Music From Other Minds

This Music from Other Minds features music and poetry that is somewhat sacred and thereby dwells on the musical material of sacred music and how it might suggest the sacred, even if it might not, necessarily, be explicitly religious. Some of the selections use the instruments of sacred music, some selections have lyrics that are somehow ecstatic or religious in temperament, some selections refer to sacred music, and one selection was simply recorded in a church. This program features music and poems by: Frederic Rzewski, Daniel Strong Godfrey, Isaac Jarnot, Áine O’Dwyer, Alvin Lucier, and Robert Ashley.

Composers often reach outside their own tradition for inspiration. This program explores works that borrow instruments, adapt aesthetics, and transform aspects of non-Western music into new forms. Music by Jin Hi Kim, Peter Sculthorpe, Sarah Peebles, Ningxin Zhang, Toru Takemitsu, Reena Esmail, Bill Brennan, Andy McNeill, Werner Durand, Amelia Cuni, and Uli Hohmann. If there’s time, maybe a folk song setting by Luciano Berio.

On this rebroadcast of an earlier Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb plays an archival recording of Charles Amirkhanian’s Ode to Gravity: The Music of Conlon Nancarrow. Originally broadcast on NPR stations worldwide in April of 1987, this program includes interviews with the composer in his studio in Mexico City conducted by Amirkhanian in 1977, some of the composer’s Studies for Player Piano also recorded on that trip, and a recording of his String Quartet (1942) performed here by the Kronos Quartet.

Music from Other Minds listeners are well aware of the rich history of musical experimentation from Northern California. This program celebrates that diverse and creative tradition with a mixtape, featuring music by Lou Harrison, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, Henry Kaiser, Theresa Wong, Chris Brown, ROVA, Harry Partch, Cheryl Leonard, Maggi Payne, Tom Djll, Ron Heglin, Bart Hopkin, Sarah Cahill, Ellen Fullman, Samuel Adams, Giacomo Fiore, William Winant, and more!

This program features music by composers who are being featured at this year’s 29th Other Minds Festival, October 16th–19th at the Brava Theater in San Francisco’s Mission District. Get excited for the festival with Devin King as he plays music from James Tenney, Peter Garland, Ingram Marshall, and Samuel Adams.

On this Music from Other Minds, Liam Herb plays works by three OM 29 composers, Putu Septa, Kristine Tjøgersen, and Pamela Z. Tune in for a special broadcast which includes a soon to be released record version of Z‘s Simultaneous, which will be featured in three forms on the festival.

For more information and tickets CLICK HERE.

On this Music from Other Minds, Joseph Bohigian shares a sampling of his interviews on the Other Minds Podcast with the artists visiting San Francisco for Other Minds Festival 29, October 16–19, 2025, at the Brava Theater. The program includes excerpts of interviews with Pamela Z, Samuel Adams, Zeena Parkins, Kristine Tjøgersen, Putu Septa, and Nancy Karp. The full interviews can be found at this link or on any podcasting app.

Happy Birthday Joseph Jarman! This program features music by and for Joseph Jarman, the great multi-instrumentalist, composer, and poet. He would have been 88 on September 14th, 2025, the date that this program airs. Jarman is most well known as one of the first members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, as well as one of the original members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. This program features work from different eras of Jarman’s career, as well as a piece dedicated to him by musicians working in his lineage: Joseph Jarman, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Equal Interest, and Artifacts.

This program presents soprano Dory Hayley’s new recording of Morton Feldman’s Three Voices. Feldman composed Three Voices in 1982 for Joan LaBarbara. Although sometimes performed by three singers, it’s more often done by one singer recording all three parts. Currently on the faculty at Vancouver Community College, Dory Hayley is a leading vocalist in Canada’s contemporary and experimental music scene. The show opens with a duet with vocalist Sheila Jordan and bassist Cameron Brown, in a tribute to the late jazz singer. Jordan was revered among musicians, especially for her scat singing and improvisational flair in live performances. Born in 1928, she overcame an abusive childhood, and after hearing Charlie Parker in high school, devoted her life to singing jazz.

This program features the ensemble and choral music of the late 20th and 21st century from a global perspective. Featuring Zosha di Castri’s We live opposite daring with Ekmeles, Sydney Guillaume’s Kalinda based on the Caribbean martial art practice, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s Five Kurpian Songs, Op. 75 based on folk songs and texts, and other pieces by Arnold Schoenberg, Caroline Shaw, Bik Kam Lee, Kåre Kolberg, Toru Takemitsu, David Fennessey, and André Laporte. These pieces range from a Classical arrangement of choral voices to extended vocal techniques and sound poetry.