Naomi Moon Siegel is an award-winning trombonist, improvisor, composer and educator. In this episode we’re highlighting her beautiful sextet album Shatter the Glass Sanctuary, and you’ll hear her reflections on the valuable mentorship process with Allison Miller and brilliant collaborators including Marina Albero and Ray Larsen. Naomi reflected on her journey finding a supportive musical community, overcoming injury, and how she’s advocated for intersectional gender justice for many years through her workshops for fellow educators and music students.  We talked about some of her mentors including Kristen Strom, Wayne Horwitz, and her duo project the Syrinx Effect with Kate Olson. Naomi shared how her career path has been shaped by personal decisions and outlook,  some of her experiences on several inspiring trips, as well as how she’s able to find grounding and inspiration in both her new physical landscape in Montana and her new emotional landscape as a parent. 

 Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast on all the podcast platforms, and I’ve also linked the transcript.

Samantha Ege is both a leading scholar and interpreter of Florence Price. In this interview, she talks about her recent book “South Side Impresarios: How Race Women Transformed Chicago’s Classical Music Scene”. I was fascinated to learn about this compelling history of Chicago’s Black Renaissance with women such as Nora Holt,  Margaret Bonds, and Katherine Dunham.  Dr. Ege shared how the scholarship side of her work informs both her identity as a pianist and also how this research and storytelling cause her to reflect on some of her own challenges. We also talked about some of her other recent recording projects, including the upcoming Avril Coleridge-Taylor piano concerto and chamber music with Castle of our Skins, and she reflected candidly on her personal creative life as a writer, performer and composer.