Relevant Tones

Join host Austin Williams as he speaks to members of the Coalescent Saxophone Quartet. The quartet consists of members Nathan Bogert, Michael Shults, Nick Zoulek, and Drew Whiting; each of which are incredibly accomplished musicians in their own right. The quartet has recently released a new album (The Wall Between Us) of works for sax quartet. Austin asks the ensemble questions about codifying the saxophone quartet in the new classical music chamber zeitgeist and what that means. There is also lovely conversation about the instrument itself and the role it plays in the new classical music world. Please check out the new album and each individual artist, you will not be disappointed!Zack Browning - Unrelenting UniverseChen Yi -  Distance Can't Keep Us Two ApartEmma O'Halloran: Night MusicEvan Williams - Quartet for SaxophonesMartin Bresnick: Mending Time 

Join host Austin Williams and new music ensemble Hot Second ( Rebecca McDaniel Percussion and Dylan Feldpausch Violin/Viola) as we discuss their unique ensemble and its take on new music in Chicago.The conversation consists of thoughtful insights on how an ensemble can think outside of the traditional cannon and use influences from pop and other styles to help shape the sound they work with. A unique aspect of the ensemble is the incredibly vibrant collaboration that occurs between Rebecca and Dylan, to the point where they are writing and improvising their own music in real time.MUSICGabriela Ortiz: "Atlas-Pumas”José Martínez: Instructions for Playing, III, VDylan Feldpausch: “Quartz"Esperanza Spalding, arr. Hot Second: "Formwela 4"

2023 and the first anthology has just been published by New Music Shelf. This extraordinary album features world-premiere recordings of art songs commissioned by Strickling who says: "These twenty songs, from composers and poets of diverse backgrounds, are exceptional in their beauty, depth, quality, and range of emotional expression."Host Seth Boustead talks with Strickling and features several songs from the album.MUSICEmail to Odessa by Dennis TobenskiPeony by Ed WindelsThanks a Latte by Lori LaitmanThis Ode is Mine by Bess McCraryNot Quite Stars by Juhi BansalLas Palmeras by Reinaldo MoyaSong of Solitude by H. Leslie AdamsWind Carry Me by James Primosch

Cohosts Austin Williams and Stephen Rawson share what they have been listening to recently. Austin shares about an anthology of Irish Electroacoustic music that he became privy to recently and Stephen has a wide variety of vocal and chamber music that comes up. Stephen and Austin also reminisce about their time they shared as music students in undergrad along with their hometown pride of some of the fantastic music that comes from the Twin Cities area. If you like what you hear drop a line, we love to hear from our listeners!Music: Physique - Wunder-BaumNeil Quigley -  sketches in reaction to an exhibition, Hesitation and BreathDu Yun - Angel's Bone, Scene I: A Prism, A Video, A FlurryCassandra Miller - Warblework: Swainson's ThrushHappy Apple - Vanity PlateGabriella Smith - Lost Coast II

Chiayu Hsu is an active composer of contemporary concert music and associate professor of composition at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Born in Banciao, Taiwan, Chiayu frequently explores ideas of cultural fusion. She derives inspiration from places, poems, myths, and images. Particularly, the combination of Chinese elements and western techniques is a hallmark of her music.Chiayu's works have been performed by numerous orchestras and chamber groups worldwide. Last year, her solo clarinet piece was featured on Eric Schultz's album POLYGLOT.Host Stephen Anthony Rawson talks with Chiayu about several works from her catalogue, her musical language, traveling, and more!

Host Austin Williams curates a listening experience with themes of feedback. Feedback is often associated with harsh sounds that are created when a microphone is placed too close to the speaker that it is amplified through.While this is a way feedback can be aurally achieved there are many ways composers implement feedback and other broad strokes of recursion into their works! We cut back to an interview that Austin had with Paula Mathusen this past summer and listen to how she implements these ideas into her works.We also look at feedback systems that composers create be-it through specific mic and speaker arrangements or internal feedback systems with no-input mixing. 

Access Contemporary Music's popular Sound of Silent Film Festival celebrates twenty years of presenting modern silent films with newly commissioned scores performed live. Host Seth Boustead features a few of his favorite scores from the last twenty years.

Host Austin Williams has guest Liam Marchant on the show to discuss the relationship to kinetics and music, relating to a variety of aspects within the music. We use specific pieces to make points across the show to offer aural guides to the listeners for what Austin and Liam are discussing. It's a broad topic with even more details than we can cover in an hour, we'll certainly be back to chat more about this!

Copland House is a major force in contemporary American music dedicated to fostering greater public awareness and appreciation of our nation's composers and their work in all of its many forms.Copland House continues Aaron Copland's incredible legacy of supporting his fellow composers and their work includes composer residencies, performances and recordings by resident ensemble Music From Copland House, and educational and community outreach programs.Host Seth Boustead talks with Artistic and Executive Director Michael Boriskin about this incredible legacy.

Copland House is a major force in contemporary American music dedicated to fostering greater public awareness and appreciation of our nation's composers and their work in all of its many forms.Host Seth Boustead talks with Artistic and Executive Director Michael Boriskin about this incredible legacy. Featured music includes Quartet for Piano and Strings, mvmt 2 Allegro Giusto by Aaron CoplandOn the Immortality of a Crab by Matthew BrowneTasveer by Reena EsmailWithout Words by Ugay Liliyaentwining by Paul Novak

Michael Ned Holte is a writer, independent curator, and educator based in Los Angeles, as well as the Associate Dean for the School of Arts at CalArts.He has held exhibitions at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House, and the Hammer Museum, to name only a few. He has also written monographic essays on artists including Charles Gaines, Richard Hawkins, Alice Konitz, Shio Kusaka, Caitlin Lonegan, Roy McMakin, Steve Roden, Clarissa Tossin, and Shirley Tse. On today's episode, Stephen Anthony Rawson talks with Michael about his recent book, Good Listener: Meditations on Music and Pauline Oliveros. This book is a result of a year-long performance of Pauline Oliveros's Sonic Meditation XXI, which asks the question: “What constitutes your musical universe?”

Yuval Noah Harari's breathtakingly expansive book Sapiens is a monumental achievement that comprehensively summarizes human history, behavior and thought from primordial times to today.The book is also the inspiration for a 50-minute piano work by composer Sean Hickey recorded by pianist Vladimir Rumyantsev on Sono Luminus records and available on March 14, 2025. Host Seth Boustead talks with Hickey about Harari's book and this fascinating new musical release.

Shara Nova is a composer, vocalist, and producer currently creating from Detroit, Michigan. Shara has released six albums under the monikerMy Brightest Diamond and has composed works for The Crossing, Conspirare, yMusic, Brooklyn Rider, Roomful of Teeth, Aarhus Symfoni, and American Composers Orchestra among many others. In 2024 she starred in the Tony Award Winning musical “Illinoise” on Broadway, directed by Justin Peck, co-written by Jackie Sibblies Drury with music by Sufjan Stevens, witha live album released on Nonesuch Records.

Host Seth Boustead features a variety of pieces by composers who ask the performers to vocalize in some way while also playing their instrument. Music by Frederick Rzewski, George Crumb, Daniel Bernard Roumain and Tom Johnson.

Access Contemporary Music has just released the second season of their PBS series Songs About Buildings and Moods in which they commission music inspired by historically and culturally relevant buildings and film a performance of the piece in the building that inspired it. Host Seth Boustead features new pieces by Liza Sobel Crane, Ledah Finck, Michael Kropf, Amy Wurtz, Felipe Perez Santiago and Danielle Eva Schwob inspired by the Stony Island Arts Bank, Peabody Library, Fisher Building, the Wrigley Building, a former convent in Mexico City and the Brooklyn Tower.

We feature music from some of our favorite albums of 2024. Music selected by Austin Williams, Stephen Anthony Rawson, Neve Jahn and Matthew Dosland.

Wedge: Moments of growth and Decay. Join host Austin Williams as he discusses a variety of works that are heavily influenced by shape. Shape is a very simple concept in composition, but how far do composers take it? We will take a deep dive into works that use it to influence motif and melodic lines, form, and overall structure of works. The power of taking a simple concept and expanding it to all musical facets can go a long way, let's see how far it takes us!

Join host Austin Williams and we discuss how the concept of granulation finds its ay into many new and old(er) works of music. Granular activities are something we all experience on. Human level, the sums of man creating the whole. This broad topic can be applied in very specific ways such as granular synthesis or the deconstruction of an idea that will lead to the parts being reassembled in a new scope. It can also be applied to much broader topics such as counterpoint and other existing art and how that influences other creations.

Brooklyn-based flutist Roberta Michel is dedicated to the music of our time. She has commissioned and premiered hundreds of new works and has worked with many notable composers of our day. Roberta is the flutist and Co-Director of Wavefield Ensemble and is a member of PinkNoise and Duo RoMi. Roberta's debut solo flute album, Hush, was released on November 1st with New Focus Recordings. Host Stephen Anthony Rawson talks with her about pieces and composers featured on the new album. 

Alarm Will Sound is a ground-breaking 20-member chamber orchestra that challenges and reshapes musical conventions through performances of music by today's composers. Artistic Director Alan Pierson talks with Seth Boustead about 25 years of music-making with Alarm Will Sound and their latest recording: Land of Winter by Donnacha Dennehy.

The latest in our recurring feature On the Radar features new music currently top of mind for hosts Austin Williams, Neve Jahn, Stephen Rawson and Matthew Dosland. Featuring music by Dakn, Kinan Abou-Afach, Laurie Anderson, Dai Fujikura and Peni Candra Rini.

Tobias Picker is a celebrated American composer of operas and orchestral music called by BBC magazine "one of the most consistently interesting among the present generation of US theatre composers." Seth Boustead talks with him about three of his seminal operas, Awakenings, Lili Elbe and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

In this live taping of Access Contemporary Music's award-winning podcast Relevant Tones we'll talk with John McWhorter about the development of language and perform several new pieces of music inspired by and incorporating language and created especially for this evening. McWhorter teaches linguistics, philosophy, and music history at Columbia University, and writes for the New York Times on language and race issues. His book The Power of Babel is the first book written for the layperson about the history of language.

Host Austin Williams speaks with composer and theorist Reiko Futing about his latest album brokenSong. Austin and Dr. Futing had some pointed conversation regarding post modern thought and the use of existing materials. You may even hear Austin's brain expanding as Dr. Futing imbues some incredibly powerful knowledge regarding his process and compositions. Congrats to Dr. Futing on the success of this truly marvelous album.

Bonnie Whiting is a percussionist, composer, and educator based in Seattle. She's the Chair of Percussion Studies at the University of Washington and the Co-Artistic Director of the Seattle Modern Orchestra. In her work, she seeks out projects involving the speaking percussionist, non-traditional notation, improvisation, and interdisciplinary performance. Stephen Anthony Rawson sits down with Bonnie at her studio at the University of Washington. They talk about pieces from her speaking percussionist repertoire, the music of John Cage, narratology in music, her project Through the Eye(s), and more!

Established in New York City in 1998, the string quartet ETHEL has been described as “indefatigable and eclectic” (The New York Times), “vital and brilliant” (The New Yorker). Composer performers—Ralph Farris (viola), Kip Jones (violin), Dorothy Lawson (cello), and Corin Lee (violin)—fuse uptown panache with downtown genre mashup. ETHEL has performed across the United States and worldwide; released 10 feature albums; guested on 50+ recordings; won a GRAMMY® with jazz legend Kurt Elling; and toured with Todd Rundgren & Joe Jackson. ETHEL champions the art and music of today, forging human connections across sound and style.

Access Contemporary Music's Thirsty Ears Festival is Chicago's only classical music street festival. For two days we close Wilson Ave. in front of our music school for stellar music performances, craft beer and wine, food trucks and community vendors. We feature a small sample of the contemporary music performed on this year's festival.

Composer, improviser, and producer David Crowell speaks with host Austin Williams about their new album Point/Cloud. This post minimalist gem explores collaborations with a variety of arts that David has worked with previously. "...the work's pointillistic texture and thick counterpoint, amassing over time into “clouds” of sound.

Erin Rogers is a saxophonist, composer, and improviser dedicated to new and experimental music. Her “decidedly future-oriented” music has been described as “whimsical, theatrical” (Brooklyn Vegan), “radical and refreshing” (Vital Weekly) and “a richly expressive display of stentorian brilliance” (The Wire Magazine). Her work ranges from chamber music performance to solo experimental improvisation to individual and collaborative compositions that incorporate live electronics, theatre, and text. Host Seth Boustead talks with Rogers and features an array of her wonderful music.

Austin and Elori speak about Elori's recently release Drifts and Surfaces. This sparks a lively conversation about signal processing, compositional process and the majestic and powerful force that is the Northern Shore of Minnesota.

It's part two of our coverage of SPLICE institute 10. Host Austin Williams chats with a number of organizers about the festival and it's history along with some featured guest artists and regular faculty. Enjoy recordings and performances from a number of these organizers and faculty as well. We hope you enjoyed this two part series on SPLICE. It was truly a joy and pleasure to get to know and understand the organization just a little more intimately. We hope you enjoyed as well!

Join host Austin Gray Williams on this deep dive into the people, music, and culture that create the SPLICE Institute. SPLICE is a week long intensive focusing on electroacoustic concert music. There are a number of Electroacoustic music festivals and conferences that composers have participated in the past, namely SEAMUS and EMM. SPLICE is here to shake things up. From the beginning with composer Christopher Biggs and Composer/Performer Keith Kirchoff, there was a huge emphasis on education and community. Both organization founders felt compelled to create a program to support performers and composers of Electroacoustic music and create successful collaborations between them. Through a variety of conversations and interviews we find out how the last 10 years has created a community and relationships that expand well beyond the SPLICE institute and into artistic careers.

In a series of ten chamber concerts, the Zafraan Ensemble relates the history of Berlin from the 1910s to today through music. Each concert represents a decade, in which a work that premiered in Berlin anchors a program of music centered in or inspired by that decade. Host Seth Boustead talks with pianist Clemens Hund-Goeschel and cellist Martin Smith about this fascinating project. Part 2 covers the 1960's through the 2000's.

In a series of ten chamber concerts, the Zafraan Ensemble relates the history of Berlin from the 1910s to today through music. Each concert represents a decade, in which a work that premiered in Berlin anchors a program of music centered in or inspired by that decade. Host Seth Boustead talks with pianist Clemens Hund-Goeschel and cellist Martin Smith about this fascinating project. Part 1 covers the 1910's through the 1940's.

Matthew Dosland interviews composer, performer, and teacher Vijay Iyer. They discuss Iyer's early work in music cognition, his courses and teaching methods, as well as his most recent album Trouble. The conversation also covers the cross-genre nature of Iyer's work and how that has influenced his output through the years.

We commemorate the anniversary of the passing of Robert Black on Relevant Tones. Robert Black was an absolute force in the Double Bass repertoire and new music. Through interviews with his previous students and cohorts, Christie Echols, Sean Rubin, Caroline Doane, and Evan Runyon,  we find out he was so much more than a bass player. Robert was first and foremost a creative, and surrounded himself with other creative individuals. Robert was enthusiastic about artistic projects and would use every resource and effort to make sure projects were done to the best of his ability. Robert thought of himself as a grain in the sand amongst so many other grains, never allowing his ego or status to dictate what or who he worked with. His students enlightened host Austin Williams of all of these aspects about Robert through stories. Please enjoy these stories shared about Robert Black and his legacy.

Austin Williams speaks with Same Wells and Adam Vidiksis about their recent collaboration with composer Scott Miller. Through speaking with Adam and Sam, Austin learned that the process used to create the album was rather strange. All of the tracks that are heard on the album are a result of ‘Zoom Jam Sessions' where the performers in the height of the lockdown figured out a meaningful way to host virtual jams with one another. The music was compelling enough for them to create an album of what was created. Listen to the interview to find out more details about how this process went and what it meant to the performers in the moment.

Wayne Horvitz is the leader and principal composer for a number of groups including The Snowghost Trio, Sweeter Than the Day, the Gravitas Quartet, and The Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble. He's also written for groups like the Kronos Quartet, the Seattle Symphony, and he composes music for film. He also owns and operates the club The Royal Room in Seattle's Columbia City.  Host Stephen Anthony Rawson spoke with Horvitz last week at his Seattle home about a number of music projects he's worked on over the years, as well as his musical style and people and collaborators who've been with him along the way.

Composer Ian Wilson's ten-movement piece Orpheus Down is inspired by the story of Orpheus' journey to the Underworld to bring his lover Eurydice back from the dead. The myth and its themes of deep and dark inspire fascinating music on a new release featuring bass clarinettist Gareth Davis and double-bassist Dario Calderone, for whom the piece was written.

Composer/guitarist/rapper/Di.J./producer Gene Pritsker has written over 900 compositions, including chamber operas, orchestral and chamber works, electro-acoustic music and songs for hip-hop and rock ensembles. He is the founder and leader of Sound Liberation; an eclectic hip hop-chamber-jazz-rock-etc and he is also the co-director of Composers Concordance, a new music presenting organization with a 30-year history of producing concerts in NYC.   Gene talks with host Seth Boustead about his new album Gene and the Strings coming out August 2nd of this year.

Saad Haddad is a composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal, and electroacoustic music who achieves a “remarkable fusion of idioms” (New York Times), most notably in his work exploring the disparate qualities inherent in Western art music and Middle Eastern musical tradition His music delves into that relationship by transferring the performance techniques of traditional Arabic instruments to Western symphonic instruments, while extending their capabilities through the advancement of technology. Host Lisa Dell talks with Haddad about his music and recent projects.

Composer, performer, producer Ben Lumsdaine does it all! Austin and Ben had a lovely chat about their album Murmurations Without End. While Ben has a strong background in straight ahead jazz playing with some heavy hitters such as John Raymond and Dustin Laurenzi he has invited the cast to develop some compelling minimalistic works. Austin and Ben end up talking shop for a bit about gear but ultimately it all comes back to the music. Watch out for whatever Ben touches, it's going to be gold!

Host Austin Gray Williams and Sarah Belle Reid dig into Sarah's multidisciplinary practices of being a composer, improviser, educator, and active member of the modular synthesis community. While discussing these topics Austin gains insight into what goes on for Sarah's preparations on improvising a set. Her affinity for deep listening and how that sculpts her way through with improvising and composing. Sarah is also deeply passionate about education and making electronic music as accessible possible for anyone who is interested. If you're curious about Sarah and her works find her on BandCamp, here and her website https://www.sarahbellereid.com/ for more info!

Multidisciplinary artist and composer ess Whiteley sheds some insight on their works and the process they engaged with for the compositions. Ess is particularly interested in topics such as memory and the post-internet world we currently live in, often belnding topics togethe to create compelling works of media. Ess had some lovely comments about process and the variety of ways it can afflict a work. Ess is curently finishing up their PhD at UCSD.

On this episode of On the Radar join Austin and Matt as they discuss some music that has been on their listening for the past couple months! Matt shares a compelling work by a collective of Greek composers demonstrating noisy yet formally organized music. Austin speaks largely about the composer Ted Moore his ability to effectively write concert music while also maintaining the ability to improvise in other projects. Have a suggestion or would like to share some music you have been listening to? Drop us a line! We'd love to hear from out listeners and what is on their radar.”

Host Austin Williams speaks with composer and sound artist Joo Won Park on a variety of topics related to performance and composition aesthetics and the intersection between them. Joo Won is an electronic music composer, performer, and programmer. We talk about what makes a laptop orchestra unique and necessary to perform certain types of music. Joo Won is just as passionate about pedagogy and teaching as he is about composing and performing. Please check out more of his works and projects at https://joowonpark.net/

Originally from New Zealand, Tessa Brinckman is an interdisciplinary flutist/composer who has been praised for her “chameleon-like gifts” and “virtuoso elegance” (Gramophone). Now based in New York City since 2022, she enjoys creating and performing unique work that honors synesthesia, dialect, innate meter and collaboration, often on geo-political themes in a surrealist spirit. She talks with host Seth Boustead about her latest release Take Wing, Roll Back, now out on New Focus Recordings.

National Haiku Poetry Day is April 17 and we celebrate it early with a selection of music by composers inspired by this transcendent poetic tradition. Hosted and curated by Stephen Anthony Rawson and Seth Boustead. Music by Paul Chihara, Libby Larsen, Ursula Mamlok, Lisa Neher, James Falzone, Stephen Melillo, Dai Fujikura, John Cage, Toru Takemitsu

Called “the quintessential modern composer” by the London Independent, Austin, Texas based composer-bandleader-improviser Graham Reynolds records and performs music for film, theater, dance, television, rock clubs, and concert halls with collaborators across a multitude of disciplines.Host Seth Boustead talks with Reynolds about, and features music from, two recent releases: Insectum and Music From Prophet.

Published 50 years ago this year, Studs Terkel's seminal book Working (The New Press) is, then and now, a compelling look into the world of jobs and the people who do them. Relevant Tones celebrated this landmark with a unique evening of new music commissioned by ACM and inspired by Studs alongside a fascinating conversation about how work has changed since his time and where it might be going next. Speaking guests include Dr. Anna Tavis (Humans at Work, Kogan Page), Erik Loomis (A History of America in Ten Strikes, The New Press) , Tod Lippy (Esopus Foundation, Ltd) Hosted by Seth Boustead Music Performed by:Black Oak EnsembleAlicia Walter

Multi instrumentalist, composer, and improviser Erik Fratzke blurs the line between jazz, avant grade, classical, and a variety of influences to create an absolute plethora of original musical groups and tunes. While he plays with heavy hitters such as Dave King, he also has solid roots in the improvised and experimental music of the Minneapolis scene. Erik is always making new projects with a variety of folks in the local scene and they always seem to be nothing short of stellar. Please check out some samples of his works on https://erikfratzke.bandcamp.com , You will not be disappointed!