On this edition of Living Classical with Tyler Kline: Four soloists stand where one normally would in Jennifer Higdon's Low Brass Concerto, a work written as a portrait of the Chicago Symphony's legendary low brass section — their majesty, grace, and power. The piece alternates slow and fast sections, moving between solos, duets, and chorales. No special effects, just the challenge of the moving line. Then: The soul of the gamelan was said to live in the lowest gong, used to

On this edition of Living Classical with Tyler Kline: Strength doesn't always announce itself through force. In For Edna, composer Leila Adu-Gilmore writes toward a quieter endurance – perseverance, openness, and the ability to remain connected in the face of strain. Dedicated to a close friend and activist, the piece honors resilience as something lived, sustained, and shared. Then: Memory doesn't arrive all at once – it surfaces in fragments, voices, and the spaces between

On this edition of Living Classical with Tyler Kline: History can move – not just through words, but through bodies in motion. In A Green Double, composer Anthony R. Green draws on Black history and classical tradition to create a dance suite where protest, reflection, and joy share the same ground. Then: Ideas take root slowly — shaped by care, knowledge, and adaptation – in the String Quartet 2.5 by George Lewis, titled Playing with Seeds. Here, the composer treats the stri

On this edition of Living Classical with Tyler Kline: Nobody Know by Adolphus Hailstork is a concert aria shaped by perspective – a "song from the other cross." Drawing on spirituals and biblical echoes, the music centers a voice that speaks in the language it has known, asking for recognition and redemption. Then: Imagine music moving with urgency – driven, physical, and full of sharp contrasts, as if tracing a landscape shaped by force and memory. That energy sits at the he

On this edition of Living Classical with Tyler Kline: In Morning Piece , composer Devonté Hynes writes with an uncommon sense of balance – music where, as one listener put it, one note more would be too much, and one less, too little. It’s a work shaped by stillness, patience, and close attention to sound itself. Then: the title alone suggests a place of suspension – stillness, depth, and light held in balance. In …amid still and floating depths , composer Jeffrey Mumford unf

On the next Living Classical with Tyler Kline : Breath is something we rarely notice – until we slow down enough to hear it. In Respiratory Cycle , composer Rob Funkhouser builds large-scale music around that simple motion, shaping sound as something that expands, releases, and returns, opening wide sonic spaces that reveal themselves gradually over time. This hour includes a moment from that cycle, Iris Field , inviting close, patient listening. Then: In portrait RE , compos

On the next Living Classical with Tyler Kline : There’s a moment when a child learns a new word,  and suddenly the world opens outward, full of possibility. Poems by Diane Thiel linger in that feeling of discovery, watching language take shape for the very first time. Composer Dale Trumbore turns those moments into music, tracing how wonder, imagination, and meaning grow word by word. In poetry, a volta  is the moment everything turns – when the ground shifts and a new perspe

On this edition of Living Classical with Tyler Kline:  Composer Eleanor Alberga was inspired by a small village in Denmark – a place shaped by a single long road, where movement and memory seem to blur together.In Langvad , that idea becomes music: a piece that unfolds like a procession in real time, open to whatever story you bring with you as you listen. Then: Imagine an ocean that isn’t of this world – vast, unfamiliar, and quietly alive. In his Trombone Concerto, Vast Oc

On the next Living Classical with Tyler Kline:  Some languages are inherited, not taught – carried through family stories and the way people speak when they’re together. In Canto Caló , composer Nicolás Lell Benavides honors his New Mexican grandparents by exploring Caló, a Spanish–English dialect shaped in the American Southwest. This hour features two songs from Canto Caló , tracing language, memory, and family history through sound. Then: A private history can linger long

On this week's Living Classical with Tyler Kline ... When composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate first heard Pura Fé and her group Ulali thirty years ago, their sound changed his life. Now, Tate has created the first classical transcription of Fé’s Rattle Songs  — a work that bridges Indigenous roots and orchestral color. This hour features a collection of those transcriptions, returning to music that shaped Tate’s artistic path and continues to resonate decades later. Then: A