Composers Datebook podcast

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26:18

How do you know when it’s time to make your next big career move? With International Women’s Day around the corner, we are excited to feature Avni Patel Thompson, Founder and CEO of Milo. Avni is building technology that directly supports the often overlooked emotional and logistical labor that falls on parents—especially women. Milo is an AI assistant designed to help families manage that invisible load more efficiently. In this episode, Avni shares her journey from studying chemistry to holding leadership roles at global brands like Adidas and Starbucks, to launching her own ventures. She discusses how she approaches career transitions, the importance of unpleasant experiences, and why she’s focused on making everyday life easier for parents. [01:26] Avni's University Days and Early Career [04:36] Non-Linear Career Paths [05:16] Pursuing Steep Learning Curves [11:51] Entrepreneurship and Safety Nets [15:22] Lived Experiences and Milo [19:55] Avni’s In Her Ellement Moment [20:03] Reflections Links: Avni Patel Thompson on LinkedIn Suchi Srinivasan on LinkedIn Kamila Rakhimova on LinkedIn Ipsos report on the future of parenting About In Her Ellement: In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn’t just arrived—you were truly in your element? About The Hosts: Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030. Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders. Subscribe to In Her Ellement on your podcast app of choice to hear meaningful conversations with women in digital, business, and technology.…

Composers Datebook

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Composers Datebook™ is a daily two-minute program designed to inform, engage, and entertain listeners with timely information about composers of the past and present. Each program notes significant or intriguing musical events involving composers of the past and present, with appropriate and accessible music related to each.

118 episodes

Composers Datebook

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updated about 16 hours ago

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118 episodes

#Music #American Public Media

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Composers Datebook

1
Symphonies by Strauss 2:00

16 hours ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis By the time of his death in 1949, German composer Richard Strauss was famous worldwide as the composer of operas like Der Rosenkavalier and tone-poems like Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks . These operas and tone-poems are so famous, we tend to forget that Strauss also composed symphonies — two of them, both written when the young composer was just starting out. Strauss’ Symphony No. 1 was premiered in his hometown of Munich on today’s date in 1881, when the composer was just 16. That performance was given by an amateur orchestra but was conducted by one of the leading German conductors of that day, Hermann Levi, who would lead the premiere of Wagner’s Parsifal the following year. Another eminent Wagnerian conductor, Hans von Bulow, subsequently took up the teenager’s symphony, and also commissioned him to write a Suite for Winds. American conductor Theodore Thomas was an old friend of Richard Strauss’ father, Franz Strauss, and while in Europe during the summer of 1884, Thomas looked over the score for the younger Strauss’ Symphony No. 2, and immediately arranged for its premiere in New York City the following winter. Music Played in Today's Program Richard Strauss (1864-1949): Symphony No. 1; Bavarian Radio Symphony; Karl Anton Rickenbacker, conductor; Koch/Schwann 365 322…

Composers Datebook

1
Sheng's 'Silent Temple' 2:00

1 day ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date 2000, at the University of Richmond in Virginia, the Shanghai Quartet premiered the String Quartet No. 4 by composer Bright Sheng. Sheng was born in Shanghai in 1955, but since the 80s he’s made the United States his home and has earned an enviable reputation as both a composer and teacher. But in the late 1960s, during the tumultuous years of Madame Mao’s Cultural Revolution, he worked as a pianist and percussionist in a Chinese folk music and dance troupe near the Tibetan border. His String Quartet No. 4 is subtitled Silent Temple , which he explained that title as follows: “In the early 1970s I visited an abandoned Buddhist temple in northwest China. As all religious activities were completely forbidden at the time, the temple, still renowned among the Buddhist community all over the world, was unattended and on the brink of turning into a ruin … In spite of the appalling condition of the temple, it was still a grandiose and magnificent structure … I could almost hear the praying and chanting of the monks, as well as the violence committed to the temple and the monks by the Red Guards.” Music Played in Today's Program Bright Sheng (b. 1955): String Quartet No. 4 ( Silent Temple ); Shanghai Quartet; BIS 1138…

Composers Datebook

1
Beethoven in Vienna 2:00

3 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 1801, the world — or at least that portion of it seated in the Imperial Court Theater in Vienna — heard a new ballet for the first time. The real draw that evening was the prima ballerina of the company, a certain Fraulein Cassentini. The music was by young, emerging composer Ludwig van Beethoven, and his ballet was called The Creatures of Prometheus . The creatures referred to in the title are two stone statues that are brought to life by Prometheus, the legendary Greek figure who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind. Beethoven’s commission came from Italian dancer Salvatore Vigano, who had been working in Vienna since 1793, and was — like Beethoven — seeking the attention and possible patronage of the culture-loving Austrian Empress Maria Theresa. Although Beethoven’s ballet was performed 14 times the first season, and nine more the next, it was never published in his lifetime. Beethoven was evidentially pleased with at least one of its themes, a tune he recycled twice: first in the finale of his mammoth Eroica and again in 15 Variations for Solo Piano . Music Played in Today's Program Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): The Creatures of Prometheus ; Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; DG 453 713…

Composers Datebook

1
Haydn in Vienna 2:00

4 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis In the winter of 1807, a group of music-loving Viennese, frustrated that their chances to hear orchestral and symphonic music seemed rather sporadic, decided to sponsor a series of symphonic concerts themselves. Their organization was called, simply The Concert of Music Lovers, with performing forces made up — as a Viennese newspaper put it — of “the best local amateurs, with a few wind instruments only: French horns, trumpets, etc., drafted from Viennese theaters.” And the audience, according to the same source, comprising “exclusively the nobility of the town, foreigners of note, and selected cognoscenti.” Twenty concerts were staged in all, most of them in a large hall of the Vienna University. The final concert in the series occurred on today’s date in 1808: a performance of Haydn’s oratorio The Creation . The work was sung in Italian, and the conductor on that occasion was the famous Italian composer Antonio Salieri. Haydn was living in a suburb of Vienna at the time and arrived in Prince Ezterhazy’s coach. Haydn was carried into the hall on an armchair lifted high so that all could see him. The orchestra played a fanfare and shouts of “Long live Haydn!” rang from the audience — which included Ludwig van Beethoven. Music Played in Today's Program Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1808): The Creation ; English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor; Archiv 449 217…

Composers Datebook

1
Glass in Rome 2:00

5 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis For the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, a major international arts festival was planned, and, as its centerpiece, a gigantic day-long music-theater work designed and coordinated by avant-garde American director Robert Wilson. Wilson titled the work the CIVIL warS: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down , with a story line loosely inspired by Matthew Brady’s famous photographs from America’s Civil War, but also incorporating myths, images, and historical icons from around the world. The idea was that the various sections of the work would be contributed by a team of composers, each section connected by what Wilson called “knee plays” – short “joints” if you will, linking the parts to the whole. The “knee play” music was contributed by the American pop musician David Byrne, a member of the Talking Heads. The fifth and final act of Civil Wars was written by minimalist composer Philip Glass. It was dubbed The Rome Section , since it was commissioned and premiered as a separate work by the Rome Opera on today’s date in 1984. In the end, Wilson’s ambitious day-long epic wasn’t staged in Los Angeles as planned. The reason given at the time was funding problems. Music Played in Today's Program Philip Glass (b. 1937): Rome Section , from The Civil Wars ; Giuseppe Sabbatini, tenor; American Composers Orchestra; Dennis Russell Davies, conductor; Nonesuch 79487…

Composers Datebook

1
Beeson's 'Lizzie Borden' 2:00

6 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 1965, Lizzie Borden premiered at the New York City Opera. The new opera by American composer Jack Beeson depicted a fictionalized version of a real-life event: a gruesome double axe-murder of Andrew and Abby Borden that occurred in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892. Andrew Borden’s daughter, Lizzie, was accused of the murder of her father and stepmother. Many at the time thought her guilty. As a famous children’s rhyme of the period put it: “Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks. And when she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one.” Borden was acquitted for the murders, which remained unsolved. Beeson thought Lizzie’s story resembled the ancient Greek legend of Elektra, already the subject of a famous opera by Richard Strauss. And like Strauss’s Elekra, Beeson’s Lizzie is the central character in an angst-ridden, Freudian tale of a dangerously dysfunctional family. Beeson said, “A lot of Lizzie Borden is very dissonant. It was even thought to be a twelve-tone piece back in 1965. There’s not a 12-tone row in it, but the agonized situation in much of Lizzie seemed to me to require that kind of music.” Music Played in Today's Program Jack Beeson (1921-2010): Lizzie Borden ; New York City Opera; Anton Coppola, conductor; CRI 694…

Composers Datebook

1
Lee's 'ART' music 2:00

7 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis Commedia dell’arte was a kind of theater popular throughout Italy during the 18th century. In this improvised, rough and tumble genre, a group of stock figures with names like Harlequin, Pierrot, and Punchinello would appear in awkward and farcical situations which modern audiences might recognize from the TV sitcoms — only the earthy 18th century version often more R-Rated. These characters were attractive to many of the 20th century’s greatest composers: Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire sets dreamy, surreal texts sung by a lovesick commedia dell’arte clown; Richard Strauss’ opera Ariadne auf Naxos offers an earthy commedia dell’arte troop as unlikely commentators on a serious Greek legend; and Stravinsky’s ballet Pulcinella recasts elegant 18th century musical forms into a robust modern score whose title character, according to Stravinsky was “a drunken lout whose every gesture was obscene.” On today’s date in 1996, a more refined chamber work inspired by commedia dell’arte characters received its premiere at Boston College. It was commissioned and premiered by the Artaria Quartet, and was given the punning title, ART: Arias & Interludes . The music is by the Chinese-born American composer Thomas Oboe Lee, with each movement of Lee’s work related to a different commedia dell’arte figure. Music Played in Today's Program Thomas Oboe Lee (b. 1945): ART: Arias and Interludes ; Hawthorne String Quartet; Koch 7452…

Composers Datebook

1
Daugherty's bassoon gang 2:00

8 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis When your instrument is nicknamed “the burping bedpost,” it’s hard to get respect in refined circles. So it’s understandable that the bassoon section of, say, a major London orchestra might indulge in a bit of day-dreaming in which a gang of hot-rodding motorcycling bassoonists blow into town and take over a concert hall. And guess what? That is exactly the scenario of a piece written for Britain’s Philharmonia Orchestra by the American composer Michael Daughtery. Hell’s Angels is a concerto for bassoon quartet that received its premiere in London on today’s date in 1999, with Daughtery commenting, “I find the bassoon to be an instrument with great expressive and timbral possibilities, ranging from low and raucous rumbling to plaintive high intensity.” Daugherty often takes inspiration from icons of American pop culture, so it’s not surprising that he should choose Hell’s Angels for inspiration. After all, he wrote, “the bassoon is similar in size and shape to the drag pipes found on Harley Davidson motorcycles … When the noise-curbing mufflers are illegally removed from the drag pipes, they create a deafening roar. I have removed the traditional mufflers on the bassoon repertoire in order to compose [my] concerto for bassoon quartet and orchestra.” Music Played in Today's Program Michael Daugherty (b. 1954): Hell’s Angels ; Oregon Symphony; James DePreist, conductor; Delos 3291…

Composers Datebook

1
Bruckner panned 2:00

9 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On this day in the year 1886, critic Gustav Dompke wrote these lines in the German Times of Vienna, after attending a performance of one of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies: “We recoil in horror before this rotting odor which rushes into our nostrils from the disharmonies of this putrefactive counterpoint…Bruckner composes like a drunkard!” Today, with Bruckner’s symphonies performed and recorded so often, it’s doubtful many listeners “recoil in horror” from his rich Romantic harmonies, but he’s always been a little controversial. Bruckner’s European contemporaries and his early American audiences found his approach to symphonic composition puzzling, bizarre or — more often than not — simply boring. The vogue for Bruckner symphonies in America had to wait until the latter part of the 20th century, a full century after many of them received their premiere performances in Europe. In 1941, for example, when Bruno Walter conducted Bruckner’s giant Symphony No. 8 at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic, music critic Olin Downes lamented that Walter hadn’t chosen a “more interesting” program and noted that the Bruckner symphony “sent a number from the hall before it had finished.” Music Played in Today's Program Anton Bruckner (1824-1896): Symphony No. 8; Concergebouw Orchestra; Riccardo Chailly, conductor; London 466 653…

Composers Datebook

1
Ron Nelson's Bach Tribute 2:00

10 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis One of the most serious — and daunting — of musical forms is the passacaglia, in which an unchanging melodic pattern repeats itself while other lines of melody offer elaboration and counterpoint to the unwavering tread of the repeated motive. The result tends to be deliberate, somber and imposing. The most famous passacaglia in all of Western classical music is the Passacaglia and Fugue for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach, whose birthday we observe on today’s date. After Bach’s high-water mark, it takes more than a little courage for modern composers to tackle this form. One of those brave souls who tried — and succeeded — was American composer Ron Nelson. Nelson’s Passacaglia , subtitled Homage on B-A-C-H , utilizes the melodic motive represented in German musical nomenclature by B-flat, A, C, and B natural — in German B natural being represented by the letter H. Nelson’s wind band Passacaglia was was commissioned to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 1992. It didn’t prove an easy task, recalled Nelson: “It evolved very slowly … The trick was … to make it seamless and inexorable. Of all my compositions, this is the tightest. I cannot imagine changing one note.” Music Played in Today's Program Ron Nelson (1929-2023): Passacaglia ; Dallas Wind Symphony; Ron Nelson, conductor; Reference Recordings RR-76…

Composers Datebook

1
Stephen Paulus and Choral Quest 2:00

11 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis In 2010, the American Composers Forum launched ChoralQuest , a specially-commissioned series of works written especially for middle and junior high school choirs. The idea was to expand the available repertoire for young choirs, introduce them to contemporary composers, and give composers the chance and challenge of writing for young voices. One of these new works received its premiere on today’s date in 2011 with the Oak Grove Middle School Singers in Bloomington, Minnesota. Bryan Blessing conducted his young singers in lines from “Tintern Abbey” by 19th-century British poet William Wordsworth set to music by 21st-century composer Stephen Paulus, who titled his piece Through All Things . “I chose a poem that conveys some deep thoughts,” Paulus said. “People often underestimate the sophistication of young people … The Wordsworth poem speaks about ‘a motion and a spirit that rolls through all things.’” “But a composer really needs to know the range of young singers and what they can do,” admitted Paulus, who spent time with the Oak Grove Singers and confessed it’s not just the kids who benefitted. “You’re never too old or too experienced not to learn something from writing a new piece, whether it’s for kids or professional musicians.” Music Played in Today's Program Stephen Paulus (1949-2014): Through All Things ; Minnesota Boychoir; Todd Price, piano; Mark S. Johnson, conductor; ACF score and recording (ISBN 0983388709)…

Composers Datebook

1
Gounod's 'Faust' 2:00

12 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis The opening of Edith Wharton’s novel, The Age of Innocence , takes place at New York’s old Academy of Music in the early 1870s, during a performance of Gounod’s Faust , a French opera based on a German play by Goethe. At the time specified in Wharton’s novel, Gounod’s opera was still “new” music, having premiered about a dozen years earlier in Paris on today’s date in 1859. Gounod’s Faust became a worldwide success, and was quickly translated into many languages. In Wharton’s fictional New York performance, for example, the real-life Swedish diva Christine Nilsson sang the role of Marguerite, the German maiden seduced and abandoned by Faust. As Wharton put it: “She sang, of course, ‘m’ama!” and not “he loves me,’ since an unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English-speaking audiences.” Nilsson, again singing in Italian, sang Marguerite at the 1883 gala opening night performance of Faust at New York’s newly built Metropolitan Opera House. Faust was performed so often there that the building was soon dubbed the “Faust-spielhaus,” a pun on Wagner’s “Festpielhaus” or “Festival Theater” in Bayreuth. Music Played in Today's Program Charles Gounod (1818-1893): Faust Ballet Music ; St. Martin’s Academy; Neville Marriner, conductor; Philips 462 125…

Composers Datebook

1
Mobberley's Piano Concerto 2:00

13 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis All artists, including composers, are frequently urged to “write what they know.” Well, if that’s the case, then any new and sleep-deprived parent can relate to music which depicts a late-night session with a newborn baby. It’s the middle movement of a piano concerto that was given its premiere on today’s date in 1994 by the Kansas City Symphony, with Bill McGlaughlin conducting and pianist Richard Cass. This new Concerto was by Kansas City composer James Mobberley, who wrote: “The piece is in three movements, each of which reflects a different emotional side of parenthood. The first movement represents the excitement and hysteria of forthcoming childbirth. The middle movement begins with amazingly soft moments following childbirth but leads into the period of sleeplessness and total chaos that inevitably follows. The final movement represents the wonderful fun and unpredictable interactions that start to happen, beginning with the child’s first smile.” Mobberley was born in Iowa in 1954, raised in Pennsylvania, and balances teaching duties at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, with his composition work, which includes a wide range of concert and theatrical pieces, some combining electronic and live performing elements. Music Played in Today's Program James Mobberley (b. 1954): Piano Concerto; Richard Cass, piano; Czech National Symphony; Paul Freeman, conductor; Albany 335…

Composers Datebook

1
Loeffler and Anderson in Boston 2:00

14 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis Today we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Boston (where else?), noting two musical premieres that occurred in that Celtic city. The first premiere was in March 1922, when Pierre Monteux conducted the Boston Symphony in the premiere of three of the Five Irish Fantasies by German-born American composer Charles Martin Loeffler. These were settings for solo voice and orchestra of poetry by William Butler Yeats, and, for their Boston premiere, the vocalist was none other than great Irish tenor John McCormack. The second premiere dates from 1947, when the Eire Society of Boston commissioned another American composer, Leroy Anderson, to write an Irish Suite for its annual Irish night at the Boston Pops. Anderson used six popular Irish tunes, ranging from the sentimental to the exuberant, for his suite, skillfully arranging them into an immediate hit and lasting success. Arthur Fiedler conducted the premiere and the work soon became a staple item for St. Patrick’s Day concerts in Boston and concert halls all across the United States. Music Played in Today's Program Charles Martin Loeffler (1861-1935): Five Irish Fantasies ; Neil Rosenshein, tenor; Indianapolis Symphony; John Nelson, conductor; New World 332 Leroy Anderson (1908-1975): Irish Suite ; Decca studio orchestra; Leroy Anderson, conductor; MCA 9815…

Composers Datebook

1
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco 2:00

15 days ago2:00