The Ever-Evolving Sounds of Thanya Iyer The music of Thanya Iyer (the name of the musician–composer as well as of her band) is impossible to define—both for her fans and for herself. “I can’t really place the genre of the music that we’re trying to do,” acknowledges Iyer from her home in[...] Read more

In the Works Chaka V. Grier Issue 132

Audiopollination Seeds Creative Evolution “Two musicians, say, coming together to play a piece of music, I think has to be interesting. Even if the results are not in themselves a great piece of music, the way they find to work with each other says something about music. So you can hear one musician figuring out—you can[...] Read more

Sound Bite Joe Strutt Issue 144

Nicole Lizée invites us to hear things her way Nicole Lizée is a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, science-fiction films, and Lars von Trier, the maverick Danish director whose Dogme (dogma), about film, inspires her own reflection on how to compose music. She says composers should be just as bold and inventive about creating music as von[...] Read more

Featured Article Richard Simas Issue 105

Charlemagne Palestine Pulls Out the Stops Interpretation takes the sensory experience of the work of art for granted, and proceeds from there. What is important now is to recover our senses. We must learn to see more, to hear more, to feel more. —Susan Sontag, “Against Interpretation”  [...] Read more

Featured Article Julian Cowley Issue 117

2018 Spring & Summer Festival Preview     The usual anticipation for nice weather has been feeling like more like desperation—a longing for warmth, good vibes, and the freedom to explore everything under the sun.   I am planning to fill my[...] Read more

Featured Article

Kaïa Kater and the Creative Power of Letting Go Kaïa Kater is a gifted storyteller. Drawn to history, the Montreal-based musician and composer strings together tales that marry the elusive past with an ever-shifting present. From a young age, Kater, who studied cello and piano as a child, found refuge in songwriting. “I didn[...] Read more

Featured Article Chaka V. Grier Issue 150

Meet the Winners of the 2023 Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest TORONTO, CANADA, April 22, 2024:   San Francisco-based composer Ningxin Zhang has won first prize for her composition Kagemusha: for Pipa and Electronics.   “I am deeply honoured to have received the first prize in the 2023 Musicworks Electronic Music[...] Read more

Featured Article

What's Inside Musicworks 143? Settle into an autumnal groove with our Fall 2022 issue and direct your curious ears toward new aesthetic coordinates. ORDER YOUR PHYSICAL COPY OF MUSICWORKS 143 FROM OUR SHOP. or SUPPORT MUSICWORKS, A REGISTERED NON-PROFIT, WITH AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION.   ON[...] Read more

Featured Article STAFF Issue 143

João Pedro Oliveira's N'vi'ah João Pedro Oliveira won second place in the 2022 Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest.  Listen to and read about his award-winning composition!       "N'vi'ah is an Old Testament word meaning prophetess. A[...] Read more

Featured Article STAFF

The Spatial Sonic Designs of Juro Kim Feliz Genres can be compared to landscapes: they are places where people gawk like tourists, set up camp on Spotify playlists, and explore musical structures. Juro Kim Feliz sat down with me in November 2021 to talk about the challenges of creating in both the Filipino and the Canadian[...] Read more

Sound Bite Rachel Evangeline Chiong Issue 141

Phivos-Angelos Kollias' Nostophiliac AI Third place in the 2022 Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest was awarded to  Phivos-Angelos Kollias for video-music piece "Nostophiliac AI."   “We interact daily with algorithms that emulate human perception and collective[...] Read more

Featured Article STAFF