Dani Howard is the newly appointed Composer-In-Residence with London Chamber Orchestra for the 2022/23 season. Sarah Baker caught up with her about her plans with the orchestra.

For 40 years, innova Recordings, the label of the American Composers Forum, has celebrated new music–whether classical, jazz, world, electronic and other genres, concepts, and approaches. Earlier this year, the label announced its first national call for new artists, which marked what Director of Recordings Chris Campbell has called a “paradigm shift” in how they approach and conduct business with the goals of making the recording process more collaborative, inclusive, equitable, and transparent.

Jocelyn Lightfoot recently took the helm of the London Chamber Orchestra, the UK’s oldest chamber orchestra. We spoke about her route into management, plans for the orchestra's 100th anniversary season, and her commitment to equality, inclusivity and diversity within the orchestra.

Geoffrey John Davies, the visionary and charismatic founder of The Violin Channel, talks candidly about the origins of his company, how the internet has changed the experience of classical music, and what he sees for the future of the genre.

Designed as a living and growing database that will strengthen as more compositions and recordings are submitted and discovered, African Diaspora Music Project (ADMP) supports Dr. Louise Toppin’s ongoing mission to help bring classical works in various languages and from across the globe to concert halls worldwide.

On Friday, August 20, Tonality & Alexander Lloyd Blake released their second album of socially conscious new choral works: America Will Be. Following their debut Sing About It, released February 2019, the new album expands the award-winning Los Angeles choral group’s mission to “to unify our community through social outreach and serve as a beacon of peace, empathy and justice.” Engineered by Jeff Galindo and produced by Joseph Trapanese for Aerocade Music, the album’s 11 tracks sing of America, in all of its flaws, glory, and, most importantly, possibility.

The 2021 American Pianists Awards winner Kenny Broberg discusses future plans and looks back to his first piano lessons.

For her new project for Leeds Opera Festival, Sarah Sayeed (composer/sound designer/musical director/writer) has created a new work which reimagines Holst’s epic opera, Savitri for 21st century audiences and society. In collaboration with writer Jaspreet Kaur, they offer a modern take on the epic Sanskrit tale, painting Savitri in an entirely new light. The work will receive its world premiere at Leeds Opera Festival this August. Ahead of this, we spoke with Sarah about her ambitions for the project, her take on Savitiri, and plans for the future.

New York-based violinist Curtis Stewart released his post-classical coming of age album “Of Power” on June 18. Inspired by Black Lives Matter and featuring songs of resistance and resilience for violin, voice, and electronics. “Of Power” features original compositions as well as reimagined works by Charlie Parker, J.S. Bach, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Childish Gambino, John Coltrane, Paganini, Elektra Kurtis, Ysaÿe, and Stevie Wonder. Created entirely during the COVID-19 lockdown releasing on the Bright Shiny Things label with five tracks mastered by Prince’s sound engineer Derek Linzy from Paisley Park.

Composer and conductor Vince Mendoza discusses his new album Freedom Over Everything featuring a new song cycle “To the Edge of Longing” written for Julia Bullock. The recording also features the commissioned “Concerto for Orchestra” from the Czech National Symphony Orchestra with whom Mendoza has worked with for the last several years.

Lise de la Salle’s tenth album for Naïve Classiques was released worldwide on June 4, 2021. When Do We Dance? is the pianist’s personal tribute to the art of dance in a dynamic program of repertoire from around the world written between 1850-1950 by George Gershwin, Art Tatum, William Bolcom, Fats Waller, Astor Piazzolla, Manuel de Falla, Alberto Ginastera, Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saëns, Bela Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Alexander Scriabin, and Sergei Rachmaninov.

On Saturday, May 8, the world’s first piece of programmable classical music “Betty’s Notebook” by the Dallas, Texas choral ensemble Verdigris Ensemble went to auction at Async Art and shattered expectations of $150,000, bringing in over $375,000 in total sales for Verdigris Ensemble and breaking the Async Art monetary record for single NFT sale. Sam Brukhman, Founder and Artistic Director of Verdigris Ensemble, talks to Classical Post about “Betty’s Notebook” and the crypto-future of classical music.

Since winning the BBC Young Musician Brass Final in 2016, Ben Goldscheider has become a leading proponent of the instrument. His new project continues this legacy and marks the centennial of the legendary horn player Dennis Brain.

Scott Wheeler composed the music for the opera Naga, setting a libretto by Cerise Lim Jacobs, and David Salsbery Fry sang one of the roles. On the occasion of the release of the recording of Naga by New World Records, Classical Post invited Wheeler and Fry to muse on the opera industry to which they hope to return. Their conversation includes spoilers for WandaVision.

When the world shut down in early 2020, Frank Horvat wanted to raise spirits and create music for those forced into self-isolation. In just 6 weeks he composed 31 short solo and duo works for a variety of instruments and voice. The musical community responded, with over 150 musicians worldwide sharing their experience of self-isolation and posting their performances online.

During the pandemic, the contemporary music ensemble Alarm Will Sound has commissioned a series of online works called Video Chat Variations that take advantage of the medium’s quirks and idiosyncrasies. John Fitz Rogers’s Respiration is a recent commission that will be available on Alarm Will Sound’s YouTube channel on March 30th at 11am EDT. The work was premiered on February 19, 2021 as part of a livestream broadcast on the University of South Carolina’s Southern Exposure New Music Series, directed by Michael Harley, who teaches at UofSC and is also Alarm Will Sound’s bassoonist. The work was performed and recorded in real time by the ensemble, conducted by the group’s artistic director Alan Pierson, using Jamulus (a software program that reduces latency) for audio and Zoom for video.

The Slovenian-born, Los Angeles–based guitarist Mak Grgic is an avid explorer of the guitar and all its possibilities. In addition to core repertoire, he performs Balkan music and flamenco. He plays new music, with Daniel Lippel, of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), JACK Quartet, and others. He’s working on an homage to Ligeti using gamelan-inspired arrangements. He composes his own works.

Sophie Hutchings is an Australian composer who creates stunning piano-led work that is equally inspired by outside living and a mindful lifestyle. In the past, she has talked of an idyllic childhood, surrounded by nature and her family’s similar love for music. Sophie’s Father was obsessed with all things jazz, and her brothers heavily into the rock scene, it took Sophie a little while to understand her potential, and what her true sound could be.

In this issue of our Leading Composer Series, pianist Natalia Kazaryan interviews the Juno Award-winning composer Vivian Fung. Covering topics from creative philosophy, to what happens in the creative process, to life at Juilliard, and what’s on her playlist right now. Remember you can catch up on other interviews in this series featuring Jennifer Higdon, Gabriela Lena Frank, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Missy Mazzoli.