Today we speak to Hildegard Westerkamp, the pioneering composer, radio artist and sound ecologist. The centerpiece of all of her work is a close attention to the sonic environment and its relation to culture. We will listen to excerpts of six soundscape compositions made between 1975 and 2005, all of which reward the close listener–conceptually and aesthetic ... Show More
May 26
Andrea Zarafshon Moore, "Audible Loss: New Music and the Crisis of Memory" (Fordham UP, 2025)
It is a compulsion of the human race to find a way to memorialize those we have lost and why we have lost them, from a gravestone of a loved one to war monuments that honor thousands who died in battle. In Audible Loss: New Music and the Crisis of Memory (Fordham UP, 2025), Andre ... Show More
1h 11m
May 24
Samuel Markind, "Music Between Your Ears: How Musical Engagement Powers the Human Brain" (JHU Press, 2025)
Explores the profound power of music to influence brain function and well-being. IPA 2026 Distinguished Favorite in the Music Category Why does music influence how we feel so deeply--and what are the scientific mechanisms behind this phenomenon? In Music Between Your Ears: How M ... Show More
1h 1m
May 24
Shane Breaux, "Reverberations of Culture: Racialized Performance in Early Twentieth-Century Musical Variety by Just a Buncha Clowns" (Routledge, 2026)
Reverberations of Culture: Racialized Performance in Early Twentieth-Century Musical Variety by Just a Buncha Clowns (Routledge, 2026) by Dr. Shane Breaux examines musical variety clowns and the broad array of racial and ethnic impersonations they performed on four distinct touri ... Show More
40m 52s
Apr 2025
The Deaf Composer: How Beethoven wrote music he couldn’t hear
What happens when one of history’s greatest composers begins to lose the very sense he relies on most? In this episode, we explore how Ludwig van Beethoven continued to create groundbreaking music even as his world fell into silence. Along the way, we uncover the myths, invention ... Show More
28m 39s
May 2021
Ep 46 // GOLSHIFTEH FARAHANI
GOLSHIFTEH FARAHANI is not quick to fill the silence, but she can't help but fill her surroundings with light. Leaving a space open for divine interference, she sits with Arman in her living room. FARAHANI takes a closer look into the cultures, diaspora, languages, and frequencie ... Show More
1h 36m
May 2022
Ep 69 // PAUL KALKBRENNER
Nearly 4 years since they last saw each other in LA, PAUL KALKBRENNER meets Arman in his emerald green 1961 Maserati Ghibli for a chat in BERLIN. Bonding over a love of Mozart, KALKBRENNER mentions he was a terrible instrumentalist as a child, having learned and suffered on the T ... Show More
48m 40s
Mar 2024
Laurie Anderson's songs of duality
<p>Laurie Anderson is bucket list. The artist, violinist, and poet has been exploring the world in her unique way for decades. She caught our breath releasing O Superman, and has continued to bring play, humour, and curiosity into all she does.</p><p>Laurie was also the yin to Lo ... Show More
45m 32s
<p>Following her highly acclaimed debut album, a programme of Offenbach coloratura arias, for Alpha Classics – <em>Gramophone</em>'s current Label of the Year – <strong>Jodie Devos</strong> turns to the English language for 'And Love Said …'.</p> <p>James Jolly caught up with her ... Show More
