Hillary Simms is a virtuosic Canadian trombone player with the esteemed American Brass Quintet, and is on faculty at the Julliard School. She performed as a soloist a couple of times with my orchestra, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and you’ll hear us talk about the arc of her career so far as a chamber musician, soloist, educator and busy freelancer.

We decided to delay the release of this episode slightly in order to include a wonderful recent recording of the Amercian Brass Quintet, a movement from David Biedenbender’s wonderful work Sacred Geometry. This is the first recording of the group with Hillary performing, and you’ll find more information and links in the show notes of this podcast.

Hillary’s warmth and love of music comes through in this candid interview, from her childhood in Newfoundland to playing on the world’s biggest stages, and also the unusual situation she found herself in when her engagement to her husband became a viral sensation in China.

As the first woman to join the Amercian Brass Quintet since 1960, Hillary spoke to me about gender disparity in the brass world and some of her strong female role models.

Hillary shares wonderful insights for all of us, whether you pursue music as a career or follow a different path, of the need to have self-compassion and have an awareness of the big picture of your life.

Concert pianist Rebeca Omordia has just released her second African Pianism album, Volume 2, which was just named Editor’s Choice in the Gramophone Magazine, and is a fascinating and beautiful kaleidoscope of piano works from West Africa, North Africa, South Africa and East Africa. Rebeca spoke to me about her extensive research about these composers, varied styles, and the different traditional music traditions which are often at the heart of this music. We talked about her experiences growing up in Romania with a Romanian mother and a Nigerian father. Now based in London, Rebeca spoke to me about The African Concert Series at Wigmore Hall, and many of her collaborations, including with Errollyn Wallen whose Piano Concerto, written for Rebeca Omordia, is featured in this podcast along with excerpts from several of the works on the African Pianism album, volume 2. The podcast, video and transcript are all linked here.

Interview with Sarah Jeffery of Team Recorder: The podcast, video and transcript Sarah Jeffery is a wonderful and versatile recorder player based in the Netherlands, known worldwide for her outreach with her YouTube project Team Recorder, which at the time of this podcast release has well over 205, 000 very engaged followers. She is the Recorder Professor specializing in Contemporary music at the Royal College in London, and we talked about her work teaching recorder technique, improvisation in different styles, her varied career including experimental theatre and her synesthesia which directly informs her work as a musician. There’s lots more to this wide-ranging episode, which features some fantastic recorder performances as well.

Interview with the pioneering percussion soloist Lisa Pegher. The podcast, video and transcript are all linked here. Lisa Pegher is a brilliant American percussion soloist and drummer, and also a composer, improvisor and software engineer. She is known for pioneering percussion as a solo instrument within the orchestral realm and beyond, making it her life’s work to present percussion to larger audiences by commissioning, collaborating, and creating new works and performances that bring percussion to the front of the stage.cently, she premiered a We talked about her new concerto/show, "Circuits and Skins," written for her by Paul Dooley, which explores ways to meld orchestra with Electronic Dance Music, and also her project A.I.RE (ARtificial Iintelligence Rhythm Evolution. You’ll hear about her perspectives on self-care, social media, the value of mentors, and a fascinating variety of her performances during this episode.

Cliff Beach is an award-winning singer, songwriter, author of “Side Hustle and Flow”, podcast host, record label owner and also works fulltime as VP of digital and operations in the beauty industry. This episode focuses on his recent album and tribute to Ella Fitzgerald “You Showed Me the Way”, we also got into his funk hit “Confident” and the last part of the interview we talked about some of his valuable advice from his book. Most of the guests I speak with work in music full-time, but of course that always means having many skill sets, and a few musicians like Cliff have a day job and also work hard on their music which is central to their lives. Cliff didn’t write his book for musicians, but for anyone that wants inspiration and advice for making the best of their lives, and I found a lot of what he wrote about resonated with me.

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

Jessica Cottis is an acclaimed orchestral conductor, and in this wide-ranging interview you’ll gain insights into the special world of orchestral conductors and also some of Jessica’s interests in the natural world and the arts. She spoke to me about her musical path, from how she made her first trumpet, to life on a sheep farm, to her transition from a career as a concert organist, to lessons learned from conducting mentors including Colin Davis and Colin Metters. Jessica is such an articulate champion of the value of music and the arts, and I’ve also been privileged to have worked with her in my role as a violinist in Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. I have a special interest in synesthesia, so I was interested in hearing her experience of sound through colour, and if you look at the description of this episode, you’ll find detailed timestamps for the many topics covered, inluding some beautiful music from Julie Cooper’s new album Oculus with Jessica Cottis conducting. Jessica also shared her difficult recovery from a concussion and how her senses were further mixed for a period of time. Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast, and I’ve also linked the transcript.

Vahn Black is a vocalist based in Atlanta, and in this episode we focused on her project celebrating Gladys Bentley, including Vahn’s fantastic album Petrichor. Born and raised in Detroit, Vahn grew up in a melting pot of music and this aided her in cultivating her soul-charged, jazz infused sound, marrying her reverence for vocalists like Sarah Vaughn with her love of producers like J Dilla. We talked about her musical education, her career path, her research into Black history and culture, her joy of collecting vinyl and some of her other creative outlets. It was interesting to hear about her contrasting experiences with work, life and music in Detroit, New York and Atlanta. As a composer Black has lent her artistry to various art mediums from short films to interactive performance art. In 2023 she was selected to perform at NPR's Tiny Desk on the Road Tour stop in Atlanta, and for those listeners who are fans of Vahn Black and those who are discovering her, I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation which is punctuated with her music.

Martha Mooke is a pioneer in the field of the electric five string viola and transcends boundaries as a performer and composer. This episode features insights, stories and music, including from the beautiful album by Carla Patullo So She Howls which just won the GRAMMY® Award for “Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album.” as well as from several of Martha’s solo and collaborative albums. You’ll hear about the unique multi-style string program she’s helped launch at New Jersey City University, and about many of her mentors and collaborators from David Bowie to Tenzin Choegyal to Laurie Anderson to Jean-Luc Ponty. Martha is passionate about the breadth and diversity needed in music education for the 21st century, and it was a joy and an inspiration for me to be able to hear about the arc of her multi-faceted career so far.

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

James McGowan, a solo and collaborative pianist at home in jazz, classical and improvised musics. The 14-member James McGowan Ensemble has just released its jazz-classical fusion album Reaching Out, the companion to the previous album Reaching In, and this episode features some of the music from this beautiful project as well as from his jazz-fusion group Modasaurus. Besides James’ work as a composer and pianist, he’s also a Theory Professor, and choral direcctor, and has served as Carleton University Chair in Teaching Innovation in developing experiences in the arts on campus and in the community. James is so passionate about sharing his love of music and I trust you’ll find this an uplifting conversation.

2024 Interiew with the brilliant Cheng2 Duo with cellist Bryan Cheng and pianist Silvie Cheng. The podcast, video, and transcript are all linked here. They have performed to great acclaim worldwide and have released to date four fantastic albums, the most recent Portrait which was nominated for a JUNO award. Portrait features music by composers from diverse Asian heritages, and in this podcast, Bryan and Silvie reflect on some important personal experiences related to this. We are featuring some of the music from Portrait and some of their other projects in this episode, with their insights on championing living composers such as Paul Wiancko and Dinuk Wijeratne and reaching new audiences. I asked them about their Carnegie Hall debut when Bryan had just started high school, and some of their individual experiences with concert preparation, touring, and finding a life-balance. Some of what you’ll hear about are Bryan’s reflections on his memorable childhood lessons with Yuli Turovsky, the incredible opportunity he’s had to play the Bonjour Strad, and his experiences with international competitions. Silvie shared her reflections on her mentors and her life as a performer and educator in New York.

Interview with the wonderful harmonica player and composer Ariel Bart. The podcast, video and transcript are all lined here with the shownotes. I first started listening to her music with her debut album, “In Between” in which she presents a unique approach to the harmonica and all her albums feature her original music which is inspired by the European jazz tradition and the Middle-Eastern world. Ariel began playing the chromatic harmonica at the age of 7 and since then it’s been her primary instrument. We’re including music from several of her albums. You’ll hear about some of her inspiring mentors and collaborators and her positive experience at the New School University for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, including working with Reggie Workman, Shai Maestro, and Jane Ira Bloom. We also talked about the music business, and her delight in using storytelling and film with her music.

Interview with the GRAMMY-nominated concert organist Gail Archer. The podcast, video and transcript are all here. She has fantastic advice on not only approaching a career in music, but in living life to it’s fullest. We talked about learning languages, some fascinating history, the magic of choirs and much more. This episode features music from several of her acclaimed recordings, and we discuss women composers, and the challenges facing women organists. We also speak about Musforum the international network for wormen organists that she founed. Gail’s work highlighting composers from many Eastern European countries including Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Russia was a big part of this conversation and you’ll hear some of this music as well as that of Fanny Mendelssohn, a discussion of the Bach revival and interesting details about J.S. Bach himself, and one of Gail’s recordings of one of his sublime Chorale preludes. I learned a lot about the history of the pipe organ and gained not only a better understanding of the instrument and it’s vast repertoire, but I also gained important insights into the work of choir directors. One of the main topics Gail addressed was how to build a robust career and live a full life, with sensivity, curiosity,  intelligence and determination. 

Gerry Bryant is a brilliant classically-trained pianist, composer, and arranger. He came from a poor inner-city Cleveland neighbourhood, and was givin an opportunity to attend the prestigious Phillips Academy, then Harvard university. He went on to get an MBA and a law degree, all the while continuing the expansion of his knowledge of different styles of music, and forming his jazz group Pocketwatch. This episode partly focuses on his Composers album, with music of Florence Price and Thomas Wiggins who was known as Blind Tom to his slave masters. Gerry reflects on how access to a musical education changed his life, and how wonderful it has been to discover and champion Black composers. One of the musicians that Gerry has collaborated with many times is the wonderful and versatile violinist Mark Cargill, whose playing is also featured in this episode. Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast, and I’ve also linked the transcript.

This week’s episode is a Catch-Up episode with the renowned film and televison composer and multi-instrumentalist Pat Irwin, and we are featuring lots of Pat’s music for you today in different styles from many of his projects. My previous episode with him is linked as well. This 2024 conversation also jumps around Pat’s varied and fascinating creative life. You’ll hear more stories and music from some of his acclaimed cartoon music from Rocko’s Modern Life and songs from Pepper Ann. We talk about, and you’ll hear music from some of his projects, including rocking out with the PI Power Trio with Sasha Dobson and Daria Grace, and new albums coming out with Cynthia Sley, with SUSS and with Julia Heyward. I’m blown away by Pat’s detailed memory and this episode is rich with interesting stories, and also his down-to-earth advice.

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

Thomas Cabaniss is a wonderful American composer of works for opera, theater, dance, film and the concert stage, and also a visionary Teaching Artist. He’s been a member of the faculty of the Julliard School since 1998, and leads the Lullaby Project at Carnegie Hall, serving young parents in shelters, hospitals and prisons with collaboratively created songs for their children. We talk about all this and much more, inluding his work creating Carnegie Hall’s Link Up. I was curious about these many facets to Thomas’ life as both a composer and educator, and you’ll find this episode has gorgeous, inspiring music , as well as great stories from his diverse career as a Teaching Artist, working with music educators, students of all ages, and meaningful outreach in the community. You’ll hear performances from pianists Michael Shinn and Jessica Chow Shinn, singer Joyce DiDonato, and towards the beginning of the episode you’ll hear some of Thomas’ great music for string quartet, performed by the Charleston Symphony String Quartet.

Avi Kishna is a Dutch sarod player based in Amsterdam, of Indo-Surinamese heritage. You’ll get to know the sarod as an instrument and hear Avi’s perspectives on Dutch society and his interesting collaborations. Among his mentors is his inspiring father, Ramdew Kishna, a multi-talented musician, director, and painter, who played a pivotal role in shaping Avi's musical journey along with his guru, Koustuv Ray. As a young man, Avi embarked on a successful career as in sales and marketing, but during this time he pushed music aside, and I found it deeply touching to hear how he was able to come back to music with the wisdom of having left such an important part of himself behind. You’ll hear about Avi’s project working with schools in Amsterdam to help provide music programs in underserved communities and this episode features some of his sarod music.

Pierre Chrétien is a Canadian bandleader, multi-instrumentalist and composer who has had international success with his bands The Souljazz Orchestra, Atlantis Jazz Ensemble and his project Cinephonic, and in this episode you’ll learn about all of these and hear highlights from some of these albums on the Marlow Records label. Pierre shares how left his career as an Engineer to devote himself to a full-time career as a performer. He also demonstrates some rare vintage instruments at the beginning of this episode, which he’s also an expert at repairing.

Edison Herbert: “The three of them, George Benson, Wes Montgomery, Grant Green were my favorite options mainly because they really, in my opinion, they really knew how to connect with an audience and they choice of repertoire was always, it was accessible. And I think it's quite easy to forget that you can increase your audience if you think about what you put in front of them, because everyone, it's like food. Everyone doesn't eat the same thing. So if you mix it up and put different ingredients in, then you are more likely to increase your audience.”

This episode is a special Catch-Up episode with the Dutch guitarist and composer Marc van Vugt, who was previously featured in Season 2 with his album The Lonely Coyote. Today you’ll hear a selection of highlights from his new solo guitar album, The Curious Badger. We caught up on some of his recent projects, and he also shared some wonderful insights into his creative process, and different ways for independent musicians to find audiences for their music.

This episode is unusual because 4 musicians are featured, the members of the Euclid Quartet. They are a world-class string quartet celebrating their 25th anniversary with a fantastic album of short pieces, entitled Breve, and we are featuring several pieces from that album as part of this episode. I was curious to learn more about the many roles the quartet plays in their capacities as performers, educators and collaborators, and to hear them speak about the special joys and challenges of being members of a full-time quartet.