Now streaming: Living Classical Episode 17 for April 19 - 25, 2026

On this edition of Living Classical with Tyler Kline: What happens when a composer working primarily with electronics takes something electronic and makes it acoustic? Alex Dowling's Inner Orbits reimagines melodies and ideas from a previous electroacoustic work for string quartet – a compositional move from electronic to acoustic forces that he describes as refreshing, the constraints guiding him toward new ways of thinking.

Then: The 1996 eruption under Iceland's Vatnajökull glacier inspired Veronique Vaka to write Erda, tracing the geologic narrative of those events and their impact. She notes that glaciers are simultaneously timeless and ephemeral, inscribing the prehistoric past but threatening to vanish as the planet changes, bridging deep time and human time.

Plus music by Kevin Lau, Melaine Dalibert, Nathan Hudson, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Thomas Adès, Viet Cuong, Christopher Cerrone, Coral Douglas, and Laura Hyland.

View the playlist & listen: https://www.looseleaftransmissions.com/post/living-classical-with-tyler-kline-for-april-19-25-2026

Follow & stream anytime on Mixcloud.

Now streaming: Building New Music from the Ground Up with Mendel Lee

In this conversation, Mendel and Tyler trace a journey that is anything but linear: from new age piano pieces at high school talent shows, to drum corps, to a composition degree, to three years in corporate IT, to over a decade directing the Tulane marching band, to a leap of faith into full-time composing.

They talk about the panic-written piece that finally made Mendel believe in his own musical instincts, the moment he stopped keeping his marching band identity separate from his concert work, what it really means to go from saying "I have a composition degree" to "I am a composer," and why his goal has never actually been for people to like his music.

New episodes every other Thursday. Subscribe now!

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Episode 102: Telling Stories Through Food (featuring Carlynn Crosby)

Carlynn Crosby shares how food writing became about shifting perception and crafting narratives people can trust, treating food not just as a sensory experience but as a way to explore class, race, memory, and empathy.

Episode 103: Following the Spark of Curiosity (featuring Austin Hammonds)

Austin Hammonds reflects on how film scores like Jurassic Park shaped his imagination as a child, and how the humbling—and energizing – experience of discovering how much there is to learn turned a childhood passion into a lifelong creative path.

Episodes are released every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday (except this week, sorry!). Subscribe now!

Listen & subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music/Audible | YouTube | Acast

Coming up on Living Classical (streaming Sunday, April 26): music shaped by legacy and community. Allison Loggins-Hull's Legacy, written for The Cleveland Orchestra's community series, features a recurring vocal theme that faces interruptions and reinterpretations but remains recognizable – much like legacy itself, partnering with organizations preserving Ukrainian bandura traditions, the Hough neighborhood's history, and Black American theatrical artistry.

Then, Tyler is joined by Eunmi Ko, president of Contemporary Art Music Project in Tampa, Florida, to discuss the recent 3-day CAMPGround festival and listen to two commissions presented at this year's event.

Also featuring msuic by Dolores O'Riordan/The Cranberries (arr. Ashley Jackson), Michi Wiancko, Gabriela Lena Frank, Caterina Schembri, Ian Gottlieb, Louis Andriessen, Francesca Guccione, and Andrew M. Rodriguez.

Listen on Mixcloud or at livingclassicalradio.com.

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