Solstice and Seasonal Music on this week's Living Classical

And on micro/Maker: when songwriting, language, and identity reshape how music is made

Author

Tyler Kline
December 26, 2025

🍃 Loose Leaf Transmissions – Weekly Dispatch

Happy Holidays, y’all!

I’ll keep this one short and to the point.

A brand-new Living Classical features a lineup of works inspired by the Solstice, along with sacred and secular works for the Season.

Plus, this week on micro/Maker: Hannah Selin and Ania Vu explore how songwriting, language, and identity shape how music is imagined – from cross-genre collaboration to the sonic life of words themselves.

Find all the links below, and happy listening!

🎧 New on the Feed

📻 Living Classical with Tyler Kline

Now streaming: Living Classical Winter Special 3 for December 21–27, 2025

At the year’s darkest moment, the light begins to return – a quiet reminder of renewal at the heart of winter. On this special wintertime edition of Living Classical with Tyler Kline, composers respond to that turning point between stillness and motion, shadow and light.

Hour 1 gathers music that reflects the ritual and reflection of the season, with works by Thomas Beck, Reena Esmail, Leah Mullen, Melissa Hui, Daniel Gilliam, Joanna Marsh, and Kitty Xiao — composers who invite us to linger in winter’s interior world, where quiet moments give way to transformation.

In Hour 2, the focus moves outward, toward renewal and the world in flux. Some of the music turns again to images of winter weather and landscape, while other works look forward — tracing motion, warmth, and the slow return of light. Hear music by Anna Meredith, Adrianne Munden-Dixon, Kimberly R. Osberg, Melissa Dunphy, Errollyn Wallen, Arnannguaq Gerstrom, and Johanna Doderer, each offering a distinct reflection on the season’s transition.

🎙 micro/Maker

Episode 063: Composing Without Boundaries (featuring Hannah Selin)

Hannah Selin talks with Tyler about GADADU, the cross-genre songwriting project she shares with Nikki Adams, and how moving between jazz, pop, and experimental music has reshaped her thinking about form, rhythm, and collaboration in concert music.

Episode 064: Exploring Identity Through Language (featuring Ania Vu)

Ania Vu reflects on how her multilingual upbringing informs her compositional voice, exploring how the sound, texture, and rhythm of language influence her music beyond meaning alone.

Episodes are released every Tuesday and Friday. Subscribe now!

🔜 Coming Up Soon

Next week’s episode of Living Classical moves between lineage and urgency. You’ll hear music rooted in Indigenous tradition through Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s transcriptions of Pura Fé’s Rattle Songs — alongside works that respond to environmental pressure, rhythm, and fragility in the natural world. It’s an hour that traces how sound carries memory, activism, and the present moment all at once.

Oh, and you can follow Living Classical on Mixcloud to get new episodes delivered straight to your device as soon as they’re released. Join for free at https://www.mixcloud.com/

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Hope you are having a restful end of the year and more to come in 2026!