The Music Show

American Singer-songwriter Connie Converse would be hard enough to pigeonhole had she not disappeared without a trace in 1974. She wrote folk songs, and art songs, and the story of her life and disappearance is a fascinating one. It's the subject of a biography called To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse by Howard Fishman, who joins Andy to tell the tale and listen to her wonderful and wonderfully strange songs. 
Gia Margaret's new album is called Singing, fitting for her first return to vocal music after eight years of having lost her voice. As she tells Andy, adversity led her to finding creativity in instrumental writing, which she's now brought back to the voice for her latest release. 
And we hear new music by tar virtuoso Hamed Sadeghi from his new album, Convergence. 
Join us for The Music Show at Sydney Writers' Festival on 21 May with Ziggy Ramo, Leah Senior and Kate Fagan

Voiceless Mass, by Raven Chacon, can be performed in 'any space of worship with high ceilings and pipe organ' and plays with the amplifying power of a church's architecture, while commenting on the silencing of voices and languages that churches have been active in throughout their history. It won the composer the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2022 and is heading to the Rising Festival in Melbourne.
Raven talks to Andy about the intersection of politics and music, his role as a mentor, and what he wants to add to John Cage's understanding of silence.
The huge sound of the Melbourne Town Hall grand organ might seem like an unusual choice for the composer and guitarist Cam Butler, but for his latest album, he had a chance to take over the hall - and brought along a rock band and a string orchestra to complete the mix. Cam’s project is a cinematic album of guitar-organ-strings-rock maximalism, called World Forever and he shares how he approached this latest challenge, and how he gets the most from his normal instrument, the guitar.
Cam Butler will be performing World Forever live at the Melbourne Town Hall on May 22. 
Join us for The Music Show at Sydney Writers' Festival on 21 May with Ziggy Ramo, Leah Senior and Kate Fagan
Music heard in this program:
Title: Haunted RuinsArtist: Cam ButlerComposer: Cam ButlerAlbum: World ForeverLabel: Heavy Machinery Records
Title: Voicless MassArtist: Present MusicComposer: Raven ChaconAlbum: Raven Chacon: Voiceless MassLabel: New World Records
Title: Don't Cry (Your Father & Grandfather Are GoodArtist: Himba Hymn CollectiveComposer: Himba Hymn CollectiveAlbum: Himba Hymn: Ghosts Of Namibia's Skeleton CoastLabel: Sublime Frequencies
Title: World ForeverArtist: Cam ButlerComposer: Cam ButlerAlbum: World ForeverLabel: Heavy Machinery Records
Title: Clear InfinityArtist: Cam ButlerComposer: Cam ButlerAlbum: World ForeverLabel: Heavy Machinery Records
Title: RottenArtist: Gia MargaretComposer: Gia MargaretAlbum: SingingLabel: Jagjaguwar
The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Country
Technical production by Isabella Tropiano

The American pianist Ruth Slenczynska, who died last week at the age of 101, was a childhood prodigy (although she denies the label). That came at a huge price, including a punishing concert schedule from the age of 4, orchestrated in the main by a tyrannical teacher-father. She went on to be one of the great pianists of the 20th century, playing duets with Harry Truman, touring with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops and being taught by Artur Schnabel, Egon Petri and Sergei Rachmaninov - to whom she was possibly the last remaining student link. Andy spoke to her in 2020 at the tender age of 95.

Scottish composer Anna Meredith creates a meeting place between the concert platform and the rave in her music. Her piece for electronics and string quartet, Tuggemo, takes its name from an archaic English word for a swarm of bees, and demands to be heard loud. It's being given its Australian premiere by Omega Ensemble as part of their Howl concert season.
Sophia Brous is an Australian composer based in the US, and she creates semi-improvised song cycles from selections by 20th century writers. Her new collaborator of sorts is the late Dorothy Porter, with her partner Andrea Goldsmith acting as a guide through the poetry Porter wrote in the last years of her life. Andrea and Sophia join Andy to talk about Porter's impact on music and music's impact on her. 
Sophia Brous and Paul Grabowsky are performing Life Lines: A Song Cycle of Dorothy Porter at the Melbourne Writers Festival
Music heard in this program:
Title: BlackfriarsArtist: Anna MeredithComposer: Anna MeredithAlbum: VarmintsLabel: Moshi Moshi
Title: TuggemoArtist: Ligeti QuartetComposer: Anna MeredithAlbum: NucLabel: Mercury KX
Title: Lil WaltzerArtist: Anna MeredithComposer: Anna MeredithAlbum: Bumps Per MinuteLabel: Moshi Moshi
Title: NautilusArtist: Anna MeredithComposer: Anna MeredithAlbum: VarmintsLabel: Moshi Moshi
Title: NautilusArtist: Ligeti QuartetComposer: Anna MeredithAlbum: NucLabel: Mercury KX
Title: MoonmoonsArtist: Anna MeredithComposer: Anna MeredithAlbum: FIBSLabel: Moshi Moshi
Title: If Snakes Could FlyArtist: Paul Grabowsky and Katie NoonanComposer: Dorothy Porter and Paul GrabowskyAlbum: Before Time Could Change UsLabel: SBS Weatherwatch
Title: Set PIecesArtist: Sophia Brous and Kit DownesComposer: Sophia Brous and Alejandra PizarnikAlbum: Set Pieces live at The Lincoln Center
Title: 10 Preludes, Op. 23; No. 6 AndanteArtist: Ruth SlenczynskaComposer: Sergei RachmaninovAlbum: Complete American Decca RecordingsLabel: Eloquence
The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Country
Technical production by Isabella Tropiano

Jeremy Sams is a composer, theatre director and a long-time friend of the show. He's the latest in our series of long conversations with old friends. He joined Andy recently in London to talk about how opera, music theatre and the industries behind the art forms have transformed over the years. 
Music heard in the show:
Title: Balloon MusicArtist: Royal Philharmonic OrchestraComposer: Jeremy SamsAlbum: Enduring LoveLabel: Mellowdrama Records
Title: Act II: Tell me what love is from The Marriage of FigaroArtist: Diana Montague (Cherubino)Composer: Mozart, libretto trans. Jeremy SamsAlbum: The Marriage of FigaroLabel: Chandos
Title: Sunday in the Park, Move On, Sunday (Act II) from Sunday in the Park with GeorgeArtist: Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Broadway Company of Sunday in the Park With GeorgeComposer: Stephen SondheimAlbum: Sunday in the Park With GeorgeLabel: Masterworks Broadway
The Music Show is made on Gadigal, Gundungurra, and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country Country
Technical production by Antonia Gauci, Timothy Jenkins and Adrian James