The Center's Studio Podcast

This episode with composer S. Andrew Lloyd celebrates the world premiere of his song cycle, Amaranthine, which was written for and performed by international opera star Rachel Willis-Sørensen at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, April 9, 2024. The composer discusses how he came to write the prize-winning work and his emotional response to hearing it for the first time. Amaranthine is the first composition to appear from The Ariel Bybee Endowment at the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts, a prize Lloyd won in 2022.Musical excerpt performed by S. Andrew LloydSupport the show

The winner of the 2024 Prize of The Ariel Bybee Endowment at the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts is Mia Black. In this interview, Black introduces herself and her winning project, which will be a collection of American Folk Music aimed at elementary school-age classrooms. The breakthrough idea here is Black's plan to organize the collection using waves of immigrants and their songs to tell the story of what people brought with them, including their music, to their new homes in the United States.Music for this episode is "Old Joe Clark," from the Library of Congress, American Jukebox, recorded at the Reed family home, Glen Lyn, Giles County, Virginia, August 27, 1966.Support the show

Brad Pelo, President and Executive Producer of The Chosen discusses the series' global ambition to provide all episodes in 600 languages. The vast challenges of dubbing and subtitling the series about Jesus while maintaining the writer's unique contemporary dialogue and tone are discussed in this interview alongside the powerful experiences Pelo has witnessed riding the wave of this one-of-a-kind tv series.Music for this episode: Ave Maria (Bach-Gounod) sung by Jamie PetersonSupport the show

Many arts audiences go to performances and exhibitions without thinking much about the institutional leadership that makes these events possible. In this episode, Richard Bushman, chairman of the board of the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts and Mykal Urbina, the Center's executive director, announce a chairman-elect, Stanley Hainsworth. The trio talk about their favorite art forms and programs of the Center they love, and they invite people to become friends by participating in its activities.Support the show

In preparation for the 2024 Prize of The Ariel Bybee Endowment at the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts that will sponsor a new music program, singer and music education Jamie Peterson and intellectual property attorney Patrick Perkins discuss with passion the urgency for more music education in public schools. With the deadline for submissions fast approaching for submissions of new music ideas for the classroom (January 15, 2024), the pair talk about their own experiences with music in school and highlight extraordinary programs of music education in the U.S. today.Music for this episode, "Rejoice Greatly," sung by Jamie PetersonSupport the show

This show-and-tell episode features Erin Eastmond and Glen Nelson discussing holiday gift ideas by LDS creatives that are featured in the Center's Christmas Gift Guide. They include children's books, music, art, religious books, scholarly works, food, poetry, family activities, and a few items offered as benefit art works for the Center. Erin and Glen read excepts from the books and talk about how these items might be the perfect packages under your Christmas tree.Support the show

In this episode, the Center celebrates with composer Steven L. Ricks the upcoming premiere of his multimedia chamber opera, Baucis and Philemon (BAH-sis and Phi-LEE-mon), which was commissioned by the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts in 2019. The story comes from Ovid's Metamorphosis. It is a fable about a couple who ask the gods to be turned into trees at the bank of a lake after their death. Ricks discusses how the opera came to be written and the team behind it all.Musical rehearsal excerpts are by Steven L. Ricks (music) and Stephen Tuttle (libretto).Support the show

Robert Raleigh and Andrew Hall, the two editors of the book, The Path and the Gate: Mormon Short Fiction, gather to talk about the process of creating a new collection of fiction in this panel discussion that also includes Jennifer Quist, one of the book's authors and the fiction editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. The chat includes observations about the evolution of the Mormon literary landscape, the role of editors as gatekeepers, and readings of three excerpts. The collection of 23 stories is to be published by Signature Books October 16, 2023. Music for the episode is by Robert Cundick, Recessional.Support the show

Three authors from the new collection, The Path and the Gate: Mormon Short Fiction, gather to talk about their stories, lives, and works in this lively panel discussion. The authors are Todd Robert Peterson, Ryan McIlvain, and Heidi Naylor. All three authors are also university teachers, and a question about responses to each other's stories turns into an impromptu literary critics' circle--full of admiration, insight, and reactions to reading each other's works. The collection of 23 stories is to be published by Signature Books October 16, 2023. Finally, the trio talk about the value of many voices representing a community.Music for the episode is by Robert Cundick, Recessional.Support the show

Emerging painter Madeline Rupard discusses her paintings of the American landscape that include truck stops, gas stations, fast food, and stores that connect the suburban and the sublime. In atmospheric works that recall the stylistic approach of the Ashcan painters Henri, Sloan, Glackens, and Shinn of the turn of the 20th century, Rupard finds kinship with them and additional resonance of paintings inside Latter-day Saint church buildings, particularly the mix of religious paintings amid mundane decor. Support the show

Historian and author Claudia Lauper Bushman discusses in this episode the writing of her autobiography in progress, I, Claudia, and the value of keeping records. In her frequent letters to family, Wellesley College newsletters, and her own daily journaling, she celebrates written communications, the foundation of civilization. She is joined in the discussion about undertaking projects grand and modest by guest co-host Frances LaBianca, a student of Communications and Public Relations at the University of Arizona, who is also Claudia's granddaughter.Music for the episode is sung by Claudia Lauper Bushman.Support the show

The Dominican Jazz Project is a group of elite Caribbean musical artists whose band leader is Stephen Anderson, Professor of Composition and Jazz Studies at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. In this interview, Anderson reminisces about his tender relationship with the musicians of the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, their much decorated recordings and performances, and the joy in creating an interplay of traditional rhythms and modern jazz. Musical excerpts for the interview are from The Dominican Jazz Project's latest CD, Desde Lejos (2021), used with permission.Support the show

It was a dark and stormy night.... Barrett Burgin discusses his first feature film, Cryo, and then makes compelling connections between LDS lore, history, and belief within the context of the genre of horror films and fiction. Mormon Horror is a trending thing--LDS artists are increasingly drawn to explore elements of horror in their work. Support the show

Pianist, BYU associate professor, scholar, and social advocate Jihea Hong-Park speaks about her experience as a Korean American female pianist of faith and how anti-racism efforts extend into the world of classical music. Music for the episode is by Steven Ricks, including an excerpt from the premiere performance of Overlapping Voices with Jihea Hong Park at the piano.Support the show

In this episode, The Center for Latter-day Saint Arts announces an inaugural program, The Artists Residency at the Center. It will bring 6-8 LDS artists to New York City to reside together and work for a week in October 2023. The Residency is hosted by Stanley Hainsworth, who joins us on this podcast and discusses his own journey from a fledgling actor in New York through global creative designer roles at Lego and Starbucks before founding his own firm, Tether. With each of his corporate positions, he has led "Design Camp," an off-site retreat, which tees up, conceptually, The Artists Residency at the Center.Music for the episode: guitar and vocals by Stanley Hainsworth.Support the show

Director/screenwriter Aaron Toronto and screenwriter/actress Nha Uyen Ly Nguyen discuss their film, The Brilliant Darkness!, which won the highest award, The Golden Kite (the Vietnamese equivalent of an  Oscar) this year, for best film, best screenplay, and best actress. The dramatic film is about a family imploding, precipitated by the death of a wealthy grandfather and his son's gambling debts that imperil his life and his family's future. The main theme of the film and the topic of the podcast interview are the abusive relationships of families over multiple generations that are tacitly condoned in Vietnamese culture and their toll on its populations' physical and mental health. Recent studies show that 2/3 of Vietnamese children suffer physical abuse by family members. This is something that is autobiographical for Nha Uyen. The rapturous reception of the film--its appearance tragically coincided with the deaths of three different family's young children as victims of abuse at the hands of their parents--has started an important, national conversation and prompted the enactment of new protective laws, as well as a more open discussion on mental health (interview in English and Vietnamese).Music for the episode includes excerpts from the film's soundtrack.Support the show

Young LDS filmmaker Luis Fernando Puente discusses the premiere of his short film, I Have No Tears, and I Must Cry, at the  Sundance Film Festival 2023. It is a personal film based on his own experience as an immigrant to the U.S. from Mexico.Music for the episode is taken from the short film score, composed by Jorge Murcia.Support the show

Author and Mormon literature influencer William Morris talks about his new book, The Darkest Abyss: Strange Mormon Stories, and describes his approach to writing fiction with examples from his collection of short stories published by By Common Consent Press. Morris is also the incoming president of The Association for Mormon Letters. In the podcast he outlines some of his plans and priorities regarding the organization, which is the primary institution for LDS authors today.Music of the episode: "Christmas Soundscapes 7" by Steven Ricks.Support the show

Aaron Johnston and Kelly Loosli, creators of the new animated series, Saving Me, describe the sci-fi show--an old man who manages to return to his 11-year-old self and redeem him. This is the first animated series for  BYUtv, and the bestselling author and award-winning animator discuss the process of translating words on a page to animation on a screen.With the theme song for Saving Me written and performed by The National Parks.Support the show

Joël René Scoville is a current participant in the legendary training ground for musical theater writing, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in New York. In this episode, Scoville discusses the craft of writing for the theater, her journey from actor to writer, her experience as a Black artist, and she describes why new voices and new stories are so important today.Music for the episode is: "Til I Get Back on My Feet” from the musical, Flophouse.Music by Joanna Burns, book and lyrics by Justin Anthony Long & Joël René ScovilleSung by Joanna BurnsSupport the show