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The GVSU New Music Ensemble played works they commissioned to play in U.S. National Parks across the country.


Composer David Biedenbender used this sound as inspiration for a piece of music he was commissioned to write for the GVSU New Music Ensemble.

Guess this sound. The inspiration for composer David Biedenbender's GVSU commission

Here's the whole story to what inspired composer David Biedenbender to write "Dawn Chorus" for the GVSU New Music Ensemble

GVSU inspiration answer

David Biedenbender • Red Vesper

Freds Favorites

John Jansen

GVSU in the parks

Inspiration from the National Parks System

Composer Keith Kenniff has a knack for writing music that inspires.


Music is Music: Goldmund

Goldmund - "Sometimes"

Performance Today Features

Courtesy of the artist

Cellist Shannon Hayden has always planned for a life in the arts.


Music is Music: Shannon Hayden

Shannon Hayden - Vanished (Official Video)

Shannon Hayden

Daniel Handler can choose the perfect music for ANY situation... just ask.


Meredith Heuer

Daniel Handler

Friend of Fred: Daniel Handler

The Star-Spangled Banner was written over 200 years ago. Journalist and author Steve Vogel joins Fred in the studio to discuss how and why our national anthem came to be.


Author Steve Vogel discusses 'Through the Perilous Fight'

Steve Vogel's "Through the Perilous Fight"

Courtesy of Random House

The history of the Star-Spangled Banner

Composing music for and about our National Parks.


He's become the go-to composer for U.S. National Parks

Stephen Lias: Cross-country composer

Acclaimed novelist Julian Barnes has published a new book about composer Dmitri Shostakovich, which explores the most turbulent years of Shostakovich's life under the regimes of Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev.


Listen to PT host Fred Child's interview with Julian Barnes

The path to becoming a Washington D.C. advisor on climate science and global warming is easy. First study piano and double bass. Then, get a degree in composition. Next thing you know, you're a climate scientist. At least, this is how it happened for Taylor Jordan.

Jordan records under the name The Greatest Hoax, a name he borrowed from Senator James Inhofe's (R-OK) 2012 book. The book is a shot across the bow of mainstream science and claims of global warming. So it's fair to say Jordan, a climate scientist who advises members of Congress on climate science, has a bit of a cheeky streak.

The name of his 2015 album, "Enso," has ties to Jordan's day job too. It's the acronym for El Nino Southern Oscillation, commonly shortened to El Nino.

Now that you've learned something, why not have a listen? Check out The Greatest Hoax on this episode of Music is Music. To find out more about what Taylor Jordan is up to, head over to his Bandcamp page.

https://vimeo.com/163992792 

Music is Music is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Music is Music: The Greatest Hoax

Ulf Andersen / Getty

Julian Barnes: The inner life of Dmitri Shostakovich

The ensemble joins host Fred Child in the studio to play Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout by their friend, composer Gabriela Lena Frank. Members of the Chiara String Quartet also talk about what it means to play music "by heart."


In studio with the Chiara String Quartet

Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

Listen to in-studio interview with host Fred Child and musical performances by the Ancia Saxophone Quartet.


In studio with the Ancia Saxophone Quartet

A rock star knows about classical music? Of course he does. Read about the day Ben Folds stopped by to co-host an hour of PT.
