers to write musical portraits of the lives in the series,...