© 2024 WUOT

WUOT
209 Communications Building
1345 Circle Park Drive
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-0322
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

A Conversation With Gavin Bryars

The music of British composer, Gavin Bryars, will be presented at four different concerts at this year's Big Ears Festival. Two of his earliest compositions will be performed: Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet and The Sinking of the Titanic. Also being performed is his newest composition, The Fifth Century, which will be presented by the chamber choir, The Crossing, and the Prism saxophone quartet. Additionally, his own ensemble, The Gavin Bryars Ensemble, will be performing for the first time in the United States.

Morning Concert host, Melony Dodson, and Mr. Bryars talk about these pieces: how they came to fruition, their deeper meaning, and how audiences' receptions of the pieces have changed over the years. Also discussed is his admiration for the music of Carla Bley (another 2017 Big Ears artist) and his philosophy on why music is so vitally important.

Melony calls the beautiful mountains of Boone, N.C., home, although she was born near Greensboro, N.C. There’s just something about those Blue Ridge Mountains that got in her blood and never left after she moved there to attend Appalachian State University (ASU). While at ASU, she majored in piano performance and music therapy and began to cultivate a love for accompanying and for collaborating with other musicians. This soon led her to earn a master’s degree in collaborative piano at the University of Tennessee, which she attended from 2006-2008.