Living Classical with Tyler Kline for January 4 - 10, 2026

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 after two people part ways. Annie Nikunen’s The Sound of Space Between Us turns that invisible connection into music, layering a single violin into a quiet, shared space shaped by memory and distance – one of several works this hour that reflect on intimacy, separation, and what remains unspoken.

Plus, music by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, Ileana Perez Velazquez, Tanya Landau, Nicolás Lell Benavides, Xenia St. Charles Iris Llyllyth, Toru Takemitsu, Zanaida Stewart Robles, Tonia Ko, Wang Lu, Annie Nikunen (arr. Camilla Caldwell), Daniel Kidane, and Qasim Naqvi.

Featuring performances by clarinetist Rane Moore; percussionists Matt Gold, Alex Lipowski, and Alex Siu Lun Li; guitarist Sara d’Ippolito Reichert; mezzo-soprano Melinda Martinez Becker; saxophonist Nick May; pianist Alex Siu Lun Li; violinist Camilla Caldwell; and ensembles Dover Quartet, Friction Quartet, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, NOTUS, Unheard-of//Ensemble, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, The Carice Singers, and stargaze.

Join Tyler Kline for this edition of Living Classical – listening closely to the stories, connections, and languages that shape the music of our time.

Hour 1

• Bakbak (Woodpecker) from Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s Woodland Songs.

• Ileana Perez Valazquez’s Zun Zun.

• Mesoraca by Tanya Landau.

• Ni el cielo and El brio nuevomejicano from Nicolás Lell Benavides’ Canto Caló.

• Xenia St. Charles Iris Llyllyth’s Close your eyes, if you can.

• A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden.

• Zanaida Stewart Robles’ Blühende Bäume.

Hour 2

• Hum Phenomenon by Tonia Ko.

• Wang Lu’s Voices of the Orchard.

• The Sound of Space Between Us by Annie Nikunen.

• Daniel Kidane’s N’dehou.

• Inaugural Music by Qasim Naqvi.