Vijay Iyer: Hybrid Sensibility
3/1/2010

Few features on Vijay Iyer fail to mention his extra-musical pedigree (a master's degree in physics from Yale and a degree in interdisciplinary studies from Berkeley) or his remarkable autodidacticism when it comes to the piano. And while Iyer is definitely a smart guy, it's worth noting that his in-depth studies in music, cognition, and different musical cultures are simply tools to understand how to make music feel good.

Margaret Brouwer: Multiple Planes
2/1/2010

Margaret Brouwer writes music that exists on multiple planes. It is crafted to stir your emotions as well as to provoke your intellect. It is unapologetically polystylistic and an extremely personal response to centuries of music, and in so being is very much music of our own 21st century.

Larry Polansky: Open Source
1/1/2010

Few people have had as significant an impact on as many facets of contemporary music and how it is made and disseminated as Larry Polansky—co-founder of Frog Peak Music, developer of Hierarchical Music Specification Language and other music software, theorist, musicologist, teacher, and editor. In addition, Polansky is also a composer who has created a vast body of compositions that defy stylistic pigeonholing, from 2-second canons to massive solo piano showcases, as well as works for rock band, interactive computer environments, and solo piccolo in extended just intonation.

Roger Reynolds: The Benefits of Being Outside the Loops
12/1/2009

Although Roger Reynolds has been based in California for the last 40 years, his Midwest upbringing and formative experiences in both Europe and Asia have given him a world view that knows no boundaries. While his music incorporates ideas from the various stylistic paradigms that defined the music of his era—serialism, conceptualism, and even neo-romanticism—it is somehow not beholden to any of them.

Rinde Eckert: In Search of the Dream You Can't Imagine
11/1/2009

Rinde Eckert: playwright, director, composer, musician, dancer, librettist. He was a carpenter at one point, too, so it probably wouldn't be a stretch for him to build his own stage sets. For his part, Eckert has discovered that great performances are often more about an open mind than an open checkbook, more about always trusting than always being right.