Transcript - S1 Ep6: Are We There Yet?
Intro:
This is Mission: Commission [intro].
Melissa Smey:
Hello and welcome to Mission: Commission, a podcast demystifying the process of how classical music gets made. I'm Melissa Smey and I'm the Artistic Director of Miller Theatre at Columbia University. As you know by now, on this podcast we're following the creative journey of three composers. And today, that journey comes to an end. In this, our last episode, we'll hear from our composers -- Courtney Bryan, Marcos Balter, and Augusta Read Thomas, as they enter that final stage of their composition.
In all three pieces, the next step is to hand the score over to the musicians they've been working with; trombonist Andrae Murchison, for Courtney, harpist Parker Ramsay, for Marcos, and percussionist John Corkill, for Gusty. The process of performing and recording, and really bringing these pieces to life, is what comes next for the music. But what comes next for our composers?
Throughout this podcast, we've heard that the creative process is not linear and it's not tidy. So drawing a neat line between the end of one stage and the beginning of another, just isn't how it works. So to what extent is the end of this, the beginning of something else? Listen for how our composers think about endings and beginnings. And remember, you can hear all three pieces right here in this feed after this episode. Let's start with Courtney Bryan, whose piece for trombone and piano is called "Synchronicity."
Hello, Courtney.
Courtney Bryan:
Hi Melissa.
Melissa Smey:
Tell me what happened this week.
Courtney Bryan:
After last week when we spoke, I had an idea of my process and also which material to focus on. And I decided to open the Bible right on the piano stand and open to the book of Psalms. I browsed through Psalms and I found Psalm 98, which had phrases about joy and making a joyful noise. While reading the text, I improvised melody and harmony to go with that, based on the text.
[Improvisation On Piano]
And then I stopped the recording and I browsed through the Psalms further and I found Psalm 123, which wasn't about joy, but it was about dealing with contempt, and it was a prayer for mercy. And I felt drawn to that one. So I did the same process. I turned on the voice memo and I improvised the text of that one in a very different kind of music.
[Continued Improvisation On Piano]
And then at that point, I went to my original idea, which was to improvise on the word "joy."
[Continued Improvisation On Piano]
And so at the higher range of the piano I did these ascending figures that were inspired by the word "joy." And at that point I felt that I had the core material for the piece.
[Continued Improvisation On Piano]
Melissa Smey:
And so then, it's interesting that you were drawn to those two Psalms in particular and the different ways that they could reflect joy and adversity and working through difficult things. There's a little synchronicity there, I think.
Courtney Bryan:
Yeah.
Melissa Smey:
I'm curious, like, can synchronicity, for you, can it be intentional?
Courtney Bryan:
Oh.
Melissa Smey:
Isn't that interesting?
Courtney Bryan:
That is interesting.
Melissa Smey:
I don't know if it can, that's why I ask.
Courtney Bryan:
I wonder about that because I guess I thought about it more this week because I was like, "okay, the piece is inspired by 'joy,' but still the overall piece and the podcast discussions have been inspired by 'synchronicity.'"
Melissa Smey:
Yeah.
Courtney Bryan:
"Can I even control that anyway? Like, how do I, like, place here in the score, ‘synchronicity’?" So, I think it's kind of like waiting to see what happens. Because I imagine based on the kind of synchronicities that Andrae and I have been having in conversation that it will happen musically, but I also know that I can't plan it. And so that's kind of interesting. So like the piece, I don't know how synchronicity will really be part of the actual music.
Melissa Smey:
So it's going well, we've had a good week. Anything that still worries you about the process or the material?
Courtney Bryan:
I'm excited about the unknown, but of course that's the part that also worries me because I want to think of this as like a final piece and trying to basically transcribe loosely what I created. Because the time is so loose, I could write it in different meters and try to write it exactly, but I think that's not the point of it. I was thinking of like the notation and the, some of the like, not old Gregorian chant notation, but like the way you'd see it in a hymnal now where there's just basically like notation for short and long notes.
Melissa Smey:
Yeah.
Courtney Bryan:
And then like sometimes the one line and all the texts goes under that line because it stays on the same note. So I was thinking like, to me, that notation seems to fit the most, like, the idea, because it's all about the texts and I'll outline the texts with the melody notes. But then the other piece, even though it's also kind of rubato, it's still like in a 4/4 meter. And so that one, I'm going to basically write in that meter and just kind of write the melody kind of straight, but just, you know, write a note that's kind of approximate anyway, like to play the melody loosely that way.
Melissa Smey:
Nice. Well, it's funny, I'm glad you mentioned notation because I was reading an interview that you gave about a different piece, and you were talking about notation in that particular piece and that, and you were using different kinds of notation—you were using symbols as a way to evoke a particular feeling. And so I'm glad you talked about notation and I'm curious, is there anything else that you would want to tell us about the way that you're thinking about notation for this piece? Is there anything outside of a kind of "normal practice" whatever that, in air quotes, might mean that you're thinking about for this piece? Would it include symbols? Could it, would it include words as a prompt?
Courtney Bryan:
That's a good question. I think I definitely will have words as a prompt and I could just write them separately on a Word document, like "here are the different ideas" and we go through it. Or I could, what I realized I would like to do, even if it happens later, is to write it in the score where I know that I want it to go. Like now that I have these two themes and maybe over the theme on [Psalm] 123, I might have some like prompts that are for trombone or prompts for piano. And I kind of know that they're going to go in just general area. So I would want to write that into the score.
[MUSIC - COURTNEY PLAYS HYMN ON PIANO]
I was thinking about how much in my recent music, I've been more and more inspired by my, the church music that I grew up with, which was the, in the Anglican church. So some of the Gregorian chant and also the hymns.
[MUSIC CONT. - HYMN ON PIANO]
I played in all kinds of churches and I've learned different styles. Like I learned to play gospel music later. But this Gregorian chant, it's kind of like what I grew up hearing. I was thinking about it more, and especially this past year playing for church every Sunday during the pandemic over the phone, I've just been kind of like really getting acquainted with the hymnal more.
[MUSIC CONT. - HYMN ON PIANO]
So that's part of my process. But then I was thinking about Andrae's church experiences because we had a conversation early on about the whole idea of music ministry, and part of that is playing in churches. But he grew up in a lot of different traditions. Like, he grew up in a Catholic church, and maybe Baptist church too, but he also was part of this tradition United House of Prayer.
[MUSIC - “HE TOUCHED ME” BY MCCULLOUGH SONS OF THUNDER]
It's a church with all the trombones and he says that's what led him to play trombone.
[MUSIC CONT. - “HE TOUCHED ME”]
And so then I thought about it yesterday, like, "well, how could I take a part of this theme and then have like more like, instead of writing out all the parts, just like having instructions to play that theme, but in a House of Prayer style, he could like overlay the trombones?" I don't know. I feel like it's too much for one piece, but what I was thinking about that yesterday, how I got excited about like approaching the material and thinking about different, like different musical traditions that, individually for us, like, that we have done, like, in churches or in different contexts and how to include that.
Melissa Smey:
Yeah. I love that. I say include it all. But mine is not the opinion that counts. Okay. So I have two final questions for you. First one is how does this process go forward now with Andrae?
Courtney Bryan:
So the next step is us figuring out how we're going to do the recording, but the idea of going into a studio was complicated due to COVID, so we're going to do a home recording. But also the next step is to give, you know, finish a score and give that to him ahead of time. And then, once we record everything, there's another step after that, where I want to, you know, I guess there'll be the editing of the files, but also that's when the final form will be created. Yeah, as much as I'll have a score, it's still not the final piece until we record.
Melissa Smey:
Yeah, no. And then, so then I wondered with the other pieces, you know, when you finish them, when is it done? Right? Like when, so I'm glad you talked about this. When is it actually done? So you record it and then you'll edit it and then you'll make adjustments to the score. Is it done?
Courtney Bryan:
Maybe.
Melissa Smey:
So when you hear other pieces that you’ve finished, like let's say at the premiere, is it done, or are there parts where you're still saying, "Oh, I could change this"?
Courtney Bryan:
Most music, I would say, I see as done, just based on it being like part of my overall output and that I keep doing different things and exploring it further in different projects. But every now and then I do have a project that I feel like this piece is very complete. Like this piece is what I had to say. And so I do notice the difference when I have a piece like that and I can't really control it. Like, I don't know what makes it happen, but there's some pieces, one example is a piece I did -- "Yet Unheard."
[MUSIC - "YET UNHEARD" BY COURTNEY BRYAN]
That was a piece where once it was performed, I felt it was a complete, like, I felt like I had said and done everything I had intended to do. Another one is my piece "Sanctum" for orchestra. Those were two pieces, and they were both about police brutality, so I don't know what it was about those two—but then a lot of pieces I feel like, "okay, yeah, I explored this idea and I could, if I had another chance to do it, maybe I'd leave it the same. Or maybe I'd add this thing or maybe I'd take out that part." You know, there always feels like there's like the editing voice, you know, that continues when you listen.
Melissa Smey:
Courtney, thank you.
Courtney Bryan:
Thank you, Melissa.
Melissa Smey:
You can listen to "Synchronicity" in its full form right after this episode.
Onto our next composer, Marcos Balter, who's working with harpist, Parker Ramsay.
Hello, Marcos. How are you?
Marcos Balter:
Hi Melissa. Good, how are you?
Melissa Smey:
I'm good. It's nice to talk with you.
Marcos Balter:
It's nice to chat with you, too. It's been fun to have like a little catch up every week.
Melissa Smey:
It sure has, glad to hear it. Well, so, this might be a hard question then for you to answer, and maybe, we’ll see, you'll be like shooting daggers at me after I ask it, but I'm curious if you would be able to, could you describe the piece? Is it in a place where you could describe it for me?
Marcos Balter:
It is. Finally.
Melissa Smey:
Wow!
Marcos Balter:
The main idea of the piece is to play with the limitations of the harp as an instrument, because one of the hardest things on writing for harp is that it is built as a diatonic instrument.
Parker Ramsay:
[Diatonic Scales And Arpeggiated Chord Progressions On Harp played by Parker Ramsay]
Marcos Balter:
You always have within an octave seven notes, and that limits you in many ways, you know, the kind of music that you can write for the harp.
Melissa Smey:
Yes.
Marcos Balter:
So in exploring some sounds of the harp with Parker, one of the things that we have been talking about is scordatura, de-tuning some strings. And what I'm doing then is choosing specific parts of the harp and considerably de-tuning some of the strings.
[MUSIC - "OMOLU" BY MARCOS BALTER]
So I can build not only fully chromatic but even microtonal structures within what the harp has to offer.
[MUSIC CONT. - "OMOLU" BY MARCOS BALTER]
So it's a way of kind of cheating the anatomy of the instrument in order to create something that wouldn't be, quote unquote, "idiomatic" to it otherwise.
Melissa Smey:
Yes. And so is it the kind of thing where he'll set that at the beginning of the piece and then it stays throughout the piece or is it something that he will adjust in the course of playing the piece?
Marcos Balter:
It will be from the get-go. And, you know, I think that in different situations, you know, if this were a piece for a live performance, I would be a little concerned and I would have to talk to Parker about how that would affect the performance of other pieces, if you would need a second harp in order to not do all those changes. But I'm a firm believer of composing for the occasion and thinking of the occasion as the framing of the work.
Melissa Smey:
Yeah.
Marcos Balter:
And he is playing nothing else, but that piece.
Melissa Smey:
Yes.
Marcos Balter:
You know, so I am de-tuning the hell out of it.
Melissa Smey:
So in a way that's, that's actually an opportunity that's available to you because, so, there's because there's so many limitations in this project, right? But here's a place where you had a freedom that you might not have if you were like, if you were composing for Parker to have a solo harp recital, and he was going to have multiple pieces, he'd have to have multiple harps potentially then.
Marcos Balter:
Absolutely.
Melissa Smey:
Yeah.
Marcos Balter:
I mean, and that might happen, you know?
Melissa Smey:
Yes. Sure.
Marcos Balter:
Like maybe the project will be successful and Parker decides to play it again. But I never really think of the afterlife of a work. That's not how I operate, which I know that it's a concern for a lot of my colleagues, you know, thinking of like, "Oh, the legs of this piece, you know, or the legs of this work." I have decided awhile ago that that's not my place. That if things are to have legs, they will create legs. And that there are always things that we don't even foresee, you know? So in the very near future, maybe a fully chromatic harp will be the standard, you know? Who am I to try to guess? So I am not thinking of any of those things. I'm just thinking of what is pertinent to this specific occasion.
Melissa Smey:
At what point will the piece take on a life of its own? Like at what point will you kind of turn it over to Parker and then it's released into the universe? Are we there yet? Does it, is there a, like a little more fine tuning?
Marcos Balter:
There's definitely more fine tuning, you know? So I have the, the nuts and bolts are sort of, like, in place. But now it's, to me, actually the most important phase, which is really making that idea into something, you know, that is artistic, that is a work of art. And I'm still kind of living with some of these gestures and then of course, giving it to Parker, and Parker trying it out and having some kind of back and forth, and seeing what seems to work best. Because, you know, there's just as much as one can conceptually do without jumping in that collaborative mind frame, at least for me. So it's, it has a face, it has a name, but it hasn't been born yet.
Melissa Smey:
Okay. I like it. You described in one of our earlier conversations that when you're kind of getting to know the piece and that the ideas are coming to you, that sometimes they feel foreign to you and that when they do that's how you know you're onto something. Has that been the case with this piece?
Marcos Balter:
Yeah. I'm finally sort of like hearing some gestures.
[MUSIC CONT. - "OMOLU" BY MARCOS BALTER]
And there is this sort of like semi-automatic thing that happens in my brain that I just start hearing bits and pieces of passages, you know, and trying to capture them.
[MUSIC CONT. - "OMOLU" BY MARCOS BALTER]
And that is coming more concretely now that I know how the piece works. I think that it kind of liberates my brain to wander in more specific directions. So yeah, I'm trying to capture it all. It's been interesting because I am finishing yet another project at the same time, which is not something that I do usually. I usually just go from one to another. But because of the time constraints of this project and the other one, I had to overlap them. So I, I'm doing a little bit of a dance here, which is— it's making the process flow in a slightly different way than usually my ideas do. But I think it's for the better, you know, I think that because we are all in lockdown, being confined with an idea in a confined environment is particularly unpleasant. So having different points to jump to, gives me, creates a little more space and makes me feel a little less claustrophobic, physically and musically.
Melissa Smey:
Okay. So this question might be hard to answer, but to what extent is it true that endings are actually really beginnings in your approach to composing music?
Marcos Balter:
Almost always. Ideas mature, you know, some ideas may come back, but they'll come back different than what they were before, because you know, they've grown in different ways and, I guess what I'm saying is that not every single project is necessarily related to the previous one or the next one. But just because they temporally exist as a succession, it is also impossible for you to forget, you know? So in my case, at least, it's not that I am chasing down a style or any kind of a coherence of catalog. You know, I am not curating my oeuvre as I, as I'm doing it. I'm definitely not doing that because I'm not a musicologist. But I'm also me, you know? I can't unlearn how to do, you know, things that are very natural to me or things that I've invested a lot of time learning how to do. So it's the river run thing, you know, it's still the river, but it's never the same.
Melissa Smey:
That's beautiful. Thank you.
Marcos Balter:
Thank you, Melissa. Thank you for the opportunity, for creating this platform, and thank you for the weeks of fun that we've had.
Parker Ramsay:
[Arpeggiated Chord Progressions On Harp played by Parker Ramsay]
Melissa Smey:
Marcos's piece for Mission: Commission is called "Omolu," and you can hear it right after this episode.
And now our last composer in this episode, Augusta Read Thomas, or Gusty, who's working with percussionist, John Corkill.
Hello, Gusty. Tell me what happened this week and how you've drawn things to a close with the new piece.
Augusta Read Thomas:
Well, thank you for asking. I basically just went into a marathon in terms of finding and discovering and uncovering and unfolding all of the nuances and details of the second movement of our piece. And spent many long days working, which is what I love to do actually -- to get up early in the morning and work till late at night, and just keep with it with total concentration and focus.
Melissa Smey:
So in this last episode, as we talk about the afterlife of a piece, I want to ask you this question: to what extent is it true that endings are actually beginnings in how you work?
Augusta Read Thomas:
I think you're exactly right, Melissa, that endings are really beginnings. I've always thought of my entire body of work as a chainlink: one piece ends, and the next one links right on, and the next one, and then there's one link that has three links coming off of it, and then that link has two, and then there's a little cul-de-sac or a little flower shaped thing or a circle, and then, and then it goes off in a different direction. But if you zoom out, it's basically a huge chainlink. And what one might learn from one piece you can carry on to the next. And those might be things of any kind, something very nuts and boltsy like, "wow, I really liked the harmony that I created in that piece. Let me continue to work harmonically in that direction." But then there are also deeper links such as following your own star and being true to yourself and looking for integrity and truth and beauty of any kind and, you know, sometimes yeah, searching your soul across many pieces. So I consider every piece just the step to the next adventure.
Melissa Smey:
That's really beautiful. Once they're done, they're finished, the pieces, and they're released out into the world, do you have favorites?
Augusta Read Thomas:
That's a really interesting question. It's fascinating. I'm 56 now, and I've been writing since I was a little girl and I've been writing like really kind of intensely since I was like 15. So 40 years I've been writing music. I mean, it's kind of crazy to think about and doing it every single day. So it's very hard for me to say, "Oh, I like that one better than this one." And it's also interesting because at the time, let's say a piece from 30 years ago and it was played and whatever happened with it, it got a good review or not a good review, or multiple performances, or three recordings, or no recording, or whatever happened. Then you think, "Oh, that wasn't very good." And then like 10 years later, I'm like, "oh my God! That was my best piece!" And then 15 years later, I'm like, "oh no, I could have done that better now." And then like 20 years later, like, "gosh, I wish I still had that part of myself. Listen to me when I was 20 years younger," you know, whatever. So you sort of go back and forth with criticizing yourself and then like being, "wow." You know, it flips. And it's also very hard to compare large orchestral works with pieces with orchestra and chorus, concertos with, let's say, a piece for girls chorus, and then compare that to a solo piano piece, and then compare that to a trio, an octet. It's very hard to compare across genres.
Melissa Smey:
Yes.
Augusta Read Thomas:
But I'm wary about it because as I say, 10 years from now, I might change my opinion. And it's also interesting, because sometimes players teach you back about your own piece. So for instance, I had this one experience where I wrote a piece and when it was being played, I was like, "wow. That's like one of my best pieces." This was 25 years ago. And then it got a bad review. And then I'm, "oh, that was my worst piece I ever wrote." You know? And then my friends were like, "we want to play that piece." And I'm like, "no, you cannot play it. Never. It's horrible. It's the worst piece I ever wrote. Forget it." And then they wrote me back three weeks later and they said, "we like it." Then I was like, "you can't like it. It's horrible. Just forget about it." Then they wrote back about a month later and said, "okay, we're going to come to your living room. We're just going to play it for you. You don't have to let us play it out in the universe, but we've learned it. And we really like it. And we would like to play it for you." And I said, "all right, but it's, I'm not going to let you play it, but sure."
[MUSIC - "RUMI SETTINGS" BY AUGUSTA READ THOMAS]
So then they come to my house and they play it for me. And I'm like, "that's one of my best pieces," you know? So you kind of flip and that piece has now had like four recordings and 300 performances. And, you know, it's sort of out there living.
[MUSIC CONT. - "RUMI SETTINGS" BY AUGUSTA READ THOMAS]
But I don't think of it as my piece. I think of it as their piece.
[MUSIC CONT. - "RUMI SETTINGS" BY AUGUSTA READ THOMAS]
Because they're the ones who told me, they're like, "this is good Gusty. Like, we want to play this, we want to tour it. We want to record it. We want to take it on tour next year as well." But I wouldn't have ever even sent it to them. So it's one of those things where sometimes the player then owns the piece. So I never think of that as mine and, in a way, the piece that I'm making right now I will always think of it as Miller Theatre and John Corkill's piece. It just is, that's the way it is in my brain. I happen to have made it or found it, but then you have to give it away and let great organizations like Miller Theatre, you know, give it its life and let John, you know, shed all those notes and play this thing.
Melissa Smey:
I love that. Yeah. And the idea that you can hone an interpretation of a piece over time, it's all, there's something beautiful and lovely there which is sometimes hard in new music, right? There's always, there's this sense that the premiere is the exciting thing. I don't feel that way. I think it's important to contribute new music to the field. And I think it's important to commission new music. But to me, I think what is equally important is to be able to facilitate an environment where pieces can be heard and that it gives musicians and ensembles and opportunity to hone an interpretation over time, right? Cause you think about like a Beethoven string quartet and, you know, a quartet we'll play that over the course of a career of 30 years and their interpretation is absolutely going to change in that time. And I love it when new music can have that same opportunity.
Augusta Read Thomas:
I think you're absolutely correct. I agree with every word you said. And when somebody is in the stage of shedding notes and learning the piece in laying it all down, there's a certain kind of tension, like "got to get the notes right." And then once they've played it publicly 5 times and they've recorded it and then they play it time 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, there, it's in their pocket. It's just in the pocket. They don't have to think about it to have most mostly memorized bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. Play the thing. Zoom, zoom, zoom. And there's a different kind of a way of playing.
Melissa Smey:
Yeah, totally agree. Well, so I wonder if you would be willing to reflect for a minute as someone who's nurtured a creative practice as a composer for such a long time, if there's anything that you could reflect on kind of lessons that you've learned or things that are important to you that maybe weren't true in the beginning about what it means to be a human nurturing that kind of creative practice over several decades.
Augusta Read Thomas:
Some of the words that leap to my mind have to do with integrity, honesty, being true to yourself, being very supportive of others, following your own path, and having your own voice.
In my own music, I'm always about music. It's always musical. I've also never been trendy. You know, I've just been doing it for so many decades, but really following my own ear and voice and soul. And I would say that to every young composer, just be you and whatnot. I mean, I remember meeting a young composer. This was, you know, 15 years ago or something who was like 17. And I said, "how are you? And what are you working on?" And the person said, "well, I'm a minimalist." And I thought, "wow, you're only 17. You don't have to say what you are. I don't, I'm not going to put you in a box. You don't have to put you in a box. I don't want to put anyone in a box. I don't want to be put in a box."
I want to approach people for who they are and what they stand for and who their soul is and what happens sometimes isn't—in our profession, we start talking in these isms -- let's have a something-ist and we'll have a something-ist and a something-ist. And I think it's extremely—I never speak in those terms, let me put it that way. And I wouldn't want someone to put me in a box. And if you have to describe my music, you have to actually listen to the music and describe the music. You're not going to be able to say sort of some nice little category that is Augusta Read Thomas. It's like a whole body of work that's consistent. But it's its own, like, journey.
Melissa Smey:
I love it. So, do you ever experience a creative block?
Augusta Read Thomas:
I have to confess, I never experience a creative block. I wish I could say that I do because I kind of wish I would get a creative block sometimes because, typically what happens is I finish a piece and then I start the next piece seven minutes later, I just go right into something. I want to have a project. I have an idea. I'm working something out in my body, my mind, my ears. And sometimes you wish you could turn it off. You actually do. It's like, "okay Gusty, maybe take a day off" or something. But the problem is I have all these ideas and life is short and I love making music. And if somebody says, will you make us one of these, I'm like, "yeah, let's do that. Sounds fun. Let's do it," you know?
And then I started thinking about it, and when I listen to music, I get so excited. Sometimes I just have to like jump up and I want to go right to my piano, I just want to start writing music. So sometimes when I go to a concert, like the Chicago Symphony, I live next door to them and I will love them. And I go all the time to the Chicago Symphony. And I love everything that they do. I have to go home at the intermission because I'm so excited by having heard something on the first half I'm like, I don't think I can sit here. Even though I want to hear the second half and I love them. But, you know, you get so excited about things.
Or for instance, if I listened to one movement from the Well-Tempered Clavier, my goodness, Bach has gotten in there and entire universe. There's an entire life and cosmos, in this little two and a half minutes is one of the best composition-teachers you could ever imagine, you know, anything that he wrote. And so then you get excited. You're like, "Oh wow, that's—I want to make music." And also when I see things in nature, the beauty of the trees, or the beauty of a garden and the variety of leaves and foliage and colors and stages of growth. And it's just, I feel fortunate to be alive and I've worked so hard at music since I was a little girl that I want to spend whatever time I have left on this planet, making music.
Melissa Smey:
That's so beautiful. I think that's where we'll leave it.
Melissa Smey:
You can hear Gusty's piece for Mission: Commission, right after this episode.
I hope you've enjoyed listening to this podcast as much as we've enjoyed making it. My inner music nerd loved asking composers questions I've always wanted to know—how they make decisions, where their inspiration comes from, how they write music even when they're not inspired. And I hope you've heard something personal from our composers that you can relate to and connect with. Something that draws you closer to the music itself, because classical music is truly for everyone.
This episode was produced by Golda Arthur and me with Adrienne Stortz, Lauren Cognetti, and Taylor Riccio. Erick Gomez is our sound designer and engineer.
This episode featured audio excerpts of pieces written by Augusta Read Thomas, Courtney, Bryan, and Marcos Balter. Visit missioncommissionpodcast.com for a full listing of pieces, performers and recordings included in this and every episode.
Major support for Mission: Commission is provided by the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Support for Miller Theatre is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, and the New York State Legislature and the Howard Gilman Foundation. Support for contemporary music is provided by the Aaron Copland Fund for Music and the Amphion Foundation. Mission: Commission is a production of Miller Theatre at Columbia University.
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