Music Crush with FNMC

ANNE GUZZO, composer and creator/director of The Wyoming Festival: New Music in the Mountains, talks with us today about creating music to teach us about our responsibilities to the planet, making art music meaningful through the personal, and breaking down barriers in the classical arts. She also shares some insights on her recent break with academia and explores her experiences as a woman, and a native of “flyover country” in the classical music world. 

MEGAN IHNEN, a genuine American treasure, joins us today and we all marvel over the magic of internet relationships, namely the coaching she’s done with Elizabeth! Megan has some sage advice that she’s developed from her years as a career coach and an admirable ability to juggle coaching, commissioning, and performing. Elizabeth takes us through her coaching experience with Megan (a bit of a coaching reunion, if you will), and Megan gives us a bird’s eye view of her incredibly unique artistic activities, as well. 

JENNIFER PIAZZA-PICK is currently Assistant Professor of Music (Voice) at Queens University of Charlotte. She regularly performs vocal chamber music and co-founded the chamber ensemble Whistling Hens, a soprano-clarinet duo which champions music by women composers. Their first album, Reacting to the Landscape, features the works of 7 living American women composers. Today Jennifer shares her later-than-some origins story in the new music world, discusses her processes (of commissioning, collaborating, and learning her parts!), and gives some amazing guidance to us all about staying curious and brave. 

KIMBERLY OSBERG truly lives by her mantra, “original music for anyone, anywhere”. Today she visits with Elizabeth and Nicole about her love of chamber music, the secrets to her relationship success with her performers, and how she came to write music for combat scenes (!) A genuine life learner and giver of musical gifts, Kim builds upon her omnivorous liberal arts education to stay forever fascinated by all walks of life and advocate for new music at all age and ability levels. 

JESSICA RUDMAN is a collaboration queen! Elizabeth and Nicole met her back in March 2023 at the Music By Women Festival in Mississippi, where she had multiple pieces performed, and just had to know more. Besides claiming a heap of composition awards and residencies, Jessica teaches at University of Utah. Today, she talks to us about writing meaningful music for these meaningful times, remaining flexible in her creative vision, and fills us in on some exciting upcoming projects!

File this one under career advice–we’re back after a lil’ summer break, and getting ready to gig again! Nicole muses on the privilege on display at music festivals and mourns the dying art of supporting each other in the audience. Elizabeth shares some hot takes on the hierarchy of hotel stays and she and Nicole both celebrate having graduated from shower shoes-mandatory motels. And we exhaust the question: how much personal expense do you incur before turning down a gig? Bottom line: it’s hard to play well when you’re dirty and tired. 

And networking is haaaard. Elizabeth is looking for an efficient way to shop for new music. Nicole doesn’t really have a solution, but they do dive into a laundry list of helpful organizations who curate their own lists (listeners, add to our directory in the comments to this show!). This leads to a discussion about the usefulness of social media to make new music connections, our own social fails, and the need for flexible instrumentation demands when commissioning from flyover country. (PS, Pierrot Ensemble doesn’t count as practical.) But we agree that we will both play the HECK out of any pieces we manage to wrangle!

Oh, and keep listening for Nicole and Elizabeth’s origin story, aaaaaawwwww!!!

JANE K (Evgeniya Kozhevnikova) is a composer, pianist, educator and a PhD student in composition from University of Florida. She defies the rigid lines of genre, preferring to  blend genres from classical to jazz and tango. In 2022 she released her latest album, a collection of her art songs called Lift Up Your Hearts. We fell in love with her unique and extremely quaffable style at the Music By Women Festival in March 2023. Today Jane talks about being open to opportunities, her journey from computer technology student in Russia to composer and music educator in the U.S., and gives some great advice on breaking through writer’s block. 

CHERISE LEITER, composition and theory professor at Metropolitan State University in Denver, won FNMC’s Composition Competition back in 2017 with The Life in a Day for flute, cello, and guitar. She has since been commissioned by FNMC for her solo flute work, a voice silenced, a voice sings, which was given its delayed premiere by our very own Elizabeth Robinson back in February of this year.  Today, Cherise crushes on Ella Fitzgerald and Hildegard von Bingen, educates Nicole on Bardcore, and discusses how the pandemic affected her work as both an artist and an educator. Cherise also wanted to add to that Dr. Michelle Stanley premiered and recorded The Life in a Day and commissioned American Folk Suite, both of which get mentions in this episode. Thank you, Michelle!

ZAQ LATINO (they/them) works as an actor, arts administrator, and crafter of extremely beautiful compositions in New York, but perhaps the most meaningful title for what they do is “storyteller”. Today, Zaq gives us a window into all of their worlds and shares their wonderfully generous perspective on collaborating with others! We also explore feelings–about performance anxiety, imposter syndrome, and knowing you’re in the right place.

MEERENAI SHIM is a flutist, chamber musician, Feldenkrais practitioner, artist, record producer, music educator, movement coach in the San Francisco Bay Area. She’s also a vocal advocate for under-represented artists in her part of the world. With Elizabeth and Nicole, Meerenai explains how she got into Feldenkrais and what she gets out of it, how new music became her gateway to physical wellness, describes the inception of her recording label, Aerocade, and shares some really unique ideas for how to get creative in your practice when you’re feeling stuck and sage business advice for recording artists. She rejects the label “trend setter”, but we beg to differ.

LAUREN MCCALL is a composer and educator from Atlanta, Georgia who is dedicated to helping all music students explore their creativity in accessible ways. Today we catch up with Lauren as she fills us in on her amazing grad school work involving computer music programs in pre-college classrooms around Atlanta, introduces us to the concept of a laptop orchestra (!!), and gives us some great advice on making sense of graphic notation and diving into the world of improvisation, for us newbies. And we all muse on the idea of how meaning is shaped by the presentation of the musical score (wax on, wax off).

Nicole Chamberlain, Nicole Riner, and Elizabeth Robinson puzzle over how to find creative solutions to artistic problems. This leads to personal retrospectives regarding what we thought we’d do as grown ups vs. what we are doing as grown ups. Nicole C. also shares some sage advice on how to commission composers AND the importance of communication between composer and performer.

MIKEL KUEHN says “don’t be afraid”! Kuehn is currently Professor of Creative Arts Excellence at Bowling Green State University where he served as director of the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music and the Bowling Green New Music Festival from 2007-2010. He also won FNMC’s Composition Competition in 2021 with his piece for flute and piano, Chimera. Today, he discusses his process, the (sometimes scientific) sources of his inspiration, and spills the tea on some exciting upcoming projects.

ERIKA BOYSEN is optimistic about the music community. She is the Associate Professor of Music at UNCG, flutist in Four Corners Ensemble and Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and the creator of the Moving Sound app. Today, she visits with Elizabeth and Nicole about being true to herself as an interdisciplinary artist, creating a more inclusive world for her students, and the unavoidable truth that challenge=growth.

ELLEN RUTH HARRISON has experienced impostor syndrome. The composer of Beneath a Canopy of Wings for flute and clarinet (FNMC composition competition winner, 2021), discusses her humble upbringing and disdain for snooty restaurants, the limitations of composing for unfamiliar instruments, the function of all-female music festivals, and she fills us in on her new orchestral piece, which will be premiered by CCM’s undergraduate orchestra in September 2023.

YOSHI WEINBERG is a flutist, harpist, arts administrator, and composer extraordinaire. They also completed a commission for FNMC back in 2020 with the intricate solo flute piece, Some people are flowers. Today, we chat about their DMA coursework at CUNY Graduate Center, their compositional process, the slow acceptance of queer culture, the magic and heartbreak that is NYC, and why they want you to get organized!

https://yoshiweinberg.com/

Some people are flowers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8gGKoogjfs

Joanna Newsom, Colleen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKIOaOksL3Y

FKA Twig, Mary Magdalene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUvJOZfdGQg

Flutist and composer NICOLE CHAMBERLAIN visits with Elizabeth and Nicole her recent struggles trying to compose during tragedy, the challenge of remaining relevant as a freelancer, and the balance between self care and grit. Nicole C. shares some great marketing for other musicians of all stripes, as well.

LISA NEHER, a singer and composer based in Portland, won FNMC’s 2022 Composition Competition with her solo flute work Reach Out. She discusses the dichotomy between performing and composing, the importance of genuine social connection, and some great practical advice for composers looking to pay their rent (spoiler alert: you will not make all of your money from sheet music sales).

Elizabeth introduces Nicole to some new-to-her music she’s working on, explains her deep love for Jennifer Higdon as a human being, and discusses her commissioning experiences. Nicole also explains her weird coordination issues with extended techniques and they both explore the plight of the composers whose work isn’t accurately represented in performance. (Side note: we misidentified Cherise's piece, A Voice Silenced..., as using material from Billie Holiday.  We were wrong, it's Ella Fitzgerald. Sorry Cherise, and we love you!) 

Music by Women Festival in March 2023: https://web1.muw.edu/musicbywomen

Shulamit Ran, Flight of the Brave Chicken–Ode to Nina: https://www.presser.com/114-42265-the-flight-of-the-brave-chicken-3a-ode-to-nina.html

Cherise Leiter, A Voice Silenced A Voice Sings: https://www.cherisedleiter.com/solo

Kim Osberg, Fowl Play: https://kimberlyosberg.com/library/on-the-workbench

Nina Shekhar, Zoo Songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfMbqNBFlT8

Hey, it's the episode that earned us an "explicit" rating! ROBERT MCCLURE, composer of writhe unfurl for flute quartet, (winner, FNMC 2022 Composition Competition), schools Elizabeth and Nicole in desert grasshoppers and the linguistic controversies surrounding how to pluralize the word octopus, explores the visual aspect of his soundscapes, and fills us in on his excellent composer collective, ADJ-JECTIVE. Bonus: we learned what a demi clarinet is, too!

Elizabeth and Nicole discuss the ups and downs of all-ages performance competitions, things we didn’t learn in grad school, musical taste and professional guilt, doing right by composers, and being middle aged ladies. And because we’re nerds, there’s a little flute pedagogy talk, too.

MICHAEL GENESE, composer of The Highest Arm for flute and electronics (winner, FNMC 2022 Composition Competition), chats with Nicole and Elizabeth about how different NYC communities dealt with the pandemic, social justice in music circles, the great importance of having a collaborative community, and some great advice on learning how to wear multiple hats as a musician.

MUSIC CRUSH preview: first full episode drops December 7, 2022. In the meantime, get to know us at