Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

Originally released in 2022: Tracy Silverman is truly an inspiring musician in every respect and it was such an honour to meet him and be able to record this memorable episode! This interview is also available as a video; the transcript is also linked on my website

We talked about his classical roots, studying with legendary teachers Lewis Kaplan and Ivan Galamian, his rejection of the classical world and his fascinating career, through his years in rock bands, we even talked about some of his early gigs, including learning the ropes as a strolling violinist, getting the job...

This was originally released in 2022. The internationally renowned South African guitarist Derek Gripper is famous for his groundbreaking technique for evoking the West African kora on the guitar. During this episode you’ll get to hear Derek play quite a bit and you will hear his wonderful insights on how we listen to and learn music, the influence of Montessori and Alexander Technique in his life, his reflections on important collaborations in his career and his perspectives on changes that have been imposed on creators and performers.

My website for the video and transcript

Derek Gr...

I'm re-releasing this episode, because my improvising ensemble Collected Strands have just released our second album, Volume 2, also with beautiful cover art by Maryanne Moodie.

This is a special episode of my podcast, celebrating Volume 1 with my improvising ensemble Collected Strands. The other musicians in the group have all been featured previously on this series, and you’ll find the links to those episodes below, with cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne, pianist James McGowan and drummer Mike Essoudry. I’m also delighted that you will get to know the inspiring Australian artist, educator and author Maryanne Moodie who’s woven...

I’m delighted to welcome Maya Youssef, the world-renowned "Queen of the qanun" and innovative British-Syrian educator .You can also watch on YouTube, and the transcript is linked as well to my website: Maya shares with us how her frustrations with the traditional teaching of Arabic music led her to develop her unique system for teaching musicians and dancers in a completely different way. She also shared her past personal crisis as a victim of domestic abuse and how she found the strength to get out of that danger, which is shockingly pervasive. In fact, she said that she ch...

The wonderful singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and scholar Lily Henley sings in the endangered language Ladino and during this podcast you’ll hear clips from her album Oras Dezaoradas. Blending her roots in American and Celtic music, Lily creates powerful original music that honours centuries of Sephardic women’s voices. These songs tell timeless stories of love, loss, exile, and resilience, sharing her personal connection to this important tradition.

You’ll also learn about:

Like all my episodes, you can also watch this...

Karen Power is an Irish composer who uses environmental sounds in her intriguing work. She is a master field recordist who has recorded sounds in some of the worlds most isolated and challenging locations including The Arctic, Amazon, and Namib Desert. You'll hear clips of her work including The Bats of Namibia, Frogs of Angor Wat, fascinating bog sounds and arctic ice sounds in collaborations with the Quiet Music Ensemble and many brilliant collaboraters on her project human nature. She’s also shared with us a raw field recording from a double cicada brood emergence. Karen and I also ta...

Teagan Faran is a remarkable violinist known for her versatility as a performer, composer, and improviser. In this episode, you’ll hear selections from her album Middle Child—a compelling and genre-spanning musical journey featuring works by acclaimed contemporary composers, as well as Tegan’s own reimagining of Brahms’ beloved Intermezzo.

A Fulbright grant recipient, Tegan spent nine months in Argentina delving into the rich traditions of tango and regional folk music. She shared insights about her time there, along with stories of collaboration and mentorship, including her work with the Grammy-nominated ensemble Palaver Strings and the electroa...

I’m joined by the extraordinary Olcay Bayir, a British singer-songwriter of Kurdish Alevi origin, originally from Turkey. Olcay opens up about the challenges of immigrating as a teenager, her classical training in opera, and how she has forged her own unique musical path.

You’ll hear clips from her 2024 album Tu Gulî, along with selections from her earlier projects, featuring songs in several languages. Her rich voice and evocative arrangements breathe new life into Anatolian folk traditions, offering a vibrant and powerful reimagining of this timeless music.

In our conversation, Olcay shares:

Joel Styzens is a composer and multi-instrumentalist whose career as a drummer was transformed due to sudden hearing damage. He talked to me about dealing with the physical and psychological effets of hyper acusis and tinnitus, the beauty of hammered dulcimer, and you’ll hear clips from his first 2 albums Relax Your Ears and Resonance. He’s a music educator who loves to help students to make discoveries on their own and we spoke about Joel’s passion for all kinds of artistic expression, and his positive recent experience at the Ragdale Artist residency. Joel’s personal story is so inspi...

Amanda Martinez writes and records mostly in Spanish, the language of her Mexican dad who biked all the way from Mexico to Canada, and you’ll learn how Amanda’s recent album Recuerdo helped her process her grief going through the illness and death of her father. Amanda is also an actor, and you’ll hear about some of her experiences acting, including My Little Pony, Kim’s Convenience and Rosie’s Rules for which she has composed songs. Amanda came to her acting and music career after pursuing science and business, and you’ll be inspired to hear how she navi...

Heather Taves is an acclaimed Canadian pianist, also a composer, improviser, educator and writer.

She spoke to me about her unique and inspiring Beethoven Journey, her popular weekly blog which she started in 2023 , paired with performances of all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas. We talked about getting to know Beethoven as a person and her fascinating research about many women that are part of this history. We also talked about Heather’s work as an educator, developing creativity and approaching teaching music from different angles. She spoke about her mentors including pianist Gil Kalish and writer Diane Shoe...

Archive highlight, originally released in 2023: Renée Yoxon is a trans non-binary singer, songwriter, jazz musician, and trans voice teacher.

Renee shares some beautiful and inspiring performances from their albums, as well as stories from life as a disabled person and how their disability and chronic pain has guided the direction of their career. We talk about their musical development, and their experiences both bad and good as they navigated their musical education (after finishing a degree in physics!). Renée explains the kind of work they do with trans vocal exploration and we dive into all ki...

This was originally aired in 2023. Ceara Conway is an Irish contemporary vocalist and visual artist, and this episode features music from her album CAOIN as well as excerpts from some of her other projects. I find Ceara’s curiosity about so many important topics around arts and culture really inspiring and this conversation circled around to her explorations of different languages and cultures as well as her rootedness as an Irish speaker. She has had many interesting commissions dealing with history, illness, grief, and the natural world. She also spoke to me about some of her roles working with th...

This week's episode is a highlight from the archive, originally aired in 2023: I was so honoured to have this opportunity to talk with the inspiring Destiny Muhammad, who is a California-based jazz harpist and composer. You’ll get to hear inspiring stories from her life as well as her music. She had a dream to play the harp but didn’t have the opportunity until she was 30 years old. She speaks openly about the challenges in the 1980s due to the crack cocaine trade, her success as a barber, her determination and mentors including John Handy, and her unique pers...

I’m excited to feature Bente Illevold, the internationally renowned Norwegian euphonium player who has carved out a unique career path as a euphonium virtuoso. During this podcast, you’ll be hearing clips from some of her albums and live performances, and in the complete show notes on my website you’ll find the links to these specific albums and videos. I first heard about Bente from Katherine Needleman, when she asked Bente to premiere a newly commissioned concert piece for euphonium and piano by Kyrese Washington. Bente will be playing the American premiere of this new work at the In...

Martha Anne Toll is a novelist and literary and cultural critic, also a violist whose classical music training informs her artistic practice. She recently published her second novel, Duet for One, a beautiful love story based on the lives of musicians.his book is also about the death of a mother, and releasing this conversation on Mother's Day (in our countries) has a particular resonance for those of us whose mothers have died, and Martha and I talked about processing our own grief. We focused on both this book and her novel Three Muses, which I also...

Alisa Rose is a multi-style violinist and fiddler, composer and educator, and in this episode we’re shining a light on her wonderful new album with mandolinist Tristan Scroggins, Speranza. You’ll hear about how she found her way to such an interesting and diverse career from learning Old-Time music from retired farmers in Wisconsin as a child to classical training with the legendary Camilla Wicks at the San Francisco Conservatory, where she’s come full circle as a teacher. Alisa shared wonderful insights into teaching music, including body awareness and using creativity prompts in her improvisation classes. She shared...

Christoph Zirngibl is an award-winning German film composer who has composed music for over 120 films as well as many TV series including the Apple TV+ series Where’s Wanda. It often strikes me that even with something as specific as some of Christoph’s advice about work flow for fellow film composers, that it can apply more broadly to all of us, whatever our pursuits.. You’ll be hearing a few clips from some of his projects in different musical styles, as well as his reflecctions on his formative student years, the strengths of the apprentice system and his intere...

Lawrence English is a brilliant artist, composer and curator based in Australia. In this wide-ranging interview, Lawrence spoke to me about many topics, touching architecture, philosophy, field recordings, running a record label, and emerging biotech. One of his many projects is the record label Room40, which is celebrating 25 years, and punctuating this podcast are some clips from some of Lawrence’s albums, including Even the Horizon Knows it’s Bounds, Shell Type, and Observation of Breath. You’ll fine several links in the show notes so you can explore each project more fully.

Like all my episodes, you ca...

How did Noam Lemish’s experience living in Bhutan influence his outlook? A lot of Noam’s creative life is inspired by bridging cultures and being open to possibility, and you’ll be hearing some music from some of his many projects as well as hear his reflections on teaching and learning. It was fascinating to learn about his mentors including George Marsh and W.A. Mathieu, and how he started collaborating with so many incredible artists including the oud player and guitarist Amos Hoffman. I really wanted to shine a light as well on his fantastic Juno-nominated album Twelve...

Juliana Soltis is an innovative cellist who has done extensive research to connect listeners with some forgotten stories of classical music. In this episode we talked about her recent album American Woman which features cello and piano music of women composers; you’ll hear Juliana’s insights into the lives of Mary Howe, Amy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Helen Crane, Dorothy Rudd Moore and Florence Price and hear excerpts from this album which Juliana recorded with the wonderful pianist Ruoting Li. Many listeners will be familiar with Juliana’s playing as a Baroque cellist, and it was fascinating to hear about...

Katherine Dowling is a brilliant Canadian pianist and in this conversation we talked about her album of solo music by Alice Ping Yee Ho, mentors including Gil Kalish and Henk Guittart, and how and why she’s developed her exceptional musical memory. Katherine shared fantastic insights into teaching and learning, the importance of inclusivity and access to arts education, and how she uses the Pomodoro technique in the practice room. She explained how sound production on the piano is about the speed of attack and we discussed different skill sets and career paths for pianists. Dr. Dowling shared many in...

Kala Ramnath is a world-renowned Indian violinist who performs in both the Hindustani classical tradition, and in collaborations that incorporate many styles with Ray Manzarek of The Doors, Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer, Hilary Hahn, Kronos Quartet with Reena Esmail and veena player Jayanthi Kumaresh, and leading orchestras such as my own National Arts Centre, to name but a few. You’ll hear about her childhood, and how she became a disciple of the legendary vocalist Pandit Jasraj, leading her to revolutionize her approach to Hindustani violin technique. As a teacher she has put together an incredible resource with an...

Tasha Warren is an acclaimed clarinetist who has premiered over one hundred solo clarinet and chamber works. In this podcast you’ll hear excerpts from her album “Ourself Behind Ourself, Concealed” a fantastic collaboration with cellist Dave Eggar of newly commissioned and premiered Bass Clarinet and Cello works, which earned two Grammy nominations. If you listened to my episode with Meg Okura last year, you heard a bit about this project, and Meg’s episode is linked in the show notes if you missed it. Dr. Warren is Assistant Professor of Chamber Music at Michigan State University and the principa...

Tal Yahalom is an award-winning jazz guitarist and composer and you’ll be getting a preview of his compelling quintet album Mirror Image  with  refreshingly unique instrumentation: violin, cello, percussion, sax and flute and both nylon-string and electric guitar. You’ll be hearing excerpts from the album and hear about Tal’s creative process and collaborators including percussioninst Rogerio Boccato and David Leon on sax and flute. Tal told me about some great advice he got from Pat Metheny, whom he met  when Tal won the Detroit Jazz Festival National Guitar Competition, and the invaluable guidance of key mentors throughou...

Rachel Eckroth and John Hadfield are wonderfully inventive musicians who have formed a duo. This podcast episode is shining a light on their recently released album “Speaking in Tongues”and you’ll hear some of this textured and dynamic music that really pushes the boundaries of a duo,  along with insights into their creative process and their varied career paths. 

  John Hadfield  is a phenomenal percussionist, drummer, and composer, for many years based in New York and now based in Paris. He’s collaborated on over 100 recordings including Grammy-award winning albums. He talked to me about performing with Kenny W...

Fern Lindzon is a Canadian multi-style pianist, vocalist, composer and improvisor. She recently released a great album with her newjazz trio project Tryptique with Colleen Allen and George Koller ,and we’re featuring music from that album as well as some of her other work, including her Juno-nominated album Two Kites. We talked about her mother, the artist Rose Lindzon, many mentors and influences including Don Thompson, Alan Bern and Marilyn Lerner, and several of Fern’s projects including creating silent film music, Klezmer with the Sisters of Sheynville, and her new project of learning the expressive electronic instrument the...

Naomi Moon Siegel is an award-winning trombonist, improvisor, composer and educator. In this episode we’re highlighting her beautiful sextet album Shatter the Glass Sanctuary, and you’ll hear her reflections on the valuable mentorship process with Allison Miller and brilliant collaborators including Marina Albero and Ray Larsen. Naomi reflected on her journey finding a supportive musical community, overcoming injury, and how she’s advocated for intersectional gender justice for many years through her workshops for fellow educators and music students. We talked about some of her mentors including Kristen Strom, Wayne Horwitz, and her duo project the Syrinx Effect...

Anthony Brandt is an acclaimed composer who is also a multi-disciplinary researcher. Dr. Brandt is a Professor at Rice University and co-founder and Artistic Director of Musiqa. Like many people worldwide, I had first learned of his work as co-author with neuroscientist David Eagleman, of the amazing book “The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World”. We started this episode with an overview of that book, and Tony’s passion for the importance of encouraging creativity at all stages of life comes through in our discussion of his research, compositions, teaching and mentoring. You’ll hear about how he and o...

Samantha Ege is both a leading scholar and interpreter of Florence Price. In this interview, she talks about her recent book “South Side Impresarios: How Race Women Transformed Chicago’s Classical Music Scene”. I was fascinated to learn about this compelling history of Chicago’s Black Renaissance with women such as Nora Holt,  Margaret Bonds, and Katherine Dunham.  Dr. Ege shared how the scholarship side of her work informs both her identity as a pianist and also how this research and storytelling cause her to reflect on some of her own challenges. We also talked about some of her other rece...

Ian Maksin holds a special place in the hearts of his fans worldwide,  with his unique concerts of cello and songs in over 37 languages. It was really interesting to learn about how he has forged a unique path as a solo touring performer, and he shared his insights on finding commonalities between cultures, mindfulness practice and how he stays healthy with such an intense touring schedule. You’ll hear about his childhood, his need to break out of a strict classical music career, how his love of languages started and some suprises, including how he became a pilot as a t...

Jean Rohe  is an acclaimed song-writer and singer, as well as a devoted  mentor, working with incarcerated song-writers,as well as at the New School and privately. She writes powerful narrative songs, and is widely known for her "National Anthem:  Arise! Arise!" an aspirational alternative which has been performed extensively across the US. She shared with me her perspectives on love, grief, identity, community and creativity.   One of her beautiful collaborations is the wonderful album Beautalina with the band Eureka Shoes, with Skye Soto Steele,  Charlie Burnham and Rashaan Carter. We are featuring music from that project as well as wi...

Edwin Barker is recognized as one of the most gifted bassists on the American concert scene. In this wide-ranging interview, you’ll hear about how when he was still a student, he won a job with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and then at age 22, he was appointed to the position of Principal Bass of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position he has now held for nearly 50 years. He shared memories of his mentors, and his valuable perspectives on learning and teaching the bass, playing in orchestra, conductors, auditions, acoustics and more. We’re featuring his wonderful recent album of solo...

Brittany Haas is widely regarded as one of the most influential fiddlers of her generation. In this wide-ranging conversation you’ll be hearing about her early career, touring with Darol Anger at age 14, the bands Croooked Still, Hawktail and Punch Brothers with Chris Thile. She reflected on the challenges and thrill of a touring life, the Nashville scene, her teaching through Artistworks, and dynamics of being a woman in Bluegrass. We talked about mentors Bruce Molsky and Tony Trishka, her time at Princeton studying Evolutionary Biology, and the need for self-care and boundaries. 

We are featuring music fro...

Cellist and composer Dorothy Lawson is one of the founding members and Artistic Directors for ETHEL, ‪ a string quartet celebrating 25 years of setting the standard for contemporary concert music. In this episode, you’ll hear about many fascinating and meaningful collaborations with musicians including Alllison Loggins-Hull, Robert Mirabal, and Layale Chaker. It was really inspiring to hear how they got started with adapting the concert experience into something less-predictable, and ways to connect with new audiences. Dorothy also shared her insights into playing and teaching the cello and staying healthy. We also talked about many of the long-term relationships with...

Katherine Needleman is a wonderful oboe player, who has been the principal oboist of the Baltimore Symphony since 2003. She’s also active as a solist and chamber musician, and is on faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music. She is a champion of music of our time and you’ll find her recordings and many projects on her website. To many listeners in the Classical Music world, she’s probably better known for her Substack articles and posts on social media that address misogyny, sexual misconduct and assault, and the lack of diversity and equity in the Classical music world...

Shakura S'Aida, acclaimed Americana roots soul singer and songwriter has thrilled global audiences in 31 countries over many years. Donna Grantis who performed with Prince for several years, is Shakura’s longtime co-producer and co-writer. Donna praises the three-time Juno Award nominee as a "powerhouse vocalist whose artistic vision continually inspires me.” I trust you’ll find this week’s episode an inspiring and uplifting conversation, in which we’re highlighting Shakura’s new album Hold on to Love. We also talked about her career in acting, and she shared some of her experiences on the set of Schitt’s Creek. Shakura...

Yann Passabet-Labiste is a French violinist with a beautiful warm intensity to his playing, and in this episode we’re focussing on his album “Robert Schumann et son univers” with pianist Bertrand Giraud. Yann talks about some of his mentors in France and Switzerland, many interesting and inspiring musical highlights and his perspectives on how music has helped him through some difficult challenges.  

YouTube video of this episode, and Transcript linked here on my website:

https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/yann-passabet-labiste

Video of Sonata No. 1 “A mon fils Yann pour sa Maman” by Gérard Pass...

Ida Gillner is very special musician based in Sweden, and in this episode you’ll hear the powerful story of her personal journey, embracing different cultures, and also the comforting power of music.  Ida is a multi-instrumentalist and composer; her main instruments are soprano saxophone, piano and voice.  In the first part of this episode we focus on her project Shtolstse lider, her songs set to the poetry of some of Yiddish’s greatest women writers. You’ll hear about Ida’s childhood on the island of Asperö, forging her own path in different world music traditions, and  the Finnish tang...

DeWitt Fleming Jr. is a multi-talented and brilliant performer, renowned for his tap dancing, choreography and acting, and is also a singer and drummer. As he said to me in this interview “when I’m tap dancing I’m drumming”. You’ll hear about his experience growing up in the Projects, the importance of attending an Arts high school, the usefulness of theatre training for musicians, and insights into memorization, mindset and performing. He shared his experiences working with Wynton Marsalis, meeting his wife the actor and singer Jennie Harney-Fleming, with whom he’s presently performing A Wonderful World: The Louis Ar...