My students are going to perform at Carnegie Hall this week and Royal Albert Hall next month. and I’m going to conduct a children’s choir to sing national anthem at Citi Field and I’m going to perform at Boston Jazz Festival in August.
The moment when you knew you wanted to be a musician:
When I heard Fritz (not Gustav) Mahler conduct Beethoven’s Seventh.
An important skill for a career in music that does not have anything to do with an instrument or making music:
An interest in developing entrepreneurial ability.
Two ways you stay motivated:
Playing and listening to other’s music.
Latest Project:
Writing a book: “Practicum Preparatory to Post-Tonal Composition”
Release date TBA
What inspired it:
The possibility of developing a foundation technique for composing music in an age where
post-tonality and extended tonality exist side by side. The usual composition texts proceed with style study, and PC set theory with comparatively little or superficial attention to post-tonal rhythm. How time is made manifest seems more basic to different musical styles than selected pitch class combinations.
Who’s on it:
Beside myself– former students, venerable published texts.
How do you discover new music?
Paying attention to new scores, recordings and concert life here and abroad.
One living and one dead musician that deserves more attention:
* Editor’s Note: Thomas L. Read has written multiple works for Aaron Larget-Caplan, including two New Lullabies for his New Lullaby Project, the quintet ‘Capricci‘ for guitar & strings, a cello & guitar duo ‘Concert Champêtre‘, and a duo for viola & guitar ‘Traverllers Frolic’ (to be premiered). The editor is a longtime fan of Read’s music and believes wholeheartedly that you will be too if you listen.
Rocket Shop, November 2015, Photos by James Lockridge
The moment when you knew you wanted to be a musician:
I always credit my grandfather with showing me the joys of playing music. He is an accordionist who played traditional corridos and rancheras from the southwest, and growing up I would play the saxophone by ear with him, learning as much as I could and playing small gigs with him. The sound of an accordion is just permanently in my ear, and playing by ear allowed me to experiment with each new performance, adding a different harmony, trying out a new line, and changing the arrangement of a song. He was always so thrilled for me to learn new styles of music outside of his field, and encouraged me to learn to read sheet music in the school bands. I didn’t know anything about classical music until college, though just before graduating high school I heard my first orchestra concert and became completely enamored. Partway through my freshman year I realized one could be a composer, and I’ve never looked back! Neither of us could have imagined I would end up working in a field like this!
An important skill for a career in music that does not have anything to do with an instrument or making music:
Listening. It’s something I’m always working on. We are always caught up in writing, rehearsing, and performing our music that we forget a big part of our field is being in communication with each other. The best experiences I’ve had, I have to remind myself, come from going to other people’s concerts and listening without any expectation or goal. I think this applies to other fields, too, where we so frequently want to show off what we know and can do but must take time to hear about what other people can do.
Two ways you stay motivated:
Deadlines and a deeply ingrained Catholic guilt complex! Kidding, mostly, but motivation seems to be a moving target, which I think is normal. Sometimes I find I can work without stopping for hours at a time, and other times I’ll do everything right (exercise, eat, relax, turn off my phone) and then I can’t get anything done. I’ve found that it’s important to set a schedule and stick to it best I can, even if things aren’t as productive as I’d like them to be, but also be willing to assess a situation and pivot to do something else when I’m truly hitting a dead end. If my large ensemble work isn’t happening then maybe I should dabble with the piece for a solo instrument. If the opera is lagging then I should give the string quartet a try. If nothing is working maybe I should tackle my long overdue email inbox. I find I feel better at the end of the day if I’ve gotten something done, and can give myself space and time to rest and reset for the next day.
Latest Project:
Khemia Ensemble produced an album called Intersections, which features my Little Cloud.
What inspired it:
I wrote Little Cloud as a lullaby for my newborn son. I wrote the words and music, and recorded samples of trees and birds in my neighborhood where I grew up. It talks about the Cottonwood trees at my parents’ home, and their calming “summer snow” of seeds floating on little clouds of cotton on warm summer days. I wanted him to have a connection to my home, and I planted a Cottonwood tree for him when he was born so he could grow up with it. It’s already 15 feet tall, and the same age as him!
Either online or by going to shows with unexpected finds! I love that there are so many great new music ensembles in the LA area, where I live, that I can go to a show or series of concerts and find new music with ease. LA really is one of the great new music cities in the world, and I feel so lucky to live in this area. Living in Long Beach, it’s a quick drive to downtown LA or even to down south to catch just about anything I’d love to hear. I also find new music online, but truthfully nothing can replace a live performance for me bonding with something new, and so I try to see as much live music as I can.
One living and one dead musician that deserves more attention:
The dead one is harder than the living one! But living is easy: Nina Shekhar. She’s already blowing up with commissions by the NYPhil, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and Eighth Blackbird, but I think every day listeners would do well to check her stuff out. It’s highly original but undeniably beautiful and human. www.ninashekhar.com
Dead, I would say Billy Strayhorn. You’ve heard his music without knowing his name, and I think he deserves all the credit he can get. He is mostly known as the longtime associate of Duke Ellington, but he wrote so much of the music we associate with Duke Ellington. Take the A Train, Satin Doll, and my personal favorite Lush Life.
Daniel Hope and New Century Chamber Orchestra are premiering my newest piece, Doña Sebastiana (Santa Muerte), as part of the California Festival this coming November!
It will come to the Bay Area November 2-5, with lots of chances to hear it live. https://www.ncco.org/visitations
1 -Marella Martin Koch (librettist) and Erich Parce (director) before the premiere of our opera Tres minutos in Seattle, premiered by Music of Remembrance. Photo credit: Ben VanHouten
The moment when you knew you wanted to be a musician:
At 16, when my rugby coach (day job: publicist) told me that even though there is some space for creativity in advertising, in the end it’s just an office job, so if what I really cared about was creativity I was better-off going all the way and become an artist.
An important skill for a career in music that does not have anything to do with an instrument or making music:
Reading and acquiring random knowledge
Two ways you stay motivated:
I make the act of composing entertaining, so it does not feel like work (it is).
I can’t help it, I have music constantly popping up in my head, so going about playing it or giving it shape is actually soothing and fulfilling.
Latest Project:
Why Bass? an album with solos, duos, trios and quartets for electric bass.
What inspired it:
A catalyst for this “all-bass” project was the wonderful 6-string bass made by Keith Roscoe in Greensboro, NC, pictured on the album cover (Roscoe LG 3006) . Playing it made me realize that the electric bass can be an exciting vehicle for my music, so I started composing and then I couldn’t stop.
Who’s on it:
This time, I played and recorded all parts, so it’s just me out there.
How do you discover new music?
I mostly play my own music, so I am not usually looking for music to play. As for music to listen to, I keep my ears open and ask around.
One living and one dead musician that deserves more attention:
Michael Manring solo albums on the bass are one of a kind (especially “Small Moments”).
As for dead musicians, I am trying to forget them all and focus on the living, of which there are plenty.
The moment when you knew you wanted to be a musician:
There were a few moments that led up to deciding to be a composer as a profession:
When I was in first grade, the fourth-grade string orchestra came to our classroom and played some Pachelbel and I was transfixed. I couldn’t believe the gorgeousness I was hearing, and I couldn’t decide which instrument was the most beautiful to me, though the year after that I would start my tenure in the instrumental world as a little violinist.
In middle school I remember my music teacher and my art teacher pretending to argue over which world young Stephanie was going to end up in because both art and music were my favorite (read: obsessed!!) subjects: after one of these interactions I thought about the problem seriously and decided that music would be a greater challenge for me (it was hard for me to learn how to read music and I didn’t get along with music theory until much, much later in life) so I was in a way intellectually obligated to go the musical route. By 8th grade, when our German language teacher Frau Walsh was teaching us how to say “when I grow up I want to be____”, I was answering “a composer”.
And of course in high school when I realized that I could get the same goosebumps from my own orchestra music that I got when playing Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky in youth orchestra, boy oh boy was I doubly sold!!!
An important skill for a career in music that does not have anything to do with an instrument or making music:
Being fun to be around. Maybe it’s simplistic but I offer it very, very seriously. Life already comes fully equipped with difficult (learning) moments and difficult people and because our world often requires so, so, so many hours of collaboration and immensely hard work and odd hours, having good social energy and being kind and coming to rehearsal/meetings/whathaveyou with an attitude of optimism, curiosity, and gratitude is definitely going to be considered–consciously or unconsciously, it doesn’t matter–when folks are deciding whether you get hired next time.
Two ways you stay motivated:
TAKING TIME TO IMAGINE THE FUTURE I set aside time at the beginning of the week and at the beginning of each quarter to go over my project goals and other ideas that excite me and inspire me so that I know where I’m going! Since I’m both the queen bee and the worker bee in my little composing-company-of-one and I spend most of my time doing the worker bee tasks, it’s very important for me to give myself the “eagle eye view” of things and the future in general so that I can remind myself where this is all going and make decisions on the week/months scale instead of what I do daily which is just prioritizing the tasks for that day. TAKING TIME TO TAKE COMFORT FROM THE PAST In the hours I feel the most artistically vulnerable or just plain exhausted and feel myself getting dour, I make myself remember similar times where I felt uncertain of my capabilities but how whatever I was working on turned out just fine (and often ended up being one of the best instances of music-making in my life thus far). So again, I suppose that’s another way of getting the “eagle eye view” but looking backwards this time to help bolster my courage.
Latest Project:
My very first album is coming out in a few months! ON LP!!!!!!! Hilariously, a few years ago my Complete Works of Shakespeare fell on my record player and absolutely demolished (talk about symbolic) it so I’m in the market for a new one and am taking recommendations ; )
What inspired it:
My incredible colleagues James Hall (flute) and Susie Maddocks (piano) of duo970 have between them commissioned several pieces from me in the last 8 years and have taken my music on three tours since Covid, most recently playing my flute + piano sonata Songbird now at least 20 times. On last year’s tour–the program also included Hydrangea from Flower Catalog, commissioned by Susie in 2020–they decided that they should go ahead and do an album of all my flute-involved chamber music. James, a professor at University of Northern Colorado, was granted a sabbatical this past year and funding to produce the album so we’ve been busy making all the many, many decisions that go into such a tangible piece of art, and we’ve been enjoying the extra excuse to spend a lot more time together!
Who’s on it:
James Hall, flute Susie Maddocks, piano Tim Gocklin, oboe Becky Osterberg, cello
How do you discover new music?
For a good bit of my 20s I was one of two contemporary classical music critics for American Record Guide (I currently only write for I Care if You Listen) and discovered boatloads of new music that way; now I find myself meeting and becoming friends with new works either by attending the concerts of my friends here in NYC or when I’m doing the research for a new piece (lots of time on YouTube, lots of time at the absolutely mind-blowing Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center, lots of time deeeeeep down rabbit holes at odd times of night or morning).
One living and one dead musician that deserves more attention:
Coming from the violin world, I wish more people knew about Maud Powell and her incredible talent as a violin soloist, her GROUNDBREAKING actions and influence in the classical music world during her lifetime, and her impassioned efforts to record works thanks to very, very early gramophone technology. Also wish that my 96-year-old grandmother had (or had had) an audience larger than just her family for her music. Since she was a teenager she’s been her own George AND Ira, writing 1940’s style “pop songs” that are catchy to the same caliber (strong words I know but I cannot overstate how inspiring her work is to me), but her clever and sometimes heart-breakingly poignant lyrics are from the perspective of a lower-middle class housewife in the 1950s and wowee did she have some big opinions on the issues of the day!! So one of my non-career musical tasks has been working to record and write down her works because though she’s been INCREDIBLY prolific (I have at best a solid 3% of the talent that she does), let alone for someone who never could learn how to read music, most of these pieces have never before been put down onto paper and are still only extant in her (for now) incredible memory.
Stay tuned for the album drop at the end of the summer!
EDITOR NOTE:
Stephanie Ann Boyd wrote the amazingly beautiful solo Esperanza for my New Lullaby Project. It is recorded on Nights Transfigured (Stone Records) and the score can be found in the American Composers Alliance New Lullaby Project Anthology Volume 1 Nights Transfigured. It is on a concert at Bargemusic in Brooklyn on October 6, 2023.
The moment when you knew you wanted to be a musician:
While listening to Scheherazade in elementary school music class. It was clear to me the power music and musicians had in telling stories and coaxing feelings. I wanted to have that ability.
An important skill for a career in music that does not have anything to do with an instrument or making music:
A keen sense/knowledge of purpose and direction.
Two ways you stay motivated:
Always keeping in mind who I’m playing for on the top of my thoughts.
Hitting up other art forms: Dance, Theater, Visual Arts.
Latest Project:
Nationwide performance schedule of Hollywood film composer, George S. Clinton’s violin concerto, “The Rose of Sonora”
What inspired it:
A genuine love of western film soundtracks mixed with a collaboration with George S. Clinton to bring more relevance, fun, and true engagement to today’s audiences in an inclusive and welcoming way.
Where have you performed it:
The 20+ live performances have premiered coast to coast from Florida to California with symphony orchestras.
How do you discover new music?
I let Youtube just keep going, somehow the algorithms find what I didn’t know I needed!
One living and one dead musician that deserves more attention:
The moment when you knew you wanted to be a musician:
I think it was more about when I realized I WAS a musician (and not just a person who played music for fun). And that was not a single moment, more of a growing awareness of who I was–I don’t think that awareness truly happened until undergrad. I had no idea what to do with it, as a life choice, until it was actually happening, but I was determined to figure it out as soon as I got out of grad school (CalArts).
An important skill for a career in music that does not have anything to do with an instrument or making music:
Being easy to work with is probably number one. Because there will always be more skilled musicians than you, who could just as easily get the next gig. But if people enjoy you as a person (and you show up prepared), they will be more likely to rehire you and to recommend you to others.
Two ways you stay motivated:
Walking in the woods as much as possible, more days than not.
Good food, especially good mushrooms.
Latest Project:
Sonic Liberation Players, my contemporary classical music ensemble (est. 2016)
What inspired it:
The California E.A.R. Unit was a fantastic ensemble in Los Angeles. I studied composition with its founder, and worked with several of its members, most significantly the pianist, Vicki Ray. I was a definite fanboy of the group, and what I most liked was how connected the members were. They were all monster players. Sonic Liberation Players has the same type of connection between its members, and we are all beyond supportive of one another.
Who’s on it:
Gabriel Solomon (violin and viola), Leah Bartell (violin, viola, occasional conducting), Joshua Jade (percussion), Andrea Lieberherr Douglass (flute), Jessica Tunick Berens (soprano voice). We may be adding new members this year…
How do you discover new music?
Going to concerts, word of mouth, social media groups.
One living and one dead musician that deserves more attention:
Dead = Stephen “Lucky” Mosko. He was one of my composition teachers and his music is totally original. Mixtures of modernism, post-modernism, anarchy, order, seriousness, humor. Always interesting, and always with moments of sparkling clarity. His trio, For Morton Feldman, deserves to be regularly played.
Living = Somei Satoh. Some of the most beautiful music I know…
The moment when you knew you wanted to be a musician:
I’m not sure there ever was a moment – It just crept up on me when I wasn’t looking.
An important skill for a career in music that does not have anything to do with an instrument or making music:
The ability to create compelling ‘content’ (in whatever form you prefer.)
Two ways you stay motivated:
No.1 – I look back on all I have achieved and congratulate myself that I made it so far, then (No.2) I go look at my bank balance!
Latest Project:
My second album of Philip Glass transcriptions called “The Poet Acts”
What inspired it:
After the success of my first Glass album “Escape’ I really wanted to explore more of his vast output. There’s so much variety in his compositions that I wanted to show that not all of what he does should be termed ‘minimalist’. (Check out his Cello composition ‘Orbit’ or his Piano Etude No.20.)
Who’s on it:
Just me and my guitar.
How do you discover new music?
One piece leads to another, don’t you find?
One living and one dead musician that deserves more attention:
Derek Gripper – a South African guitarist who expanded the guitar repertoire with his Malian Kora transcriptions.
Manolo Sanlucar – can you imagine being a flamenco guitarist and having Paco de Lucia as a contemporary! Yet somehow he found a way – his album Tauromagia is a masterpiece.
The moment when you knew you wanted to be a musician:
I asked my parents for piano lessons at age 4 and was immediately hooked, so I feel like I’ve always known that I wanted to be a musician. Choosing music as a career path came later, with lots of support from family, friends, mentors, and a solid foundation of resilience.
An important skill for a career in music that does not have anything to do with an instrument or making music:
Time management and self-care are very important skills for musicians. Often, as a freelancer, I have to set my own boundaries regarding when I’m working and when I’m not, to manage the pace of my work and adapt to various obstacles that may arise along the way to a project’s fruition. I have found that resisting capitalistic definitions of “success” are key to finding a balance.
Two ways you stay motivated:
I go to concerts or other artistic events and find inspiration in what other people are doing! Deadlines are usually the real motivation though!
Latest Project:
Letters That You Will Not Get: Women’s Voices from the Great War
What inspired it:
“Letters…” is a chamber opera created and performed by an all female/nonbinary team that tells the story of women’s experiences in World War I in their own words. Six singers and string quintet present 21 vignettes written by women from around the world during one of the most catastrophic conflicts in history, which continue to resonate meaningfully today.
Who’s on it:
The American Opera Project commissioned, developed, and premiered it in Brooklyn. Librettists Susan Werbe and Kate Holland, stage direction by Kate Bergstrom, music direction by Mila Henry, design by Sara Brown, Stefania Bulbarella, An-Lin Dauber, and Masha Tsimring, featuring the Opera Cowgirls.
How do you discover new music?
Concerts, various internet radio stations (college, community radio, new music shows), and recommendations from friends
One living and one dead musician that deserves more attention:
Living: Arooj Aftab — I think she’s actually gained quite a bit of notoriety at this point, but when I discovered her music a few years ago, I was totally enraptured.
Dead: Cesária Évora — She is a Cape Verdean legend and had an international career starting in the 80s. May her incredible voice and legacy live on!
Verdant Vibes Album Benefit Show with spoken word artist Christopher Johnson – LINK
June 4, 2023 at 7:30 pm
Grant Recital Hall, Brown University
1 Young Orchard Avenue, Providence, RI
$25–40 suggested donation (notaflof)
Includes free digital download when album is released!
Amanda Feery — On Shuffle
Matt Frey — Lean
Christopher Johnson — TBD
Scott Lee — Engine Trouble
Kirsten Volness — for Anna Atkins
Roseminna Watson — Lullabies for Icarus
Evan Williams — GRIME
We’re recording our first album at Machines with Magnets and are playing this concert to raise funds to cover production and distribution costs. Please join us—we appreciate your support!!
Soprano Tharanga Goonetilleke
Mezzo-soprano Caitlin McKechney
Left to right: Jessica Sandidge, soprano; Tharanga Goonetilleke, soprano; Maria Maxfield, soprano; Caitlin McKechney, mezzo-soprano; Tesia Kwarteng, mezzo-soprano; Sarah Beckham-Turner, soprano
The moment when you knew you wanted to be a musician:
After seeing the film The Pianist.
An important skill for a career in music that does not have anything to do with an instrument or making music:
There are many things that qualify more as personality traits, which can be mutable (though usually not). But in terms of actual skills, I would say learning how to manage money, and learning about the audio/video recording process.
Two ways you stay motivated:
Listening to my favorite pieces of music or favorite musicians & reading a piece I love but have never studied.
Latest Project:
The Brahms Age – the complete Violin Sonatas of Johannes Brahms played on historical instruments (hänssler Classic, HC22081) coming out this summer.
What inspired it:
My enduring connection and aptitude for the music of Brahms is inspired by his unique fusion intense and sensitive romanticism, which provides a vehicle to exhibit the expressive abilities of the violin, and his Bach-influenced architecture that transcends the violin.
Who’s on it:
Myself and Constantine Finehouse
How do you discover new music?
YouTube and recommendations.
One living and one dead musician that deserves more attention:
Next is a little concert featuring Korngold and Rachmaninoff Piano Trios @ Brookhaven in Lexington on May 16 (with Jonathan Senik, piano and Joan Herget, cello)
