Rebuilding Music through Sincerity, Transparency, and Trust with Kurt Rohde

And on a new micro/Maker, learn what biocentric music means for one composer

Author

Tyler Kline
November 14, 2025

🍃 Loose Leaf Transmissions – Weekly Dispatch

Hey there, folks – I’ve been looking forward to sharing this week’s music/Maker for a long time. It also happens to be the longest single episode to date, and honestly, it earns its length.

This week, I sit down with Kurt Rohde – composer, violist, musician, and someone whose perspective I’ve found both grounding and energizing. We cover the usual terrain of the show: artistic path, process, and philosophy, all of which make for a fascinating discussion on their own. But what really stood out to me, and what I think will stay with many of you, is Kurt’s dedication to building a more transparent and equitable landscape for composers – whether that means rethinking the mechanics behind calls-for-scores and other types of opportunities, reimagining institutional structures, or questioning the assumptions baked into the field.

It’s a rich, wide-ranging conversation, and one I think will resonate with anyone navigating creative work in 2025. In other words: essential listening!

🎧 New on the Feed

🎙 music/Maker with Tyler Kline

Now streaming: Rebuilding Music through Sincerity, Transparency, and Trust with Kurt Rohde

On today’s episode of music/Maker with Tyler Kline, Tyler is joined by composer, violist, and educator Kurt Rohde (they/he).

Kurt lives and works in San Francisco on unceded Ramaytush Ohlone land. Their practice is animated by the question of how “failure” and “catastrophe” can be folded into the pursuit of beauty. They serve as Artistic Advisor with Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Artistic Director of the Composers Conference, and teach composition at UC Davis. Honors include the Rome Prize, Berlin Prize, fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute and Guggenheim Foundation, and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Barlow, Fromm, Hanson, Koussevitzky, New Music USA, Chamber Music America, and Creative Capital. Kurt also leads initiatives that open doors for composers at different stages of life and access – from Pathways and the Left Coast Commission Fund to The Farewell Tour Project, commissioning new works for viola.

In this conversation, Kurt traces an artistic life that began with home-grown notation experiments on the viola and widened through formative mentorships, a reset in contemporary performance at Stony Brook, and a return to composing in San Francisco. They and Tyler talk about collaboration as a lifeline, rebuilding institutions with more transparent and humane processes, and what it takes to make work that feels honest in public. Kurt reflects on how visual art and graphic notation have shaped their scores over time in surprising ways; how teaching, listening, and community inform their values; and why sincerity – even when it risks failure – remains the core of their practice.

Learn more about Kurt at https://www.kurtrohde.com/

New episodes every other Thursday. Subscribe now!

🎙 micro/Maker

Episode 051: What Biocentric Music Means (featuring Hannah Selin)

Hannah Selin explores what she calls biocentric composition – creating music in conversation with nature through field recordings, sonification, and deep listening.

Episode 052: Balancing Structure and Freedom (featuring Ania Vu)

Ania Vu reflects on balancing freedom and structure in her music, from fluid gestures and extended techniques to the challenge of letting go of control.

Episodes are released every Tuesday and Friday. Subscribe now!

🔜 Coming Up Soon

Coming up next week on micro/Maker: Two conversations about finding your place – geographically, musically, and artistically.

Shruthi Rajasekar reflects on how studying, living, and working in the UK reshaped her creative path, from navigating early culture shock to finding mentors and artistic communities that opened unexpected doors.

And Emily Koh digs into how her life as a composer and bass player finally converged, sharing the origins of her “super bass” concept and how grounding herself in a new community changed the way she thinks about sound, collaboration, and identity.

☕ Support the Work

Love what you’re hearing?

Here are some easy, no-cost ways to support the work – just the cost of a click:

  • 💌 Share an episode with a friend who might enjoy it

  • 🎧 Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite app

  • 📱 Follow along on Instagram or Facebook

  • ⭐ Leave a rating or review – it helps more than you’d think!

And if you’re feeling extra generous, you can support Loose Leaf Transmissions on Patreon. Your support helps make space for thoughtful, independent work like this, and you’ll also get some perks.

If you’ve made it this far, why not forward this newsletter to someone who you think would enjoy or even benefit from it, too? Cheers to a great week, and more to share ahead!