Podcast Episodes

Ep 43-Larry Edelson on Creating Your Own Opportunities

Lawrence Edelson is highly respected as a visionary company leader who has created programs in the areas of new opera development that have served as models of innovation for opera companies around the country. Edelson is the founder of American Lyric Theater in NYC, where he oversees the Composer Librettist Development Program. In 2014, Edelson [...]

Ep 42-Cheryl Frances-Hoad on Treating Compositions as Assets

Cheryl Frances-Hoad was born in 1980 and received her musical education at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and Kings College London. Her music has been described as “like a declaration of faith in the eternal verities of composition” (The Times), with “a voice overflowing not only with ideas, but also with [...]

Ep 41-Steven Swartz & Sarah Baird Knight on PR for Composers

Steven is the founding partner of Dotdotdotmusic, the leading public relations agency serving artists and organizations in the vibrant new classical music scene. Trained as a composer, with a PhD in composition under principal teacher Morton Feldman, Steven's background includes journalism, radio, the recording industry, and PR. Prior to starting DOTDOTDOTMUSIC, he spent sixteen years [...]

Ep 40-Kim Diehnelt on Mastering Composing Through Conducting

Maestra Kim Diehnelt established her craft as conductor, composer, and artistic coach in both Finland and Switzerland. This year alone her compositions were performed in Chicago, New York City, and by the Rensselaer Concert Choir; she also completed a commissioned work for unaccompanied cello to pair with the Bach cello suites. Kim is currently a [...]

Ep 39-Alf Bishai on Writing Music People Love

Alf Bishai is a composer/music director in New York City. He has taught classical theory and ear training at NYU since 2001. During his masters degree, Alf experienced the standard existential crisis many young composers face. He dove into film and church music as a career while trying to crack the code on classical composition. [...]

Ep 38-Dale Trumbore on Growing Your Career with Focus & Clarity

Dale's compositions have been commissioned, awarded and performed by ensembles including ACME, Center City Opera Theater, Choral Arts Initiative, The Esoterics, Inscape Chamber Orchestra, the Maryland State Boychoir, New York Virtuoso Singers, The Singers - Minnesota Choral Artists, and VocalEssence. She is currently Composer in Residence for Nova Vocal Ensemble. Give the Composer on Fire podcast a Rating [...]

Ep 37-Jessica Rudman on Taking Risks

Jessica Rudman is a Connecticut-based composer and teacher whose music unifies extended techniques with clear melodic development and narrative structures to create a unique and personal emotional expression. She is currently the Chair of the Creative Studies Department and the Director of the Young Composers Project at The Hartt School Community Division. She is also [...]

Ep 36-Steven Bryant on Launching Your Career Through a Niche Ensemble

Winner of the ABA Ostwald award and three-time winner of the NBA Revelli Award, Steven Bryant’s music for wind ensemble has reshaped the genre. A prolific composer, his substantial catalogue of music is regularly performed throughout the world. Recently, his Ecstatic Waters was premiered by the Minnesota Orchestra to unanimous, rapturous acclaim. “His compositional virtuosity [...]

Ep 35-Joel Puckett on Balancing The Composer’s Life

Named as one of National Public Radio’s listeners' favorite composers under the age of 40, Joel Puckett is one of the most performed composers in America. Hailed by the Washington Post as "visionary," Mr. Puckett believes in the life-changing power of music to heal and provide comfort to those who need it. Minnesota Opera recently [...]

Ep 34-Joseph Summer on Producing Concerts of Your Own Music

Joseph Summer began playing the French horn at the age of seven. While attending the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina at age thirteen he was fortunate to be allowed to study composition with the eminent Czech composer Karel Husa. Two years later he was accepted at Oberlin Conservatory, graduating with a BM in Music [...]