In January, the innovative string-band Ethel recorded works by eleven student composers of the Chickasaw Nation. The album will be released on Thunderbird Records in June, and is the first of its kind. Q2 brings you exclusive interviews with Chickasaw Nation composers Courtney Parchcorn and Cruise Berry by Ethel violinists Cornelius Dufallo and Mary Rowell, along with excerpts from their compositions.

Some artists, for one reason or another,

Zhou Long simultaneously embraces and transcends our notions of traditional Chinese classical and contemporary Western classical music. Madame White Snake is a beguiling articulation of Zhou's vision.

Over the weekend, I checked out a chamber music concert.

Earlier today on WQXR, we brought you a set of variations by Johann Nepomuk Hummel on this familiar tune.

If you’ve been going to classical music concerts for more than twenty years, you’ll probably agree that the racial make-up of the orchestra and the audience has remained largely non-black.

This week during Symphony Hall we’ll be listening to Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos.

See what WQXR hosts have to say about romance and romantic music. Then tell us about the classical music that has added romance to your life. We'll play some of your selections on Valentine's Day.

Did you start to learn an instrument or start to take voice lessons ‘later in life’? Are you afraid you won’t really master it, because you’ve started later, or does that matter? I’d like to hear your stories.

American artists, writers, and musicians have been crossing the Atlantic for centuries now to find inspiration and international camaraderie. Since the moment I stepped off the plane, I was aware that I am in a city whose architectural and artistic treasures would be a lasting and life-changing source of inspiration for me.

This week, Q2's Composer Introduction Series features the music of Caleb Burhans. Sample pianist Danny Holt's Innova recording of Burhans In Time of Desperation and download it for free during this exclusive, week-long Q2 spotlight.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been featuring music from artists nominated for Grammy Awards this year. The Grammy Awards are Sunday, Jan 31st. 

This time of year is a time of both recharging, refueling and purging.

Hear the New York Philharmonic’s inaugural CONTACT! concert this week on Q2, and read what the blogosphere is saying right now.

As I spend more time in the community here at the American Academy in Rome, I realize that being a performer as well as a composer brings so many more ways to integrate into community life, and to open myself up more completely to the various influences of Rome on my musical imagination.

Steve Reich has graciously allowed me to share a few emails from his correspondence with eighth blackbird during the composition and preparation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning 2008 work Double Sextet. I hope these shed a little light on his creative process. You can also read an interview I did with Steve here.

1985 (I guess it must’ve been) was the first time I sat down with Steve Reich to ask him to write for Kronos. 

The members of So Percussion spend a lot of time and energy performing Steve Reich’s music. His contributions to percussion music loom over the still-emerging genre. They are so fun to listen to, play, and discuss. When we sat down to write some thoughts on this legacy, it really came pouring out!

This week we're celebrating Beethoven's birthday.