Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

28/07/2024

It's time for me to re-charge...I'm taking a 3 week break for a holiday with my family, and I'll be taking a break from social media as well.
I have SO many fantastic episodes recorded, and I'll be releasing some extra bonus episodes too, starting at the end of August.
If you get my podcast newsletter emailed to you, you already know who will be featured, because I reserve exclusive Sneak Peeks for my newsletter subscribers!

Sign up here: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter

28/07/2024

Hillary Simms in this wide-ranging conversation: "And yes, I am a woman, and unfortunately, we live in a society where I'm a female trombonist, whereas my colleagues are not male trombonists. So gender shouldn't play a part in any of this, right? But it does. So once we can take gender out of it and we just say, oh, she's a trombonist. They're a trombonist, he's a trombonist. Whatever's a trombonist, then I think we've made some progress."
We also talked about: her mentors including Karen Bulmer, Gordon Wolfe Michael Mulcahy, her audition experience joining the American Brass Quintet , the danger of burnout, the importance of self-care and routine and lots more.

Listen here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/hillary-simms

27/07/2024

Hillary Simms is a virtuosic Canadian trombone player with the esteemed American Brass Quintet and is on faculty at the Julliard School. She performed as a soloist a couple of times with my orchestra, Canada’s Arts Centre Orchestra | l'Orchestre du Centre national des Arts, and you’ll hear us talk about the arc of her career so far as a chamber musician, soloist, educator and busy freelancer.
We decided to delay the release of this episode slightly in order to include a fantastic recent recording of the Amercian Brass Quintet, a movement from David Biedenbender’s wonderful work Sacred Geometry. This is the first recording of the group with Hillary performing, and you’ll find more information and links in the show notes of this podcast.
Hillary’s warmth and love of music comes through in this candid interview, from her childhood in Newfoundland to playing on the world’s biggest stages, and also the unusual situation she found herself in when her engagement to her husband became a viral sensation in China.
As the first woman to join the Amercian Brass Quintet since 1960, Hillary spoke to me about gender disparity in the brass world and some of her strong female role models.
Hillary shares wonderful insights for all of us, whether you pursue music as a career or follow a different path, of the need to have self-compassion and have an awareness of the big picture of your life.
Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast, and I’ve also linked the transcript to my website, everything linked here:
https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/hillary-simms

23/07/2024

As a 55-year old grown-up veteran of orchestral recordings with the National Arts Centre Orchestra | l'Orchestre du Centre national des Arts, it’s quite a milestone for me to release with my colleagues Collected Strands: Volume 1, completely improvised chamber music.

We released on Bandcamp yesterday, with a standing-room-only free concert in the National Arts Centre / Centre national des ArtsAtrium (and one today as well at noon), and it will be put on the streaming services on August 9.

You can listen here:
https://collectedstrands.bandcamp.com/album/volume-1

If any of you who bought a CD yesterday want a download code, please get in touch with me - I forgot to bring them yesterday!

Thanks again to the wonderful Maryanne moodie for permission to use her beautiful art (check out her books and website!) with band photo by Curtis Perry and album design by Sarah Roseman, sound recording and engineering by Dean Watson and Rob Cosh.
Collected Strands are an Ottawa-based quartet of improvising musicians: Mike Essoudry, James J McGowan Raphael Weinroth-Browne and myself.

10 track album

20/07/2024

Concert pianist Rebeca Omordia has just released her second African Pianism album, Volume 2, which was just named Editor’s Choice in the Gramophone Magazine, and is a fascinating and beautiful kaleidoscope of piano works from West Africa, North Africa, South Africa and East Africa. Rebeca spoke to me about her extensive research about these composers, varied styles, and the different traditional music traditions which are often at the heart of this music. We talked about her experiences growing up in Romania with a Romanian mother and a Nigerian father. Now based in London, Rebeca spoke to me about The African Concert Series at Wigmore Hall, and many of her collaborations, including with Errollyn Wallen whose Piano Concerto, written for Rebeca Omordia, is featured in this podcast along with excerpts from several of the works on the African Pianism album, volume 2 on the SOMM Recordings label.

Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast, and I’ve also linked the transcript to my website, all linked here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/rebeca-omordia-african-pianism

photo: Fourchiefs Media Productions

18/07/2024

Omordia has just released her fantastic solo piano album African Pianism volume 2 on the SOMM recordings label, and I am helping celebrate this great recording, as well as her work with the African Concert Series and some of her collaborations including with Errollyn Wallen, on my podcast this Saturday July 20 2024.I encourage you to have a listen to this album directly at this link: https://somm-recordings.com/recording/african-pianism-volume-two/

17/07/2024

Great to have a visit with Edna! She’s wearing the unisex v-neck. If you are interested in supporting my podcast through the merch store have a look: https://www.leahroseman.com/beautiful-shirts-and-more

16/07/2024

From this morning's walk - my new podcast t-shirt in pink. What do you think? Shop here: https://www.leahroseman.com/beautiful-shirts-and-more

to support Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

Design by Steffi Kelly Art & Design

16/07/2024

Listen to the podcast or watch the video here, in this inspiring episode with Sarah Jeffery of Team Recorder / Sarah Jeffery , in a wide-ranging conversation featuring great music: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/sarah-jeffery-of-team-recorder

Here's another great quote from Recorder / Sarah Jeffery " So the recorder is in fact a family. You have instruments from the 15 centimeter garklein to the sub sub contra bass, great bass in B flat, which is three meters tall. As a recorder player, you are expected to be able to play on all of these sizes, and we play in different sizes in different models. Medieval renaissance, Baroque, modern, in different tunings and temperaments. So modern pitch, low Baroque pitch, high Renaissance pitch. It just means we have a very long shopping list."

photo: Claudia Hansen

13/07/2024

Sarah Jeffery Recorder / Sarah Jeffery is a wonderful and versatile recorder player based in the Netherlands, known worldwide for her outreach with her YouTube project Team Recorder, which at the time of this podcast release has well over 205, 000 very engaged followers. She is the Recorder Professor specializing in Contemporary music at the Royal College in London, and we talked about her work teaching technique, improvisation in different styles, her varied career including experimental theatre and her which directly informs her work as a musician.
There’s lots more to this wide-ranging episode, which features some fantastic recorder performances as well, including music of Steve Reich and the prog rock band Jerboah .
Listen here:
https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/sarah-jeffery-of-team-recorder


Photo of Sarah Jeffery: Claudia Hansen

11/07/2024

Sneak Peek…with Sarah Jeffery Team Recorder / Sarah Jeffery ! This Saturday July 13 2024 will be the release of this episode with this wonderful and versatile player known worldwide for her outreach including her YouTube project Team Recorder, which at the moment has well over 205, 000 very engaged followers. Sarah is the Recorder Professor specializing in Contemporary music at the Royal College in London, and we talked about her work teaching recorder technique, improvisation in different styles, her varied career including experimental theatre and her which directly informs her work as a musician. There’s lots more to this wide-ranging episode, which features some fantastic recorder performances as well, including music of Steve Reich and the prog rock band Jerboah . Lots more coming soon about this special episode!
Photo: Claudia Hansen

10/07/2024

Percussionist soloist Lisa Pegher is also a software engineer, composer and improvisor: “But the magic that happens in code itself is very relatable to music, the way that you have to compose it, the way that the programs get put together, the structures, the language. It is one of those things where it's beyond the face value of it. Just like music is where it's like, you might see the notes on the page in music, but what you're hearing, you don't need to see the notes.”
Listen to the podcast on all platforms : https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/lisapegher

09/07/2024

Recognize these guys from the podcast? From James J McGowan who put together this album preview with photos by Perry Photography "I’m happy to announce I am collaborating with three other fine musicians—cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne , violinist Leah Roseman @ , and drummer Mike Essoudry , and we have a new album coming out soon, called "Volume 1"! Collected Strands is a unique chamber music ensemble that creates *fully improvised music* drawing upon a variety of influences: classical, folk, jazz, avant-garde, and middle-eastern traditions. Our CD release concert will be held at the National Arts Centre / Centre national des Arts in Ottawa on July 22 and 23 and they are both free concerts at noon! The digital release date for the album is August 9, 2024. (and yes there will be a Volume 2)!"
photos: Curtis Perry
I'll also be releasing a special album celebration podcast episode in August after we've released the album on all platforms.

09/07/2024

Check out my new phone case from my podcast merch! Take a look: https://www.leahroseman.com/beautiful-shirts-and-more
Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman Leah Roseman Violin and Interviews

08/07/2024

New for me: leahroseman.substack.com
I've just posted my Lisa Pegher interview on Substack with the embedded audio and the transcript. I hear that Substack is searchable, and I want to post these transcripts in more places. What do you think?
This is freely available:
https://open.substack.com/pub/leahroseman/p/lisa-pegher-interview-percussion?r=1ibxzl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

07/07/2024

"And so once I felt like I had pretty good technique, everything else gets easier. It's just like we can go back to the meditation thing. It's like when you can get into that zone and you have a good foundation, everything in life becomes easier."
This wise quote is so true, about having a good foundation - and applies to many things in life, not just instrumental or vocal technique!
Listen to this inspiring podcast with the brilliant solo percussionist and drummer Lisa Pegher : https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/lisapegher

06/07/2024

Lisa Pegher is a brilliant American percussion soloist and drummer. She is also a composer, improvisor and software engineer. She is known for pioneering percussion as a solo instrument within the orchestral realm and beyond, making it her life’s work to present percussion to larger audiences by commissioning, collaborating, and creating new works and performances that bring percussion to the front of the stage. We talked about her new concerto/show, "Circuits and Skins," written for her by Paul Dooley , which explores ways to meld orchestra with Electronic Dance Music, and also her project A.I.RE (ARtificial Iintelligence Rhythm Evolution. You’ll hear about Lisa Pegher's perspectives on self-care, social media, the value of mentors, and a fascinating variety of her performances during this episode including a marimba improvisation and music by Mathew Rosenblum . Like all my episodes on Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman you can watch the video or listen to the podcast on all the platforms, and the transcript is also linked here:
https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/lisapegher

04/07/2024

Sneak Peek…Saturday July 6 2024 my episode with the percussion pioneer Lisa Pegher !
Lisa Pegher is a brilliant American percussion soloist and drummer, composer and improvisor: We talked about her new concerto/show, "Circuits and Skins," written for her by Paul Dooley, which explores ways to meld orchestra with Electronic Dance Music, and also her project A.I.RE, Artificial Iintelligence Rhythm Evolution. You’ll hear about her perspectives on self-care, social media, the value of mentors, the beauty of coding and a fascinating variety of her performances during this episode including a marimba improvisation.
Lots more coming very soon about this episode!

02/07/2024

Did you know I create detailed timestamps for my podcast episodes? Here’s a selection of topics from last week’s interview with the acclaimed conductor Jessica Cottis : childhood and the sheep farm, butterflies, programming orchestral programs, presenting and interpreting contemporary music, equity and inclusion in classical music, conducting mentors Colin Davis and Colin Metters, the art of conducting, how Jessica learns scores, and lots more! Have a isten here (or read the transcript) https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/jessica-cottis

01/07/2024

"It’s okay to be a slow boil": great insights from Cliff Beach Music in this episode
Listen here https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/cliff-beach

30/06/2024

Did you know that I take the time to provide detailed timestamps for all my episodes? Here's an example from my episode with Cliff Beach Music , including: winning the John Lennon song-writing competition,
playlist curation and pitching your music, book “Side Hustle and Flow”, setting goals, self-reflection, gratitude and building habits, new merch to support the podcast!

Have a listen: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/cliff-beach

29/06/2024

Cliff Beach Music is an award-winning singer, songwriter, author of “Side Hustle and Flow”, podcast host, record label owner and more: this episode focuses on his recent album and tribute to Ella Fitzgerald “You Showed Me the Way”, we also got into his funk hit “Confident” and the last part of the interview we talked about some of his valuable advice from his book. Cliff didn’t write his book for musicians, but for anyone that wants inspiration and advice for making the best of their lives, and I found a lot of what he wrote about resonated with me.

Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast, and I’ve also linked the transcript to my website : https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/cliff-beach

photo: Sheldon Botler Photography

27/06/2024

Sneak Peek…with Cliff Beach Music , the award-winning songwriter, singer, author, podcaster, and so much more - with his perspectives on living a full life and a focus on his recent album “You Showed Me the Way”, a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. This episode is releasing this Saturday, June 29 2024. Lots more coming soon!



photo: Sheldon Botler Photography

23/06/2024

I have a special interest in synesthesia. Did you know that some scientists think we are all born with our senses mixed? There are many different types of synesthesia, such as seeing colour and shapes with sound. Jessica Cottis: “I never thought about synesthesia when I was younger. It just is. We see, we hear, we feel it was always there. So I'm always fascinated in hearing other people's experiences of these conjoined sensory interactions with the world.” Listen to this fascinating wide-ranging podcast with the acclaimed conductor Jessica Cottis: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/jessica-cottis
photo: Gerard Collett

22/06/2024

Jessica Cottis is an acclaimed orchestral conductor, and in this wide-ranging interview you’ll gain insights into the special world of orchestral conductors and also some of Jessica’s interests in the natural world and the arts. She spoke to me about her musical path, from how she made her first trumpet, to life on a sheep farm, to her transition from a career as a concert organist, to lessons learned from conducting mentors including Colin Davis and Colin Metters. Jessica is such an articulate champion of the value of music and the arts, and I’ve also been privileged to have worked with her in my role as a violinist in Canada’s Arts Centre Orchestra | l'Orchestre du Centre national des Arts.
I have a special interest in , so I was interested in hearing her experience of sound through colour, and if you look at the description of this episode, you’ll find detailed timestamps for the many topics covered, inluding some beautiful music from Julie Cooper ’s new album Oculus on Records with Jessica Cottis conducting. Jessica also shared her difficult recovery from a concussion and how her senses were further mixed for a period of time.

Like all my episodes, you can watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast on all the platforms and I’ve also linked the transcript to my website, everything linked here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/jessica-cottis

photo: Gerard Collett