A podcast about the most fascinating time in classical music history: right now. Relevant Tones features interviews with and music by some of the most creative figures in contemporary classical music, themed shows exploring new trends in classical music and frequent live streamed shows featuring conversations and music performances. Hosted and produced by Seth Boustead, Austin Williams, Stephen Anthony Rawson and Matt Dotson.
Listen in the Podli app 🎧
Follow your favourite podcasts, listen offline and in the car with CarPlay and Android Auto, and always pick up where you left off. Free to try.
Sep 28, 2026 · 50:12
Composers have long explored the percussive possibilities of traditionally non-percussive instruments, striking, tapping, scraping, and knocking on their bodies to uncover sounds…
Aug 31, 2026 · 52:47
The late Canadian composer Jocelyn Morlock left behind music of extraordinary color, imagination and emotional depth. The new album, Artemis Sleeps , celebrates her remarkable…
Aug 17, 2026 · 1:11:19
Formed in 2021 in Madison, Wisconsin, the Beltline Bones are “a new music ensemble disguised as a trombone quartet” with an omnivorous approach to new music, combining the…
Jul 27, 2026 · 48:39
The voice is our oldest and most familiar instrument, yet composers continue to discover astonishing new possibilities within it. Music for the voice alone invites us to listen…
Jul 13, 2026 · 58:30
The Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival is an ambitious summer program that brings together young string players to work intensively with leading professionals while performing…
Jul 6, 2026 · 51:20
Best known for her acclaimed work with ballet companies across the country, Cristina Spinei has developed a distinctive musical language built on melodic cells, propulsive…
Jun 29, 2026 · 54:25
On this episode of Relevant Tones we highlight Ann Arbor, Michigan’s Third Place [MusicFest] as they celebrate their 7th year. Third Place curates an annual, four day performing…
Jun 1, 2026 · 53:44
In the second half of our conversation with conductor, composer and producer Peter Askim , we take a deeper look at his efforts to champion living composers through initiatives…
May 11, 2026 · 1:00:56
Composer, conductor, and producer Peter Askim joins Seth Boustead to discuss building vibrant communities around contemporary classical music through the NC State 10-Year…
Apr 20, 2026 · 1:01:17
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…
Mar 6, 2026 · 58:20
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…
Dec 29, 2025 · 1:03:31
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…
Jul 30, 2025 · 58:19
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…
Jun 9, 2025 · 1:08:02
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…
May 19, 2025 · 1:06:03
Join host Austin Williams as he speaks to members of the Coalescent Saxophone Quartet. The quartet consists of members Nathan Bogert, Michael Shults, Nick Zoulek, and Drew…
May 12, 2025 · 1:04:51
Join host Austin Williams and new music ensemble Hot Second ( Rebecca McDaniel Percussion and Dylan Feldpausch Violin/Viola) as we discuss their unique ensemble and its take on…
May 5, 2025 · 53:17
2023 and the first anthology has just been published by New Music Shelf. This extraordinary album features world-premiere recordings of art songs commissioned by Strickling who…
Apr 28, 2025 · 1:02:32
Cohosts Austin Williams and Stephen Rawson share what they have been listening to recently. Austin shares about an anthology of Irish Electroacoustic music that he became privy…
Apr 14, 2025 · 1:13:45
Chiayu Hsu is an active composer of contemporary concert music and associate professor of composition at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Born in Banciao, Taiwan, Chiayu…
Apr 7, 2025 · 1:01:04
Host Austin Williams curates a listening experience with themes of feedback. Feedback is often associated with harsh sounds that are created when a microphone is placed too close…
Mar 31, 2025 · 57:08
Access Contemporary Music's popular Sound of Silent Film Festival celebrates twenty years of presenting modern silent films with newly commissioned scores performed live. Host…
Mar 24, 2025 · 1:00:57
Host Austin Williams has guest Liam Marchant on the show to discuss the relationship to kinetics and music, relating to a variety of aspects within the music. We use specific…
Mar 17, 2025 · 55:45
Copland House is a major force in contemporary American music dedicated to fostering greater public awareness and appreciation of our nation’s composers and their work in all of…
Mar 10, 2025 · 57:39
Copland House is a major force in contemporary American music dedicated to fostering greater public awareness and appreciation of our nation’s composers and their work in all of…
Mar 3, 2025 · 1:06:25
Michael Ned Holte is a writer, independent curator, and educator based in Los Angeles, as well as the Associate Dean for the School of Arts at CalArts. He has held exhibitions at…
Feb 24, 2025 · 1:02:16
Yuval Noah Harari’s breathtakingly expansive book Sapien s is a monumental achievement that comprehensively summarizes human history, behavior and thought from primordial times…
Feb 11, 2025 · 57:59
Shara Nova is a composer, vocalist, and producer currently creating from Detroit, Michigan. Shara has released six albums under the moniker My Brightest Diamond and has composed…
Feb 3, 2025 · 59:32
Host Seth Boustead features a variety of pieces by composers who ask the performers to vocalize in some way while also playing their instrument. Music by Frederick Rzewski,…
Jan 27, 2025 · 57:26
Access Contemporary Music has just released the second season of their PBS series Songs About Buildings and Moods in which they commission music inspired by historically and…
Dec 17, 2024 · 1:02:48
We feature music from some of our favorite albums of 2024. Music selected by Austin Williams, Stephen Anthony Rawson, Neve Jahn and Matthew Dosland.
Dec 9, 2024 · 1:02:38
Wedge: Moments of growth and Decay. Join host Austin Williams as he discusses a variety of works that are heavily influenced by shape. Shape is a very simple concept in…
Dec 3, 2024 · 1:04:42
Join host Austin Williams and we discuss how the concept of granulation finds its ay into many new and old(er) works of music. Granular activities are something we all experience…
Nov 26, 2024 · 59:47
Brooklyn-based flutist Roberta Michel is dedicated to the music of our time. She has commissioned and premiered hundreds of new works and has worked with many notable composers…
Nov 18, 2024 · 57:33
Alarm Will Sound is a ground-breaking 20-member chamber orchestra that challenges and reshapes musical conventions through performances of music by today's composers. Artistic…
Nov 11, 2024 · 1:03:34
The latest in our recurring feature On the Radar features new music currently top of mind for hosts Austin Williams, Neve Jahn, Stephen Rawson and Matthew Dosland. Featuring…
Nov 4, 2024 · 58:30
Tobias Picker is a celebrated American composer of operas and orchestral music called by BBC magazine "one of the most consistently interesting among the present generation of US…
Oct 28, 2024 · 1:17:11
In this live taping of Access Contemporary Music’s award-winning podcast Relevant Tones we'll talk with John McWhorter about the development of language and perform several new…
Oct 21, 2024 · 56:48
Host Austin Williams speaks with composer and theorist Reiko Futing about his latest album brokenSong. Austin and Dr. Futing had some pointed conversation regarding post modern…
Oct 7, 2024 · 1:03:45
Bonnie Whiting is a percussionist, composer, and educator based in Seattle. She's the Chair of Percussion Studies at the University of Washington and the Co-Artistic Director of…
Sep 30, 2024 · 1:16:22
Established in New York City in 1998, the string quartet ETHEL has been described as “indefatigable and eclectic” (The New York Times), “vital and brilliant” (The New Yorker).…
Sep 23, 2024 · 48:38
Access Contemporary Music's Thirsty Ears Festival is Chicago's only classical music street festival. For two days we close Wilson Ave. in front of our music school for stellar…
Sep 16, 2024 · 56:32
Composer, improviser, and producer David Crowell speaks with host Austin Williams about their new album Point/Cloud. This post minimalist gem explores collaborations with a…
Sep 10, 2024 · 57:43
Erin Rogers is a saxophonist, composer, and improviser dedicated to new and experimental music. Her “decidedly future-oriented” music has been described as “whimsical,…
Aug 26, 2024 · 50:43
Austin and Elori speak about Elori’s recently release Drifts and Surfaces. This sparks a lively conversation about signal processing, compositional process and the majestic and…
Aug 19, 2024 · 1:09:09
It’s part two of our coverage of SPLICE institute 10. Host Austin Williams chats with a number of organizers about the festival and it’s history along with some featured guest…
Aug 12, 2024 · 1:04:15
Join host Austin Gray Williams on this deep dive into the people, music, and culture that create the SPLICE Institute. SPLICE is a week long intensive focusing on electroacoustic…
Aug 5, 2024 · 58:19
In a series of ten chamber concerts, the Zafraan Ensemble relates the history of Berlin from the 1910s to today through music. Each concert represents a decade, in which a work…
Jul 29, 2024 · 1:03:28
In a series of ten chamber concerts, the Zafraan Ensemble relates the history of Berlin from the 1910s to today through music. Each concert represents a decade, in which a work…
Jul 22, 2024 · 1:15:57
Matthew Dosland interviews composer, performer, and teacher Vijay Iyer. They discuss Iyer's early work in music cognition, his courses and teaching methods, as well as his most…
Jul 15, 2024 · 1:13:00
We commemorate the anniversary of the passing of Robert Black on Relevant Tones. Robert Black was an absolute force in the Double Bass repertoire and new music. Through…
Jul 8, 2024 · 56:09
Austin Williams speaks with Same Wells and Adam Vidiksis about their recent collaboration with composer Scott Miller. Through speaking with Adam and Sam, Austin learned that the…
Jul 1, 2024 · 1:10:11
Wayne Horvitz is the leader and principal composer for a number of groups including The Snowghost Trio, Sweeter Than the Day, the Gravitas Quartet, and The Royal Room Collective…
Jun 24, 2024 · 55:11
Composer Ian Wilson's ten-movement piece Orpheus Down is inspired by the story of Orpheus’ journey to the Underworld to bring his lover Eurydice back from the dead. The myth and…
Jun 17, 2024 · 57:13
Composer/guitarist/rapper/Di.J./producer Gene Pritsker has written over 900 compositions, including chamber operas, orchestral and chamber works, electro-acoustic music and songs…
Jun 10, 2024 · 1:08:36
Saad Haddad is a composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal, and electroacoustic music who achieves a “remarkable fusion of idioms” (New York Times), most notably in his work…
Jun 3, 2024 · 53:48
Composer, performer, producer Ben Lumsdaine does it all! Austin and Ben had a lovely chat about their album Murmurations Without End . While Ben has a strong background in…
May 21, 2024 · 1:01:32
Host Austin Gray Williams and Sarah Belle Reid dig into Sarah’s multidisciplinary practices of being a composer, improviser, educator, and active member of the modular synthesis…
May 13, 2024 · 59:03
Multidisciplinary artist and composer ess whiteley sheds some insight on their works and the process they engaged with for the compositions. ess is particularly interested in…
May 6, 2024 · 53:28
On this episode of On the Radar join Austin and Matt as they discuss some music that has been on their listening for the past couple months! Matt shares a compelling work by a…
Apr 29, 2024 · 1:02:04
Host Austin Williams speaks with composer and sound artist Joo Won Park on a variety of topics related to performance and composition aesthetics and the intersection between…
Apr 22, 2024 · 59:26
Originally from New Zealand, Tessa Brinckman is an interdisciplinary flutist/composer who has been praised for her “chameleon-like gifts” and “virtuoso elegance” ( Gramophone ).…
Apr 15, 2024 · 1:03:17
National Haiku Poetry Day is April 17 and we celebrate it early with a selection of music by composers inspired by this transcendent poetic tradition. Hosted and curated by…
Apr 8, 2024 · 58:49
Called “the quintessential modern composer” by the London Independent, Austin, Texas based composer-bandleader-improviser Graham Reynolds records and performs music for film,…
Apr 1, 2024 · 1:10:00
Published 50 years ago this year, Studs Terkel ’s seminal book Working (The New Press) is, then and now, a compelling look into the world of jobs and the people who do them.…
Mar 25, 2024 · 1:03:05
Multi instrumentalist, composer, and improviser Erik Fratzke blurs the line between jazz, avant grade, classical, and a variety of influences to create an absolute plethora of…
Mar 18, 2024 · 1:04:46
Founded in 2010, Seattle Modern Orchestra (SMO) is the only large ensemble in the Pacific Northwest solely dedicated to the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Led by…
Mar 11, 2024 · 1:03:21
This week host Matthew Dosland talks with composer and teacher Osnat Netzer who has just released her first album Dot : Line : Sigh with New Focus Recordings. From the liner…
Mar 4, 2024 · 1:17:48
Frank Horvat is "one of the most inventive songwriters to come out of the contemporary scene in Canada." (WholeNote Magazine) This award-winning composer’s music is emotional and…
Feb 26, 2024 · 1:02:31
Join host Austin Williams as he speaks with composer Noah Jenkins about his most recent album release in collaboration with Riley Leitch Without Persistent Environments. Noah…
Feb 19, 2024 · 58:16
Grammy-nominated Haitian-American composer, singer and flutist Nathalie Joachim’s work centers an authentic commitment to storytelling and human connectivity while advocating for…
Feb 12, 2024 · 1:09:09
Clarinetist, composer, and improviser James Falzone is an acclaimed member of the international jazz and creative music scenes, a veteran contemporary music lecturer and…
Feb 5, 2024 · 51:46
The latest in our recurring feature On the Radar features new music currently top of mind for hosts Austin Williams, Neve Jahn, Stephen Rawson and Matthew Dosland. 3
Jan 29, 2024 · 55:58
Carrie Frey is a New York City-based violist, improviser, and composer who “conjures an inviting warmth that leaves her virtuosity on the margins, placing the focus on her…
Jan 23, 2024 · 57:02
The 'Paris Chapters' project is centered around new commissions based on works by Irish writers who lived in Paris (James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde, W.B Yeats etc.) for…
Dec 18, 2023 · 59:31
We feature a small selection of the many incredible albums released this year. Hosted by Seth Boustead, Matthew Dosland, Stephen Anthony Rawson and Austin Williams.
Dec 11, 2023 · 58:44
The California Festival was a two-week statewide festival celebrating the most innovative and compelling music composed around the world in the last five years. The festival was…
Dec 4, 2023 · 1:02:04
Doug Bielmeier's recent release Music For Billionaires is full of irony and brings accessibility to the front of the question for new classical music. Host Austin Williams speaks…
Nov 27, 2023 · 1:03:33
Sophia Jani is currently the Composer in Residence for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for the 23/24 and 24/25 seasons, the 2023 Musical Artist in Residence at the Arvo Pärt…
Nov 20, 2023 · 47:49
Over the past century, verbal notation has been embraced as a means of composition with abundant possibilities. Varying from the most precise performance instructions to…
Nov 13, 2023 · 56:17
Jackson Greenberg is an accomplished film composer in LA who has recently released two substantial works of his own artistic volition this past October. Austin and Jackson speak…
Nov 6, 2023 · 58:17
Virtuosic flutist Robin Meiksins has a unique series called Beers and Flutes that she has curated over the past couple years. Austin and Robin chat about the series and how it…
Oct 30, 2023 · 1:06:03
Violist Michael Hall, described by the New Music Connoisseur as “utterly masterful,” and Chamber Music Today as having “superb technique" is a major champion for new music who…
Oct 23, 2023 · 1:11:41
What is art worth and who determines its value? Join host Seth Boustead and special guests composer Douglas J. Cuomo (operatic adaptation of Doubt; Sex and the City theme), art…
Oct 16, 2023 · 1:00:16
We celebrate our 400th episode by revisiting some of our favorite interviews to include new material that didn't make it into the original show. Music and conversation from Annie…
Oct 9, 2023 · 1:01:49
Composer Aleksandra Vrebalov left her native Serbia for San Francisco in 1995 where she was soon commissioned by the Kronos Quartet with whom she has formed a long and fruitful…
Oct 2, 2023 · 1:00:50
Holding to the belief that creativity is an elemental part of human nature, composer Rain Worthington has followed her own instinctive path. Self-taught and cross-disciplinary,…
Sep 25, 2023 · 1:04:14
A one page score is where a composer imparts all of the musical information the performers need on a single page. One-page pieces often incorporate graphic elements, written…
Sep 18, 2023 · 50:22
Called a composer of “uncompromising brilliance” by the Washington Post, Michael Hersch is considered among the most gifted composers of his generation whose work has been…
Sep 11, 2023 · 1:01:28
The iconic, groundbreaking Kronos Quartet celebrates an incredible 50-year run this year. Host Matthew Dosland talks with founding violinist and Artistic Director David…
Aug 28, 2023 · 56:48
It’s another On the Radar Episode! Austin and Matt take the listeners through some of their recent finds with tunes they have been interested in lately. We have a variety of…
Aug 21, 2023 · 1:00:17
Host Austin Williams talks with Cassie Wieland about the intersection of her classically informed compositional techniques and her newest endeavor into singer songwriter…
Aug 14, 2023 · 59:01
We met violist Nathan Sherman at the New Music Dublin festival in April and were excited to learn that he had not one but two albums featuring commissioned music written as…
Aug 8, 2023 · 1:05:00
Bassoonist Dana Jessen and composer Taylor Brook team up for a collaborative album length electro-acoustic work, Set, that combines through composed (Songs) and improvised…
Jul 31, 2023 · 1:01:07
In its 9th year, Texas New Music Ensemble goes big with its inaugural week-long summer music festival (July 10-16). Held at the Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston: MATCH,…
Jul 24, 2023 · 1:05:05
Host Austin Williams had the opportunity to travel to Kalamazoo Michigan to be a participant at the Splice festival at the end of June. The program offered a plethora of seminars…
Jul 17, 2023 · 1:12:58
9th year, Texas New Music Ensemble goes big with its inaugural week-long summer music festival, held at the Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston: MATCH. Relevant Tones co-host…
Jul 10, 2023 · 1:01:20
Expanding on our recent live show Overlooked No More, we are featuring the music of Tui St. George Tucker, a composer who absolutely deserves to be better known. Host Seth…
Jun 26, 2023 · 59:25
Raíces Imaginadas (Imagined Roots) presents four works written by Tomás Koljatic, Igor Marques, Felipe Pinto d’Aguiar, and Vicente Atria, performed by the Nuevo Mundo Baroque…
Jun 19, 2023 · 1:02:22
Happy Juneteenth! Relevant Tones would like to extend a warm celebration for this day. We are featuring a plethora of new music that has been composed by a variety of Black…
Jun 12, 2023 · 59:46
Tina Davidson creates music that stands out for its emotional depth and lyricism. She has been acclaimed for her authentic voice, her “vivid ear for harmony and colors” (New York…
Listen in the Podli app 🎧
Follow your favourite podcasts, listen offline and in the car with CarPlay and Android Auto, and always pick up where you left off. Free to try.
Your podcast? Get the Podli badge for your site
