Sparks & Wiry Cries

Martha interviews composer Shawn Okpebholo and baritone Will Liverman about our commission, Songs in Flight. Shawn and Will talk about their long history of collaboration, grappling with difficult and personal subject matter, and bringing one’s authentic self to performance and composition. Songs in Flight will receive its world premiere this week in NYC, as part of the 2023 sparksLIVE events. More information about Sparks & Wiry Cries and our sparksLIVE events are available at our website.

Martha Guth interviews LaToya A. Lain, soprano, jessica Care moore, poet, and Andrew Staniland, composer about creating the 2021 commission "Ramadan 20 vs COVID 19" with Erika Switzer, co-founder of Sparks and Wiry Cries. The piece received its world premiere during the 2021 songSLAM festival, and the score is available through the Sparks and Wiry Cries shop.

Martha Guth interviews soprano Sara Schabas on the influential Viennese/Canadian pedagogue and singer Emmy Heim (1885-1954). Heim greatly contributed to the rising popularity of Lieder in Canada in the 20th Century. Sara Schabas tracks her life as it intersected with the compositional greats of fin de siècle Vienna, and later, as she fled as a refugee to Canada. Martha and Sara reflect on her life, the importance of imagination in singing, and pedagogical lineages.See below for an incredible information packet tracking Emmy’s life and achievements that Sara Schabas created to accompany the podcast.https://www.sparksandwirycries.org/s/Emmy-Heim-One-of-Early-20th-Century-Viennas-Great-Forgotten-Lieder-Singers-4.pdfFollow the links to the episode website for bonus content!The recording you hear at the beginning and end of the podcast is from an LP of informal recordings made by Emmy Heim and pianist Sir Ernest MacMillan at his home in Toronto in 1948.

Martha sits down with storied tenor Paul Sperry for a conversation about his early music education, the state of song careers, working with Pierre Bernac, and his many collaborations with some of the most extraordinary composers of our times.

An insightful interview with composer/writer Herschel Garfein in his Park Slope Apartment about his newest song cycle: Mortality Mansions with texts by poet Donald Hall.  We discuss 'why song', his own compositional style, and the delights of Donald Halls poetry.

A wonderful conversation with poet Donald Hall in his home in New Hampshire

The Internationally renowned baritone speaks about his love for American Song, the Hampsong Foundation and the 'Song of America' educative initiative which explores the history of American Culture through Song.

An interview with pianist Graham Johnson from the comfort of his own home in London.

An Interview with composer Scott Wheeler and an in depth look at his cycle 'Wasting the Night', poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

The Casement Fund Song Series (now the songSLAM Festival) kicks off its inaugural concert with a live podcast event!

The Motown project and Alicia Hall Moran. In this interview, we speak to the creator and star of this incredible new fusion of Motown, Classical song and Opera, creating an incredible new hybrid and expanding the definition of art song.

A short conversation with an 88 year old Ned Rorem in his Manhattan apartment.

An interview with the brilliant composer Stephen Paulus. October 8, 2011

October 1, 2011

A wonderful conversation with our friend, the late Deen Larsen in which he speaks about Goethe's poetry as set by Schubert.  Performances by Elly Ameling and Dalton Baldwin. 

The end of Napoleon's reign and the birth of the Biedermeier era brought about many things, including - in a round about way - the birth of the song salon. Musicologist Ben Binder discusses why the politics of the time created an atmosphere where people were comfortable to be themselves only at home, and why Schubert mattered so much.  Performances of 'Nacht und Träume', Auflösung, Der Jungling und der Tod, and Der Wanderer.

Two performances from the Aldeburgh Connection recital series and recording label in Toronto: 'Abraham and Isaac' and 'The Journey of the Magi', performed by Brett Polegato, Daniel Taylor, Bruce Ubukata and Stephen Ralls and Benjamin Butterfield.

A beautiful recording of early songs by Francesca Caccini performed by Soprano Shannon Mercer, with Luc Beausejour (harpsichord), Amanda keesemat (cello) and Sylvain Bergeron (theorbo/guitar).

Jon Vickers and Maureen Forrester: Two Canadian Legends

A recording by Baritone Peter MacGillivray and pianist Liz Upchurch