Fact: I spend a great deal of time listening to music. 

This happens for a variety of reasons ~ 

I like music.

To prepare for upcoming concerts that I am performing

To hear new albums by artists I love.

To discover new artists.

To explore new repertoire.

To experience unfamiliar performers and creators.

To revisit some of my favorite music. 

There are some incredibly talented performers, composers, ensembles, collaborators, and creators out there and sometimes I just want to share the sounds that I cannot get enough of myself.

Every Monday I plan to share some of the music that I love. Some of it will be music that I am preparing for a concert, some of it will be things I have recently discovered, some will be things I hope to one day perform, and some will simply be old favorites that I just can't stop loving. 

I hope you enjoy!

This first one is Prince of Clouds by Anna Clyne, performed by Jennifer Koh and Jaime Laredo with the Curtis 20/21 Ensemble.

I discovered this weekend by accident and have been listening to it on repeat ever since.

Anna Clyne

(from her website) www.annaclyne.com

London-born Anna Clyne is a Grammy-nominated composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music. Described as a "composer of uncommon gifts and unusual methods" in a New York Times profile and as "dazzlingly inventive" by Time Out New York, Clyne’s work often includes collaborations with cutting-edge choreographers, visual artists, filmmakers, and musicians worldwide. 

Appointed by Music Director Riccardo Muti, Clyne served as a Mead Composer-in-Residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 2010-2015. She also recently served as Composer-in-Residence for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra during the 2015-2016 season and for L’Orchestre national d’Île-de-France from 2014-2016. This season, Clyne was selected by the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA to serve as the Music Alive Composer-in-Residence with the Berkeley Symphony through the 2018-2019 season. She has been commissioned by such renowned organizations as American Composers Orchestra, BBC Radio 3, BBC Scottish Symphony, Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Houston Ballet, London Sinfonietta, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, and the Southbank Centre, and her work has been championed by such world-renowned conductors as Marin Alsop, Pablo Heras-Casado, Riccardo Muti, Leonard Slatkin, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Clyne was nominated for the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her double violin concerto, Prince of Clouds. She is also the recipient of several prestigious awards including the 2016 Hindemith Prize; a Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; awards from Meet the Composer, the American Music Center, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Jerome Foundation; and prizes from ASCAP and SEAMUS. She was nominated for the 2014 Times Breakthrough Award (UK) and is the recipient of a grant from Opera America to develop a new opera, Eva. 

Recent highlights include the world premieres of Masquerade for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop at the Last Night of the Proms; This Lunar Beauty for the Britten Sinfonia and soprano Julia Doyle; RIFT, a symphonic ballet in collaboration with choreographer Kitty McNamee for Marin Alsop and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra; Pocket Book VIII for Roomful of Teeth; Threads & Traces for 100 cellos, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and performed at Disney Hall; and her violin concerto, The Seamstress, performed by Jennifer Koh with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Share your thoughts in a comment! Also - let me know what you are listening to and loving these days.

Enjoy!