Adam Guettel
Most of the classic American musicals — Oklahoma, The King and I, South Pacific, The Sound of Music— were written by one composer, Richard Rodgers. Now Rodgers' grandson, Adam Guettel, is a composer...
View ArticleArmando Bayolo
Composer Armando Bayolo had two great epiphanies in his musical life — John Williams' Star Wars score, and a long, dense, Minimalist piece using hammers by Louis Andriessen, the Steve Reich of the...
View ArticleFriedhofer
In some ways, the career of film composer Hugo Friedhofer was a typical Hollywood story. He was a brilliant musician who created some of the most memorable scores -- like the soundtrack to The Best...
View ArticleAn Hour With Philip Glass
"There was a whole new wave of culture forming, and we wanted our music to be part of it."In "An Hour With Philip Glass," the star-composer reflects on the goals and aspirations of his generation of...
View ArticleVive La French Music
Ned Rorem is an American composer who loves French music. He spoke with WNYC's Sara Fishko as part of a series on living composers and their relationship with the past.
View ArticleJohn Zorn
Saxophonist and composer John Zorn may have just won a $500,000 MacArthur fellowship, but he started out as a rebel in the 1970s and transformed New York's downtown music scene. Since then, he's led a...
View ArticleJohn Corigliano on Aaron Copland
The composer John Corigliano has collected an impressive stack of awards for his music. He won an Academy Award for his score to the movie The Red Violin, and a Pulitzer Prize for his Second Symphony....
View ArticleWilliam Bolcom
Plenty of classical composers like to borrow a snippet from pop music, or throw in a little reference to a well-known song in a piece of "serious music." William Bolcom prefers to go whole hog. WNYC's...
View ArticleMusical Symmetries
Contemporary composer Steve Reich explains the various symmetrical techniques that animate the music he loves. Produced by Trent Wolbe.
View ArticleThe Brains Behind Legally Blonde
It was the sleeper hit of the summer of 2001, and now Legally Blonde is a hit on Broadway. Kurt talks with Nell Benjamin and Lawrence O’Keefe, the husband-and-wife team behind the songs. They’ve been...
View ArticleRandy Newman
In the last decade, Randy Newman has made new fans writing scores for Pixar movies. But before that, he was confounding listeners with his cheerfully bitter piano songs. After a 9-year hiatus, he’s put...
View ArticleRemembering Rosenman
Composer Leonard Rosenman passed away earlier this year but his scores for films like "East of Eden," "Fantastic Voyage," and "Rebel Without a Cause" live on. Produced by Sara Fishko.Watch the original...
View ArticleElliott Carter
Classical composer Elliott Carter turned 100 last December - and he's still writing music. When Kurt visited him at his home in the West Village, he found Carter to be plain-spoken, funny, and...
View ArticleWelcome to His Nightmare
Australian (and now Icelandic) composer Ben Frost creates music that is electronic, classical, beautiful, and scary all at the same time. Kurt talks to Frost about his new album, By the Throat.
View ArticleMusical Magician
Producer T-Bone Burnett has worked with everyone from Emmylou Harris to Elvis Costello. This weekend Burnett is up for two Grammys, including Producer of the Year. He's getting all kinds of acclaim for...
View ArticleJennifer Higdon
Jennifer Higdon recently won the Pulitzer Prize for her musical compositions, yet she didn't pick up a musical instrument - a pawn-shop flute her mother brought home - until she was fifteen. Higdon...
View ArticleComposer Jennifer Higdon
Jennifer Higdon is a rarity in contemporary classical music: a serious composer with populist appeal. Last year she won a Pulitzer Prize and a Grammy for two different concertos. And this summer you...
View ArticleFree Download: Max Richter
"Infra 1," by Max RichterI’m really proud to feature Max Richter for this week’s download. Max is my favorite film composer. He writes these beautiful small pieces that take you into the emotional...
View ArticleGig Alert: Daniel Wohl
Daniel Wohl"323 (A Laurel Halo edit)"Playing Tuesday night at Glasslands Gallery (289 Kent Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn)Get: Tickets ($10) | DirectionsParis-born composer Daniel Wohl has a knack for...
View ArticleThe Many Worlds of Gabriel Kahane
On a given weekend, you might find Gabriel Kahane performing a piano sonata in a concert hall … or stumble upon him at a bar, playing with a rock band. He composes classical music for chamber groups...
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