In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with John Devore about his phenomenal memoir, Theatre Kids: A True Tale of Off-Off Broadway (Applause, 2024).
Friendship. Grief. Jazz hands.
In 2004, in a small, windowless theater in then-desolate Williamsburg, Brooklyn, an eccentric family of broke art-school survivors staged an experimental, four-hour adap ... Show More
Jul 8
Nan Z. Da, "The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear" (Princeton UP, 2025)
At the start of Shakespeare's famous tragedy, King Lear promises to divide his kingdom based on his daughters' professions of love, but portions it out before hearing all of their answers. For Nan Da, this opening scene sparks a reckoning between King Lear, one of the cruelest an ... Show More
39m 17s
Jul 1
Cheryl Thompson, "Canada and the Blackface Atlantic: Performing Slavery, Conflict and Freedom, 1812-1895" (Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2025)
Canada and the Blackface Atlantic: Performing Slavery, Conflict, and Freedom, 1812-1897 (Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2025) traces the origins of theatre, dance, and concert singing in Canada and their connection to British and American song and dance traditions. When theatr ... Show More
1h 18m
Jun 27
Shayna M. Silverstein, "Fraught Balance: The Embodied Politics of Dabke Dance Music in Syria" (Wesleyan UP, 2024)
A vivid and intricate study of dance music traditions that reveals the many contradictions of being Syrian in the 21st century Dabke, one of Syria's most beloved dance music traditions, is at the center of the country's war and the social tensions that preceded conflict. Drawing ... Show More
58m 30s
Apr 30
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
31m 39s
Aug 2023
Bonnie Gordon, "Voice Machines: The Castrato, the Cat Piano, and Other Strange Sounds" (U Chicago Press, 2023)
Italian courts and churches began employing castrato singers in the late sixteenth century. By the eighteenth century, the singers occupied a celebrity status on the operatic stage. Constructed through surgical alteration and further modified by rigorous training, castrati inhabi ... Show More
57m 29s
Oct 2022
The Clarinet in Arabic Music | Kinan Azmeh
Kinan performed three musical pieces and spoke about his work as a composer.Originally from Damascus, Syria Kinan Azmeh is a soloist, composer, and improvisor. He has performed in places such as the Opera Bastille, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Damascus Opera House, and more. Kinan’ ... Show More
1 h
Dec 2021
David Sulzer, "Music, Math, and Mind: The Physics and Neuroscience of Music" (Columbia UP, 2021)
Why does a clarinet play at lower pitches than a flute? What does it mean for sounds to be in or out of tune? How are emotions carried by music? Do other animals perceive sound like we do? How might a musician use math to come up with new ideas?This book offers a lively explorati ... Show More
1h 16m
Aug 2022
Violin & Maqam | Layth Sidiq
In this Quartertones event, we listened to Layth Sidiq as he performed three musical pieces, of which two are composed by him and talked to him about these pieces.Created & Hosted by Mikey Muhanna, afikra Edited by: Ramzi RammanTheme music by: Tarek Yamani https://www.instagram.c ... Show More
30m 1s