I CARE IF YOU LISTEN

Review: Oskar McCarthy and Ben Smith Present “Voices Under Pressure”

How can the voice and piano recital be made contemporary? In his engaging introduction, baritone Oskar McCarthy said that he’s essentially a dramatic theatre singer who wants to present an art song recital on his own terms. Along with pianist Ben Smith, one of their aims for their 3 Nov. recital at City St George’s, … Continued

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ListN Up Playlist: Lucy Liyou (Nov. 5, 2026)

California-based composer Lucy Liyou synthesizes field recordings, text-to-speech readings, poetry, and elements from Korean folk opera into sonic narratives that explore the implications of Orientalism and Westernization. Her latest work, MR COBRA, represents Liyou’s most audacious and mercurial work yet, conceived as both an album and a solo theatrical performance piece, Mister Cobra, which sold … Continued

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5 Questions to Kayvon Gordon (drummer, composer)

Kayvon Gordon’s love of the drums began early — at home, he was banging pots and pans; at preschool recess, he was arranging trash cans to form his own drumset. Now, the Detroit-born, Brooklyn-based drummer and composer lends his artistry to multiple groups in multiple countries. He has performed with the likes of Kalia Vandever, … Continued

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5 Questions to L’Rain (multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, vocalist)

Taja Cheek is a Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and curator who makes music as L’Rain. Over four albums — L’Rain (2017), Fatigue (2021), I Killed Your Dog (2023), and fata morgana (2026) — she has built a singular musical world that draws from R&B, noise, punk, soul, and experimental sound collage. Her music reflects a restlessness … Continued

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Review: <MASS> at The Museum of Russian Art

A sign on the door outside The Museum of Russian Art listed something between a manifesto and a user’s guide. At <MASS>, there’s no talking, no phones. “You are a participant, not an observer.” “It’s ok to be bored.” “Don’t listen too hard.” It’s a lot of prelude to the actual music, but it’s not … Continued

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5 Questions to Patrick Shiroishi (multi-instrumentalist, composer)

Patrick Shiroishi has a signature mode of spiritual intensity that he expresses through his saxophone. Still, to label the Los Angeles-based composer and multi-instrumentalist as merely a saxophonist feels a bit scant and reductive. His practice includes vocals, poetry, electronics, and drum machines, all bound up by a mystical ribbon that weaves through questions of … Continued

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Review: Gregory Spears and Davóne Tines at the Columbus Symphony Orchestra

The Ohio Theater can easily swallow one’s attention. The vibrancy of the Spanish-Baroque style is a feast for the eyes, the amber glow of the limited lighting adding an air of foreboding. It was a perfect setting for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra’s Oct. 24 program titled “Mysteries, Anthems, and Victories,” though the theme of the … Continued

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Review: Holland Andrews and yuniya edi kwon “How does it feel to look at nothing”

How does it feel to look at nothing? The title of Holland Andrews and yuniya edi kwon’s experimental opera was a guiding light to experience the piece in its Oct. 23 staging at BAM. How does it feel for me, the performers, the collective audience? The piece engaged its own question on many levels in … Continued

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Review: “Lincoln in the Bardo” at The Metropolitan Opera

I heard the wind rushing as soon as I stepped into the Metropolitan Opera House on the evening of Oct. 19. The hall resonated with a crepuscular chorus of cicadas, frogs, and crickets as overture, and a dark hush was maintained by the audience as they took their seats. The curtain gave context to this … Continued

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ListN Up Playlist: Dale Trumbore (Oct. 22, 2026)

Dale Trumbore is a Los Angeles-based composer and writer whose music has been called “devastatingly beautiful” (The Washington Post). Her compositions have been performed worldwide by ensembles including Central West Ballet, Conspirare and the Miró Quartet, Los Angeles Master Chorale, National Youth Choir of Scotland, and Pasadena Symphony. She has written about establishing a career … Continued

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What A Day of Live Music in Chicago Sounds Like

On a cloudless, crisp Saturday afternoon, a crowd of more than a hundred people are huddled in the back garden of Experimental Sound Studio, a nonprofit devoted to Chicago’s creative music scene. ESS is celebrating 40 years of existence today; its co-founder, sound artist Lou Mallozzi, performs a free-wheeling duo set with composer Carl Stone … Continued

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Review: Marina Kifferstein “Strand Line”

The violin doesn’t always sound like a violin on Marina Kifferstein’s new album, Strand Line (Oct. 23, Gold Bolus Recordings). Across its five tracks, the violinist and composer creates one aural illusion after another, conjuring the sounds of a crackling fire, a riotous aviary, and an ensemble much bigger than her solo self would suggest. … Continued

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Review: Poiesis Quartet “Surfacing”

The ancient Greek concept of poiesis is the creation of something that has never existed before. True to this namesake, the Poiesis Quartet is committed to programming and commissioning new string quartet works from underrepresented composers. Lauded for the richness of their sound and tangible chemistry, Poiesis are the perfect conduit for this ambition. Their … Continued

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Review: Wild Up and Shelley Washington “How We Hold Together”

Within the sonically contained black box theater at REDCAT, a prismatic playroom of toys, knick-knacks, and household items were sprinkled amid instruments, cushions, and chairs. As the world premiere of Shelley Washington’s vibrant How We Hold Together unfolded, the stage became an immersive game of “I Spy,” both visually and aurally. The improvisatory performance on … Continued

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Review: Talea Ensemble Composer Spotlight on Amadeus Regucera

There is no music without the body. String players live with rock-hard finger callouses. Wind and brass players could shift sails with their pulmonary exertions. Pianists and percussionists fire up muscles that produce sounds ranging from miniscule to gargantuan. In composer Amadeus Regucera’s work, highlighting the physicality of the body is a given: “I want … Continued

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Mali Obomsawin is Looking for the Breaking Point

The double bass is one of several tools that Mali Obomsawin uses in a career that spans free jazz, experimentalism, film scoring, and a punk ethos. As a kid, she initially wanted to follow in her older sister’s footsteps and play the violin, but she found her way to the largest instrument in the string … Continued

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ListN Up Playlist: Alyssa Weinberg (Oct. 8, 2026)

Alyssa Weinberg uses color, texture, and gesture to channel big emotions, creating music that is “quite literally stunning” (Chicago Tribune). A celebrated composer whose music has been championed by leading institutions and artists – among them the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, yMusic, and violinist Benjamin Beilman – Weinberg has long been fascinated by the connection between … Continued

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5 Questions to Juri Seo (composer)

Juri Seo thrives in the balance of complex compositional processes and aesthetic bliss. In an essay analyzing her 2016 piece More Semi Simple Variations, Seo describes recomposing the “brilliant surface” of Milton Babbitt’s total serialism into a polystylistic romp through loose harmonic and timbral fields. These qualities pervade Seo’s catalogue. Her music feels instantly familiar … Continued

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Review: Julia Edith Rigby “Lithic Breathing”

As voices and footsteps of incoming audiences echoed within the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles on the night of Sept. 27, it was easier to imagine its looming arches and shadowy alcoves as the tetragonal structures of a sea cave. The nearly 18,000 organ pipes looked more like stalagmites, juxtaposed against a video projection … Continued

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Review: LARAAJI x Michael Brook at MEZAME Festival

Recorded interactions between LARAAJI and Michael Brook are scarce. Though they were both fixtures of the groundbreaking ’80s ambient scene surrounding Brian Eno, their only straightforward studio collaboration is LARAAJI’s Brook-produced 1992 album Flow Goes the Universe. And, until last weekend, their shared stage time had been confined to a series of turn-of-the-’90s tours titled … Continued

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Review: Nwando Ebizie “Ecstasy of the Virtues”

The desire to bring the music of Hildegard von Bingen into the modern day is not an uncommon one. As the medieval composer, abbess, writer, and mystic has ascended to something of a household name, contemporary ensembles have gravitated toward the stillness and semi-improvisatory nature of her music. Such is the case with Nwando Ebizie’s … Continued

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5 Questions to iiisa (interdisciplinary artist)

It would be futile to impose a narrative on isabel crespo pardo’s art and artmaking — the Brooklyn-based singer, composer, and interdisciplinary artist is more compelled to create emotional landscapes, memory portals, and “rituals of transformation” than linear tales. Using sound, text, performance, and visual art, crespo pardo adroitly navigates the space between structure and … Continued

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Review: Vox Urbane at The Ditch

The Ditch doesn’t exactly sound like the name of a classical music venue. Situated in a fashionable district of central London, the rough-and-ready town hall basement might not look like your typical classical music venue either. And yet it proved against expectation to be an excellent space for choral music on 26 Sept. at the … Continued

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5 Questions to Weston Olencki (composer, multi-instrumentalist)

Weston Olencki is a U.S.-born, Berlin-based musician and composer whose work is fundamentally concerned with the cultural history of instruments and music making. In a recent interview with Talkhouse, Weston speaks to growing up in South Carolina and marching for Drum Corps International, only to later recognize it as a “musical pantomime of imperial battlefield … Continued

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