Music Crush with FNMC

Today’s episode features an awe-inspiring conversation with harpist, arts administrator, and new music advocate Elizabeth Huston. As the Executive Director of the L.A.-based composer collective, Synchrony, she has been involved in commissioning, producing, and educating numerous composers over the years. She tells us how she creates an engaging show, describes the process by which composers get paid for their music, and gives perfo...

This episode features an inspiring conversation we had with award-winning flutist and arts advocate Dr. Iva Ugrčić, the founder and director of LunART Festival, a celebration of women artists in its eighth year.  She takes us through her educational journey, from Serbia to Paris to Madison, Wisconsin, and walks us through the criteria she uses for selecting composers, both for her festival and for her own commissions. Iva has no re...

Elizabeth and Nicole are catching up after a long, luxurious summer. Elizabeth crocheted, and Nicole learned how to swim. Nicole might have gotten too detailed about the process of learning how to swim as a 51-year-old…then Elizabeth got all fancy and tied it into metacognition as she learned it in her back-to-school faculty seminar. Discussions on skill vs talent and the general superiority of musicians in the teaching realm aboun...

Asha Srinivasan, composer of the 2015 FNMC Composition Competition winner for flute and cello, Dviraag, joins us today to discuss her auspicious beginnings as a classical singer in India, how she blends her Indian and American heritage in her work, and so much more! She stresses how making art is a process of self-discovery, but her specific tips can really help us all collaborate better with one another. And she spills some tea on...

Composer Daniel Kessner came up in the SoCal composition world in the 60s and 70s, and he has Seen Some Things. Today he discusses the wild experimentation of the 20th century and the importance of learning your Bach inventions. Stick around for some great advice for up-and-coming composers and a fun preview of his bass flute and electronics piece, Imaginary Temples.

⁠https://www.universaledition.com/en/Contacts/Daniel-Kessner/⁠

Schu...

Nicole asks Elizabeth if she has any age-related non-negotiables, in performance and in life. Like, how do you know you’re too old to learn a new technique? When do you give yourself permission to prefer happiness over work? And furthermore, for whom are you accepting the work? Nicole spills the beans about getting fired from her first teaching gig and Elizabeth wonders how gender affects likeability at work. They both agree that ...

Inga Chinilina, winner of FNMC’s 2024 Composition Competition in the solo flute category, joins us today to discuss her winning piece, “Learning to Love America” and how she weaves immigrant experiences into her works. She also explains her PhD research, which wrestles with the inherent solitude in personal listening and the limits of human perception. She is a composer who seeks first and foremost to translate her experiences into...

Christian Glascock won FNMC’s composition competition in 2024 with his flute-piano work, but it’s not her. Today he fills us in on his book "Plugged In: Practice and Performance Method for Flutists," which he co-wrote with his former flute professor, Abigail Walsh. He also discusses the therapeutic role composition plays during turbulent times and the joy of meeting his composition heroes in real life. Stay tuned for more...

Kari Cruver Medina was born a composer and storyteller! She prefers to live a life which dwells in possibilities (thank you, Emily Dickinson), and chooses to “tend and befriend” whenever she can. Today she chats with Nicole and Elizabeth about not doing it all in favor of a life led with intentionality and exploration. We also learn more about her wildly varied duet for flutes, Cabinet of Curiosities, an FNMC competition winner in ...

Are you regularly cooking up new, complicated projects in need of funding? This episode’s for you. Elizabeth reveals her super-secret project, South Dakota Chamber Winds, which came to fruition this past summer. What follows is a pretty specific discussion about how to strategize for grant writing, how to survive running The Thing, and for dessert, a delightful lil’ name drop of some perhaps new-to-you composers you should know....

An eclectic and versatile performer, NYC-based clarinetist Chris Grymes has made a name for himself in the new music scene, as a performer, show producer, and the founder of Open G Records, which he started in 2012. Today he talks about his decades-long friendship with Joan Tower, the surprisingly inherent music of Jiu-Jitsu, and the guiding principle that drives his choice of projects: making nice stuff with his friends. He cons...

 Up-and-coming composer, Dianna Link, won FNMC’s Composition Competition in 2023 with her flute-piano piece, “Old As Time”. It’s a feminist reimagining of the tale of Beauty and the Beast, and she spoke with us about her interest in exploring themes of resilience and self-determination in her reworking of this classic fairy tale. She also discusses the existential crisis of having to fit neatly into one box in school, her inspiri...

Composer Reena Esmail sat down with us today to fill in some background for the beautiful new solo flute piece that FNMC recently commissioned, Pathways of Desire. She also shared some surprising insights on the differences (musical and pedagogical) between Western and Hindustani classical musics, discussed the value of carving your own path, and revealed the secret to pleasing her with your performance! A teacher at heart, she’s c...

Flutist Christine Erlander Beard enjoys an active international career as a soloist, chamber artist and teacher. You may know her from her current commissioning project, #theflutistactivist initiative. Today she joins Elizabeth and Nicole to discuss her social advocacy work, both on and off stage, her lifelong love affair with the piccolo, and the importance of teaching the whole person, with your whole self. 

https://www.christi...

Expat flutist Chelsea Czuchra is puzzling over the divide between “classical” and popular music in Western culture and how to build an authentic bridge to art music in our communities that doesn’t involve academia. We don’t exactly figure out the answer in this delightful chat, but we’re confident you will be as charmed and fascinated by her Switzerland-based work as we were! 

Making Music in Looking Glass Land: https://archive.org...

Polish flutist Alicia Molitorys speaks with us today about how she got interested in new music despite the lack of early support, the amazing and unique perspective of growing up in Poland and then studying in the West as a young adult, and fills us in a little bit on one of her latest projects, “Dark Sky” with composer Allison Ogden. We got interested in Alicja’s work after she applied to perform at FNMC’s New Music Festival,...

In the lead-up to FNMC’s New Music Festival, we caught up with composer Brandon Nelson, whose music for Triage Woodwinds will be featured in a concert there. He discusses the wealth of opportunities that can result from growing up in a small town, the adventure of learning how to play recorder as an adult, and the very modern experience of meeting collaborators on Twitter. Living in an isolated place (the beautiful UP of Michigan...