Bukhu Ganberged is an incredible Mongolian-Australian musician who is a master of both the Morin Khuur, the Horsehead fiddle,  and Khuumii, the Mongolian Overtone Throat Singing. This episode features a lot of special music, and  Bukhu’s personal story of growing up in Mongolia and emigrating to Australia. Like all my episodes, this is available as both a video with Closed Captions, a transcript, and a podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. This is the transcript of our conversation.

Transcript of my interview with the fascinating harmonic player and inventor Brendan Power. The podcast and video versions are linked to this transcript.

The incredibly charming American musician, Janie Rothfield, is a great traditional fiddler, banjo player, educator, composer, and so much fun to talk to. She shared several of her original tunes on both violin and banjo, and we talked about teaching music, accompanying dancers, creativity, and the importance of making connections through music. Janie has created a unique series of weekend workshops called "Janie's Jumpstart Camps", and she records and tours with many different bands. This is the transcript of this conversation, which is linked to the podcast and video.

In-depth interview with film and tv composer Sandro Morales-Santoro. This is the transcript, which is linked to the podcast and video versions, which feature music as well.

Mark Ferguson is a jazz pianist, trombonist, composer, arranger, producer and music educator. This is the transcript, and the podcast and video versions are linked: In this episode you get to hear him perform 3 of his original compositions on piano. We talk about his mentors, perspectives on music education and the interesting twists and turns in his varied career. He’s performed with many of the world’s great artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Gil Evans, Aretha Franklin, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, Holly Cole and Manteca.

The transcript for my episode with Kavisha Mazzella. The podcast and video versions are linked as well. Kavisha Mazzella is a renowned Australian songwriter and singer who has won both an ARIA award and an Australia Day Honor. We talked about her work through the lenses of social justice, community building, and the search for deeper meaning and connection. This is a personal, in-depth conversation with lots of beautiful singing in both Italian and English.

Transcript of my episode with Douglas Burden, bass trombone player with the National Arts Centre Orchestra for 50 years before his retirement in 2022. The podcast and video versions are linked.

The full transcript of my conversation with Kelly Thoma, lyra player. The podcast and video versions are linked. This is a wide-ranging conversation which includes Kelly’s personal story of becoming a musician after training as a dancer, Cretan culture, the influence of Ross Daly and the Labyrinth Musical Workshop, and her many joyful musical collaborations.

Full transcript of my interview with Tracy Silverman, which is available as a podcast and video. Tracy Silverman is truly an inspiring musician in every respect, and in this memorable episode we dived into his creative process, how music affects our emotions, and how to stay open by listening to others, and learning to show up as ourselves.

This is the transcript of my episode with Verna Gillis. It’s hard to sum up how important Verna Gillis has been for music lovers. First of all, she is an ethnomusicologist who recorded traditional music around the world.This episode will bring you along on some of these journeys. 25 of these recordings are available through Smithsonian Folkways and Lyrichord, and I’m very grateful to Smithsonian Folkways for allowing us to use some of these tracks for this specific episode. In 1979 Verna opened Soundscape, the first multi-cultural performance space in New York City, which put on hundreds of performances over 5 years. You’ll also hear Verna reminisce about her work on career development with phenomenal international musicians including Youssou N’dour, Salif Keita and Carlinhos Brown. As a producer, Verna was twice nominated for a GRAMMY award for two of the albums she produced with Roswell Rudd. There’s so much more in this episode, and I hope a wide audience will be inspired by Verna Gillis’ reflections on her remarkable life in music.

Transcript of interview with violinist Fred Moisan. Originally from the Breton town of Saint-Brieuc in France, he immigrated to Finland and then Canada. In this wide-ranging conversation we talked about wind-surfing,family, languages, different cultures’ approaches to education, the challenges of playing the violin, the original version of the Sibelius violin concerto (which was the subject of Fred’s Doctoral Dissertation), life balance, and fly fishing.

The full transcript of my in-depth interview with the phenomenal classical guitarist Daniel Ramjattan, who is also a performance coach. The podcast and video versions are linked to this transcript.

Elizabeth Pallett is a wonderful British lute player. Her love of Renaissance music and history is infectious and she has generously provided this episode with several of her beautifully produced YouTube videos; her channel Luteweb is linked in the description, as well as her duo Amarylli with soprano Hannah Grove. We talk about the history of the evolution of plucked instruments in Europe, and many fascinating historical figures including Dowland and Shakespeare. Liz plays various lutes and plucked instruments and teaches at the Birmingham Conservatoire as well as online with students worldwide. Like all my episodes, you can listen to this on your favourite podcast player, watch the YouTube on my channel, and read this transcript! Everything is linked.

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.