Relevant Tones

Composer Brent Michael Davids discusses his powerful new work Requiem for America: Singing for the Invisible People—a sweeping musical reckoning with the genocidal foundations of the United States, told through Indigenous voices.
Blending Native American musical traditions with orchestral forces, the piece confronts history through texts both personal and political, culminating in a message of resilience: “We Are Still Here.”
We also feature a selection of Davids’s music, offering a deeper window into his singular artistic voice and lifelong mission to center Native perspectives in contemporary classical music.

Esteemed composer Bernard Rands has passed away, a huge loss to our musical community. We honor his memory by re-airing this interview with host Seth Boustead from September 2017.
Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Bernard Rands reflects on a remarkable career spanning more than a hundred published works and recordings.
In this conversation with Relevant Tones, he shares insights into his musical language, creative process, and the ideas that have shaped his work
Produced by Sarah Zwinklis

Relevant Tones returns after our hiatus to bring you some of our favorite albums (and concerts) of the year.
It was a great year for music!
Hosted by Seth Boustead, Matthew Dosland, Stephen Anthony Rawson and Austin Williams.

MUSIC
For Adrienne I by Martin Gendelman
What Stories We Tell by George Hurd
Study No. 1 by Jessie Montgomery
Yanga by Gabriela Ortiz
At Which Point No. 1: Prologue by Wang Lu
Groung (Crane) by Mary Kouyoumdijian
More Mania by the Dirty Projectors
Thoka by Aniima
Moraine Lake by Frank Horvat

At the World’s Edge is a chamber music festival inspired by its roots in the Southern Alps of New Zealand and forging ties to Chicago and beyond.
Host Seth Boustead talks with violinist and founding Artistic Director Benjamin Baker about his vision for the festival and features music the festival has commissioned.

MUSIC
Yabo by Salina Fisher
String Trio No. 2 by Huw Watkins (excerpt)
Mata Au by Salina Fisher
Four Postcards by Gareth Farr

Host Austin Williams and composer guest Neil Quigley chat about Neil’s music and its relationship to speculative history.
Neil explains how his relationship to the Kilkenny Electroacoustic Research Laboratory is largely based in that practice. Among many other projects Neil created this love letter to his hometown and lans to wrap up the anthology in the coming year or so.

Check more of Neil’s work at his band camp:
Set List
1. Helga Hölzel ( Neil Quigley ) - Early Impulse Study 1 - St. Mary's Cathedral (1968)
2. Kenny Phelan  ( Neil Quigley ) - A Psychogeographic sonification of Fairy Forts located near the banks of the Three Sisters  I, II, III
3. Tony Quinn ( Neil Quigley ) - Footing
4. Physique -   French Lick, Indiana
5. Physique -  Desperate Housewives S04E05
6. Physique - Wunder-Baum