Adam Blau is a composer and songwriter based in Los Angeles who has written the music for Netflix’s hit series Dead to Me (which I love), the Academy Award nominated short My Year of Dicks, and many other projects including You’re the Worst and Brockmire. In this wide-ranging conversation punctuated by music used with permission, we talked about many things including Adam’s many musical influences growing up in New York City, his work for the Fred Rogers Institute and his reflections as a parent. He has wonderful advice for composers interested into breaking into the film industry and shared some of his creative process with us. Adam is a warm and engaging musician with a real love for music across many genres; he shares how he pivoted from working as a performer to composing full-time, and we explored many of his diverse projects. Like all my episodes, this is available as a podcast on your favourite podcast player, a video on YouTube, and this transcript.

Transcript of interview with koto performer and teacher Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto. The podcast and video versions are linked; this episode features koto music.

Transcript of my long-form interview with the legendary Irish fiddler Martin Hayes. The podcast and video versions are linked.

Immanuel Abraham is a very special musican, who is an inspiring violinist, educator and composer. His phenomenal talent, discipline and creativity is even more inspiring since he didn’t have an opportunity to learn a musical instrument until the age of 14 and 4 years later, he was auditioning for the renowned University of Michigan in violin performance, playing the same Paganini caprice he’d heard Ithak Perlman play on Shalom Sesame as a child. He speaks candidly in this interview about his perseverence in the face of very difficult challenges. He’s well-known on social media as The Violin Doctor, which is a Dr. Who reference, but Immanuel actually is Doctor of Musical Arts, awarded from the University of Arizona. When he was a student, in an effort to learn as much as he could that was violin-related, he started The Violin Guild which is an amazingly supportive Facebook group of over 60,000 string players worldwide. Our conversation focused on different aspects of music education, personal development, and you’ll get to hear some clips of Immanuel performing some of his 24 Caprices for solo violin.

Transcript to my episode with Madeline Bruser, the author of “The Art of Practicing”.

Complete transcript to my episode with Pat Irwin, linked to the podcast and video. Pat Irwin is a renowned film and television composer; some of his scores include Dexter: New Blood, Rocko’s Modern Life, Pepper Ann, and Nurse Jackie. He’s also a multi-instrumentalist who was a member of the B52s for 18 years; he founded The Raybeats and 8 Eyed Spy, and more recently the band SUSS of which I’m a fan. Pat also teaches film composition at NYU, and this conversation wove it’s way into important topics for all of us: a life well-lived, grief, the importance of creativity and of having a good hang.

Colin Aguiar is an award-winning Indian-Candian composer based in Los Angeles who specializes in film scoring. In this conversation we talked about his youth, growing up across parts of India, the Middle East, Europe and Canada and studying the music of various cultures, learning different instruments with a start on drums as a toddler, as well as his love for the music of Arvo Pärt and other great composers. This is the full transcript which is linked to the podcast and video.

Philip Griffin is an amazingly versatile, creative, and generous musician. He plays, improvises, and composes in many styles on many different instrument. He reflects on his work teaching children and people with disabilities, and reflects on some of his important mentors including Richard Gill, Linsey Pollak and Ross Daly. In this conversation with Philip, I was really happy to be able to talk about some of the themes I find most interesting as a musician: education, creativity, and mentorship.

Transcript of my conversation with master bansuri player Milind Date, which is linked to both the podcast and video versions.

Transcript of 2022 interview with Matt Zimbel, linked to podcast and video: Conversations with Musicians with Leah Roseman

Complete transcript of interview with the jazz violinist, mandolinist, arranger and writer Aaron Weinstein. The episode in podcast and video formats is linked to this transcript.

In this special Catch-Up Episode with multi-style violinist and educator Gina Burgess we talk about all the changes in her lmusical life since our first conversation, and feature her album ISNOW. This is the full transcript of this interview, which is also linked to the original episode.

This is the full transcript of my interview with Gina Burgess, a Candian multi-style violinist. The podcast and video versions are linked.

Gertrude Létourneau, known to some as Trudy, is a flutist, pianist, singer and a therapeutic musician. This was an episode very much about going out your comfort zone, connecting with your audience, and learning to slow down and enjoy every day.

Adam Hurt is an acclaimed clawhammer banjo player and one of my favourite performers in any style and I was absolutely delighted that he agreed not only to speak to me at length about his life and teaching of traditional music, but also perform for this episode some of my favourite music.

We sat down and he said, "You really have to start taking yourself more seriously as a singer." At that point, only then I realized I'm a singer. I always considered myself, "Oh, I'm a pianist and I like to sing," because to me, singing was so something so big and so beautiful…

Full transcript for interview with Colleen Allen, a multi-instrumentalist jazz musician, who is a versatile and expressive performer based in Toronto, Canada. In this conversation, we talked about her perspectives on evaluating priorities, rising to new challenges, collaboration, teaching improvisation, and the physical challenges of playing so many different instruments. Colleen’s candid warmth and love of music really shine through in this wide-ranging conversation.

Complete transcript of wide-ranging interview with oud and guitar player and teacher Ali Omar El-Farouk.

I was honoured to speak with the inspiring singer, composer, choir leader, pianist and cultural activist Polina Shepherd. This is the full transcript, linked to the episode featuring Polina’s stories from growing up in Tartarstan, in the former Soviet Union, finding a bridge to her Jewish identity through Klezmer music, collaborating with her mentors, founding Yiddish and Russian choirs in the U.K., and many other creative projects. During the episode she sings songs from different traditions, including one of her compositions, and is such a warm and engaging speaker I trust a wide audience will find inspiration and food for thought in her perspectives on education, mentorship, creativity, health, identity, connection and collaboration.