Jherek Bischoff & Wordless Music Orchestra: Live from Merkin Concert Hall
Saturday, February 04, 2012
On Saturday, February 4 at 7:30 pm, Q2 Music and New Sounds Live present a live Webcast of the Ecstatic Music Festival’s kick-off concert, featuring Jherek Bischoff in collaboration with David Byrne, Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, and Wordless Music Orchestra, among many others.
Judd Greenstein: Pulsating Complexity with Indie-Classical Populism
Friday, February 03, 2012
Few composers personify New York's young new-music scene in quite the same way as Judd Greenstein. As a composer, he has been commissioned by the ETHEL string quartet and by the Minnesota Orchestra. New Amsterdam, the label he co-founded with composers Sarah Kirkland Snider and William Brittelle, serves as an umbrella for many of the city's most celebrated young composers and ensembles, including his own NOW Ensemble of new-music virtuosos. In 2011, he inaugurated the Ecstatic Music Festival, bringing together indie rock, jazz, and classical music for a series of cross-genre concerts and collaborations.
Live in the Greene Space: Hungarian Echoes
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Join us Thursday at 7 pm to hear host Nadia Sirota and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen trace the overlaps of Hungarian culture in works by Haydn, Bartók and Ligeti during last year's Magyar Magic, recorded live in The Greene Space.
Paul Moravec: Mining Tonality for New Complexities
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
With the attention Paul Moravec received after his Tempest Fantasy (2004) won the Pulitzer Prize for music, one might have hoped that this would have put to rest—once and for all—the tired dialectics suggesting that tonality and complexity, or intellectualism and accessibility, are somehow mutually opposed. But even if these canards persist in the conversation about new music, at least the prize fulfilled its function of bringing to the front ranks a composer heretofore quietly esteemed by connoisseurs.
Celebrate Philip Glass at 75 with his Symphony No. 9
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
On January 31, 2012 at 4 pm, Q2 Music celebrates the 75th birthday of iconic downtown composer Philip Glass with a premiere Webcast of his Symphony No. 9 with conductor Dennis Russell Davies and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz.
Interview: Musical Polymath Min Xiao-fen
Friday, January 27, 2012
Born in Nanjing, composer, singer, and pipa player Min Xiao-fen has become a fixture on the new-music, jazz and Chinese traditional musical scenes. Collaborations with such artists as John Zorn, Christian Marclay, Randy Weston, DJ Spooky, and Derek Bailey attest to her relentlessly exploratory spirit and open-minded approach to improvisation and music-making.
Interview: Ambassador and Visionary Chou Wen-chung
Thursday, January 26, 2012
It would difficult to overstate the importance of Chou Wen-chung when it comes to contemporary music. Not only has he developed over the course of his almost 90 years a shimmering, pointillistic yet lyrical style, but he edited and completed many of his teacher Edgard Varèse's works.
Calligraffiti: from China to New York
Thursday, January 26, 2012
This Thursday, January 26 at 8:30 pm, ET, Q2 Music streams an eclectic set of chamber and vocal works from award-winning Chinese composer Huang Ruo, as recorded live on January 10 at Greenwich Village's (Le) Poisson Rouge.
Interview: Composer Lei Liang on Cultural Identity
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Tianjin-born and California-native composer Lei Liang joins us from a studio in Rome to discuss his creative process, the importance of putting the weight of one's life into every sounding note, and the manner in which cultural identity manifests itself in his music.
Interview: Downtown Staple Composer-Performer Du Yun
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
As an active presence on the New York new-music scene, the young Shanghai-born composer Du Yun cuts a striking figure. From prestigious work with New York City Opera and The New Juilliard Ensemble to downtown, electronic experimentation with the International Contemporary Ensemble and schizoid balladry at Cornelia Street Cafe, Du Yun is a distinctive voice that will stretch well into the 21st century.
Interview: Beijing-Born Composer Zhou Long
Monday, January 23, 2012
Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in Music, Beijing-born composer Zhou Long has been a fixture of the American contemporary music scene for almost 30 years. Composer Huang Ruo interviews Zhou Monday, Jan. 23 at 12 pm.
Focus! Festival: Polish Music Since 1945
Friday, January 20, 2012
In 2011, Joel Sachs, the artistic director and veteran conductor of Focus!, collaborated with the Polish Cultural Institute in New York to produce six concerts whose programming thoroughly surveyed an often overlooked wellspring of modern Polish concert music, as well as household names such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutoslawski and Henryk Gorecki. As part of Muzyka Nowa, for this week's Cued Up, we're re-webcasting this brilliant performance, hosted by Sachs himself, Friday at 7 pm and Sunday at 2 pm.
An Interview with Mikołaj Górecki
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The son of legendary composer Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, composer Mikołaj Górecki is plenty accomplished in his own right. Born in Katowice, Poland, Górecki studied with his father at the Szymanowski Academy of Music before receiving his doctorate at Indiana University. Read on for a interview with the composer and playlist of his favorite Polish music.
Poland's Next Wave
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Join Polish composer and electronic musician Jakub Ciupinski on Tuesday, January 17 at 7 pm for the second of two curated sets of Polish contemporary music, here exploring Polish new-music of the last few decades, including music by Tomasz Sikorski, Paweł Szymański, and Jakub himself.
The Holy Trinity of Contemporary Polish Music
Monday, January 16, 2012
For the first of two curated sets during Muzyka Nowa, Polish composer and electronic musician Jakub Ciupinski joins us to explore the holy trinity of 20th Century Polish New-Music -- Krzyztof Penderecki, Witold Lutoslawski, and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki.
In a Landscape
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Each Thursday at 7 pm this winter, stream Q2 Music for weekly Webcasts of new-music shows as recorded live at premiere venues around New York City. This week's concert features pieces by Elliott Carter, Colin Jacobsen, John Cage, and more peformed live at the Chelsea Art Museum.
Digging Deep
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Each Thursday at 7 pm this winter, stream Q2 Music for weekly Webcasts of new-music shows as recorded live at premiere venues around New York City. This week's concert is taken from the first evening of the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the annual Look & Listen Festival.
Results of Q2 Music's Inaugural New-Music Countdown
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Taking a cue from the WQXR Classical Countdown, Q2 Music asked listeners to vote for their favorite pieces of classical music composed in the 20th and 21st centuries. See what made the cut.
'Never Finished, Only Abandoned'
Saturday, December 24, 2011
A few days ago, the New York Philharmonic gave the world premiere of my piece Fibers, Yarn and Wire. Before I go into the details, I’d like to say that I could not be happier with the performances. I cannot fully describe the intensity of watching and listening to those musicians playing my piece. It was a profound experience.
ETHEL Quartet Performs Jacob TV
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Each Thursday at 7 pm this winter, stream Q2 Music for weekly Webcasts of new-music shows as recorded live at premiere venues around New York City. This week, the adventurous ETHEL String Quartet performs the eccentric, boundary-bending music of Dutch composer Jacob Ter Veldhuis.

