In the final episode of this short series of artist interviews, I meet with Lara Jones, a saxophonist, producer and composer, and the youngest of the musicians I've interviewed for this series. As such, her experience in finding her feet professionally is probably the most directly relevant to any early-career musicians listening to this. 

In our conversation we identify the new challenges and opportunities facing musicians at the start of their careers, and ultimately take what I think is a very encouraging view of the sector.

If you want it - it's out there.

Open Ears will continue - there's more information at the end of the show. 

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A key figure within the UK's contemporary music scene, Christopher Fox is the editor of new music journal Tempo as well as being an influential and widely performed composer.

In this interview, Christopher and I explore his diverse and multi-stranded career, what drives his massive range of influences, and how this leads to not just stylistic diversity within his compositions, but a huge range of different musical activities.

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In this episode I'm really pleased to bring you an interview I did with Stephanie Wake-Edwards, a young opera singer who's been blazing something of a trail over the last few years. 

She's competed at Cardiff Singer of the World, performed at Wigmore Hall, Covent Garden and the Royal Opera House, featured in online broadcasts watched by hundreds of thousands of people, and is building a really exciting career for herself. 

In this conversation Stephanie and I explore how she has navigated the institutions and challenges of the classical music world to become - in my opinion - one of the most impressive young singers in the UK. 

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In this episode, I interview composer and sound artist Nina Danon, an interdisciplinary artist who has worked across a dizzying range of mediums and art forms. 

We expore Nina's career, the type of work she does, and how she became a composer, before going on to examine what composition can mean outside of the concert hall, and how composers can work effectively across disciplines and art forms.

We then discuss different perspectives on music, for example from the perspective of neurodiverse artists and listeners, how the music we make expresses our own identity, and how artists have a responsibility to be aware of the cultural implications of the work we make

Finally we touch on diversity in music, the challenges and opportunities this presents for our art form, and how we can support each other as artists.

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In this episode, I interview Christopher Tin, an american composer who is best known for his work on video game soundtracks. 

His piece Baba Yetu was the first piece of music composed for a video game to win a Grammy award, and he is in fact currently nominated for two more Grammys for best video game soundtrack and best classical compendium. (So good luck Christopher!)

In this interview we discuss Christopher's music and influences, how he works as an artist, and how he's built a career from lots of different types of work within the music industry.

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