Episodes

  • JJJJJerome Ellis

    JJJJJerome Ellis
    Oct 26 2023
    Today’s guest is multidisciplinary artist JJJJJerome Ellis. Through music, text, performance, video, and photography he researches relationships among blackness, disabled speech, divinity, nature, sound, and time. He has a remarkable new solo piano album out this December on NNA Tapes called Compline in Nine Movements. Recorded in one take back in 2017, it’s a longform improvisation on a theme Ellis developed with longtime collaborator James Harrison Monaco. Listen in to hear Ellis discuss the new album, disability rights, time and the value of public school music education as well as music from the album. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    30 mins
  • Bridget Kibbey

    Bridget Kibbey
    Oct 12 2023
    Today’s guest is harpist Bridget Kibbey, who’s been described as the Yo-Yo Ma of the harp. She has a new album out tomorrow on the wonderful label Pentatone called Crossing The Ocean. She commissioned contemporary composers who span the globe to write music specifically for her resulting in a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of sounds that meld the classical to folkloric traditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    24 mins
  • Amanda Gookin

    Amanda Gookin
    Sep 28 2023
    Today’s guest is cellist and arts leader Amanda Gookin. Her Forward Music Project, launched in 2015, commissions new multimedia works for solo cello that elevate stories of feminine empowerment through raw performances and educational initiatives. The new music site I Care If You Listen describe it as “a premier example of feminist advocacy done right.” Host Katy Henriksen talks to Gookin all about arts advocacy, trauma, and finding agency through cello in a society that tells girls that they can’t. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    28 mins
  • Jessica Pavone

    Jessica Pavone
    Sep 14 2023
    Today’s guest is composer/violist Jessica Pavone, a NYC based artist whose new album Clamor, is out in October. The album, which features string ensemble and bassoon, includes works that are inspired by women’s inventions created out of a desire to circumvent the limitations to their freedoms, including the See Saw, 17th century, Korean women invented the standing see-saw to help them see what lay outside. These women weren’t allowed to leave their homes, so the see-saw gave them the ability to peek out the walls of their property, if even for just a second. In addition to the interview, you'll hear from the forthcoming album. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    31 mins
  • Tumi Mogorosi

    Tumi Mogorosi
    Aug 31 2023
    Today’s guest is the South African percussionist Tumi Mogorosi. His album Group Theory: Black Music, out on the label Mushroom Hour Half Hour was one of Katy's favorites in 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    22 mins
  • Damon Locks

    Damon Locks
    Aug 17 2023
    Today's guest is Damon Locks, bandleader for the genre-shattering Black Monument Ensemble. The group released the critically acclaimed album NOW in April of 2021 on the International Anthem label. It’s a viscerally poignant, joyous album created outside in the swelter of Chicago summertime at the height of lockdown, a tumultuous moment that coincided with the national protest movement following the police murder of George Floyd. From the power of gospel and its roots in the Civil Rights era to the distinct power of music for community building and imagining a better future, Katy discusses this and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    35 mins
  • Wu Man

    Wu Man
    Aug 3 2023
    Today’s guest is pipa virtuoso Wu Man. She’s carved out such an impressive career collaborating with orchestras worldwide and through performing as a founding member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble and collaborating with the Kronos Quartet. She’s an inspiration in what cross-cultural musical collaborations can be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    33 mins
  • Kaki King

    Kaki King
    Jul 20 2023
    Today's guest is guitarist Kaki King, who lands herself on those 100 top guitarist lists dominated by men. Rolling Stone has described her as “a genre unto herself.” I spoke to her when she released Modern Yesterdays, her 9th studio album, out now on Cantaloupe Records. I can’t wait to share our vibrant discussion on her earliest guitar memories, finding her distinct musical voice and what it’s like to be a female guitar virtuoso in a famously dude bro arena. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    27 mins