“We’re all dressed up for nobody — which is kind of fun, actually,” muses Nicholas McGegan shortly before a performance at Cleveland’s Severance Hall, certainly a sign of the times in which concert life proceeds without an audience, and of the conductor’s unwavering high spirits, even during a challenging year.

The COVID-19 pandemic perhaps all but demands an artistic response. A commission from the Oregon Bach Festival, Richard Danielpour’s An American Mosaic provides just that in an expansive piano work written for Simone Dinnerstein that at its core reflects upon the various segments of American society united by the shared experience of the pandemic.

Pulitzer Prize and three-time Grammy-winner Jennifer Higdon joins us on Classical Post this month for an insightful convo with pianist Natalia Kazaryan. As one of the most frequently performed composers, Dr. Higdon transcends today’s classical scene with radiance. Here’s her take on leading at this level.

While listening to soprano Laura Strickling’s latest album Confessions, I was reminded of a phrase she has said countless times in rehearsals, interviews, and performances: “Song matters.”

Night after grueling night, Richard Danielpour went to sleep at 11:00 p.m., only to wake up at 2:00 a.m.

“I tried everything I could think of,” said the Grammy-winning composer. “My doctor prescribed sleeping pills. I tried melatonin, magnesium, this, that. Nothing would do it.”

Everyone talks about the new normal in the era of COVID-19, and many business organizations like bars, restaurants, and sports teams have adjusted their operations to retain their audiences and stay in business.

Fascinating composer Sarah Kirkland Snider recently released her Mass for the Endangered as a type of call for action or consciousness about the environmental crisis the world faces. In a very special interview, pianist and scholar Natalia Kazaryan chats with Ms. Snider to gain greater clarity on this new recording and her life as a highly-respected female composer.

The idea that we are all three steps removed from anyone is not an unfamiliar one, but I’ve always pictured those who I’m removed from to be alive and, well, not Gertrude Stein. But there is a string that weaves through time and if we tug on it every now and then it pulls us into history. Speaking with chief music critic of The New York Times and author Anthony Tommasini about his relationship with his mentor composer/critic Virgil Thomson, I found myself three steps away from Stein, Stravinsky, Picasso, Copland, Sibelius and many others who felt more alive to me speaking with Tony Tommasini than they ever have.

Ash Fure is at a transitional point as a composer, she is currently exploring musical experiences outside of the concert music context with collaborators who have different kinds of specialties than a conservatory music training. Something To Hunt is her debut album featuring select concert music that she’s written over the past ten years released by Sound American accompanied by a book with extensive writings about her music from her collaborators. While this may be her debut album, it reflects more of where she’s been than where she’s going. At the same time, she feels that the works featured on Something To Hunt give a glimpse into what she’s striving for as a composer; she can hear her muscles flexing.

In winter 2018, I was developing a conference proposal when a former oboe student Carly Gordon visited me. Carly is a wonderful musician, entrepreneur, and activist, devoted to equity, diversity, and social justice. As we talked, it dawned on us she and I should do a joint presentation for the conference, focused on diversity in recital programming. She would write a paper explaining the history of white male hegemony in classical music, and the specific obstacles marginalizing music by underrepresented composers. I would gather a collection of works for English horn alone, and interpolate performances of the music with her PowerPoint talk.

It’s late October as I write this, and Annick Odom’s hauntingly beautiful new work “Seven Bones” sets the scene for a crisp fall day. Equally inspired by Appalachian and contemporary classical music, this West Virginian ghost story deserves an immediate listen. Annick Odom and Federico Forla join Classical Post to discuss.

Cellist Isidora Nojkovic and violinist Aliyata Foon-Dancoes comprise the new cross-continental duo to pay attention to. They premiered works by Olivia Shortt and Cris Derksen who join me to discuss these exciting new works.

Known as “Classical Bae” and revered for her collaborations with artists including Beyoncé and Yo-Yo Ma, Ezinma utilizes her classical training to create music that marries music of opposite worlds. Her latest single, “Vivaldi Springs Forth” is out now.

25th Heinz Awards Honor Leading Pianist and Composer Gabriela Lena Frank for Breaking Cultural, Gender and Disability Barriers in Classical Music. Through her academy, Dr. Frank is mentoring aspiring composers from diverse backgrounds and inspiring them to prioritize giving back to their communities while leading eco-conscious lives.

I’m thrilled to see some of the top orchestras in the U.S. finally announce their socially-distanced plans for the 20-21 season! “It’s been a tumultuous year” is one of the greatest understatements ever, so anyone in the arts and live entertainment industries who has come up with a plan to successfully pivot is to be applauded. This month, I recently perused various news releases coming out of storied institutions and saw a shocking disparity between some who were able to really move forward with a fall season, but some who could not for a plethora of reasons. As I want to see what’s working and evaluate how these ideas can be implemented for current clients, I’ve selected three of the major U.S. A-list orchestras who seemingly have figured out a way forward this fall despite in-person restrictions. Here’s how The Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and LA Phil are pivoting.

Prolific composer Missy Mazzoli’s opera Proving Up, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, was released as an album this August 2020. Pianist Natalia Kazaryan interviews Missy Mazzoli to discuss Proving Up, the future of opera, Luna Composition Lab, upcoming projects and more.

American trumpet soloist Andy Kozar’s recent New Focus Recordings release A Few Kites has been called ‘entrancing’ by Alex Ross (The New Yorker, The Rest Is Noise) and that ‘trumpeters around the world owe Kozar…a debt of gratitude…the variety here is simply astonishing. realms of expressiveness not heard since Luciano Berio turned his attention to the instrument in 1984 for Sequenza X' by anearful. Here Andy Kozar interviews composers Eve Beglarian and Paula Matthusen about their featured works on the record as well as their music’s relationship to physical space as an inspiration, or creative starting point.

Death of Classical, curated by Andrew Ousley in partnership with The Green-Wood Cemetery, will feature two in-person events and six streamed video concerts filmed in the Catacombs from October 22-24.

Osvaldo Golijov’s Falling Out Of Time for Silkroad Ensemble is a masterpiece as intellectually stimulating as it is emotionally gripping. It cracks open how we experience time and how this experience is disrupted by grief and eventually dismantled by death. Based on David Grossman’s novel/fable on parental grief of the same name, which puts words to the wordless, Golijov’s Falling Out of Time puts sounds to the wordless with a deep sensitivity to language. This work inspired a lot of admittedly difficult questions from me, as the best works do, and here are Osvaldo Golijov’s illuminating answers . Falling Out Of Time will be released on October 9.

Adrianne Munden-Dixon’s debut EP patterns and cycles, featuring her own compositions and improvisations, uses electronics to heighten the shape-shifting qualities of the violin. She joins Classical Post to discuss the space in between composition and improvisation, the role of location in this album, the influence of fiddle playing on her work and more. Patterns and cycles will be released on October 2.