Composer’s Studio

A composer with a deep love of the English language and a secret dramatic streak, Juliana Hall is one of the most prolific Art Song composers alive today.  Juliana ventures out of her monastic studio to join Anna and Tarik for a rare conversation about the relationship between poetry and music, her habit of mining […]

Composer Daniel Bernard Roumain doesn’t ask for permission. He is a revolutionary, changing the world of concert music and opera by creating unapologetically black music–opera, string quartets, a YouTube requiem–all for black audiences. Taking the classical music world by storm, DBR is challenging some of the most powerful names and revered institutions in the classical […]

How can the act of creating  transform fear and anger into courage and hope? Composer Adrienne Albert harnesses the mysterious emotional power of music to strengthen the spirit and change the heart. An artist who has had an extraordinary life in music, Adrienne started out as a singer working with  such luminaries as Igor Stravinsky […]

What makes a life? After the early death of her younger brother, Andrew Blue, this question consumed composer Jennifer Higdon. Her beloved orchestral work, Blue Cathedral was her creative answer to that question. Blue…like the sky.  Where all possibilities soar.  Cathedrals…a place of thought, growth, spiritual expression…serving as a symbolic doorway into and out of […]

“This is where your world and my world meet.” – Tashi Tsering, Royal Tibetan Court Singer in Lo Mothang, Nepal.  When composer Andrea Clearfield accepted a commission from Network for New Music to collaborate with visual artist Maureen Drdak on a new work, she didn’t know it, but her life was about to change forever. […]

Allison Loggins-Hull is a composer and producer with roots in classical, urban art pop, hip-hop, electronic programming, and R&B.  The flute duo, Flutronix, she and collaborator Nathalie Joachim founded has been described as  “a unique blend of classical music, hip-hop, electronic programming, and soulful vocals reminiscent of neo-R&B stars like Erykah Badu.” Flutronix has collaborated […]

On CS this week, Amy is reunited with an old friend and collaborator, Emmy Award-winning composer, Steve Heitzeg. A lifelong peace and environmental activist, Steve’s music often features found instruments that reflect the theme of his work such as stones, driftwood, Joshua Tree branches, manatee and beluga whale bones, found bullets, and prosthetic limbs. A […]

As a guitarist, composer Andrew McKenna Lee blends virtuosic classical technique with a Rocker’s hard driving passion for rhythm and originality. As a composer, he defies categorization. A self-admitted perfectionist, Andrew’s music is not your typical two rehearsal and done type of music, a quality, he says, has not made his musical journey an easy […]