KUSC Interviews

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker brought John Williams his 52nd Oscar nomination, now only 7 short of the all-time record held by Walt Disney. In addition to its symphonic manipulation of the nearly 30 existing Star Wars Theme, the score also incorporates several…

Not for the first time in his career, Randy Newman was honored with a pair of Oscar nominations: his 21st for Marriage Story–his first film score written for a chamber orchestra–and his 22nd for the song “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from…

Alexandre Desplat’s 11th Oscar nomination came for his score for the latest screen version of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, for which the French composer not only had to capture the spirit of the period, but also worked with director Greta Gerwig almost exclusively…

Thomas Newman earned his 15th Oscar nomination for his score for 1917, his seventh collaboration with director Sam Mendes. It was not only the director’s most personal film–dedicated to the memory of his grandfather, a Great War veteran–but also presented some unique challenges for…

Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers believes in respecting the old and welcoming the new. In this recent conversation with Jim Svejda, they discuss several of her recent commissions.

Superstar pianist Yuja Wang stopped by KUSC to chat with Jim Svejda about the rewards and challenges of her repertoire and how the shallow can become sublime.

Marc Shaiman joins Jim Svejda to discuss his score for Mary Poppins Returns.

Oscar-nominated composer Ludwig Goransson talks to Jim Svejda about traveling to Africa to research the score for Black Panther.

Nicholas Britell earned an Academy Award nomination for the music of Moonlight. He teamed up with Moonlight director Barry Jenkins again for If Beale Street Could Talk and, again, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score. Here Britell talks to Jim Svejda about…

Terence Blanchard is up for an Oscar for his BlacKkKlansman score. He stopped by The Evening Program to talk about the stranger-than-fiction story, why he was scared to write the score for Malcolm X and how he’s learned to read Spike Lee’s mind.

KUSC’s Jim Svejda talks to Oscar-nominated composer Alexandre Desplat about his spare score for Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs”.

American choral composer Morton Lauridsen joins Jim Svejda for a conversation about his latest recording and where we finds his most potent sources of inspiration.

KUSC’s Jim Svejda talks to composer John Williams about his score for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “The Post”.

KUSC’s Jim Svejda talks to composer Hans Zimmer about his score for “Dunkirk”.

KUSC’s Jim Svejda talks to composer Carter Burwell about his score for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”

KUSC’s Jim Svejda talks to composer Alexandre Desplat about his score for “The Shape of Water”.

Sondra Radvanovsky is considered one of the great sopranos of our time.  She solidified expectations with an incredible performance in the LA Opera productions of Puccini’s Tosca.  John Van Driel had a chance to talk to her about the challenges of her role as…

KUSC’s Jim Svejda talks to composer John Williams about his decades-long collaboration with Steven Spielberg and the new multi-cd set that celebrates their many movies.

Dustin O’Halloran collaborated with the German musician Hauschka on music for the movie Lion. They were both nominated for Best Score at this year’s Academy Awards. O’Halloran returned to the KUSC studios (he was our guest after winning an Emmy for his theme for…

Thomas Newman was nominated for an Academy Award this year for his Passengers score. He talked to Jim Svejda about the challenges of creating the sound for a movie that mixes genres and moral dilemmas.