Composer Martin Kennedy Debuts Original Work: ‘Forest Dark and Stars Above’
Every year, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra features an up-and-coming composer and commissions a work. This season, that composer is Alabama native Martin Kennedy. Thursday night, the orchestra gives the world premiere of Kennedy’s Forest Dark and Stars Above. Kennedy spoke with WBHM’s Michael Krall about his approach to composing. Their conversation began with Kennedy describing the piece and features some of Kennedy’s other music.
Interview highlights:
How audiences should approach a new piece of music:
“A new piece is a new adventure, a new story that’s told.”
On knowing whether a composition is worthy:
“It’s like a dish that you concoct. You spend your time with the ingredients, you spend your time putting everything together, creating the sauces … and at the end of the day, someone takes it out and presents it to the table. And, at that point it’s … up to the consumer to decide if it’s worthy.”
Why composers today don’t write more like Beethoven or Brahms or Mozart:
“Because Beethoven was such a good Beethoven. We don’t need another Beethoven, we don’t need another Brahms … that’s all been done, and it’s been done so well.”
Note: The Alabama Symphony Orchestra is a sponsor of WBHM programming. WBHM’s news and business departments operate separately.
Where are all the protest songs?
Protest requires people to take a stand and hold firm. Pop songs are designed to appeal across demographic lines. In music, as in the rest of the world, resistance takes place closer to the ground.
Trump officials propose testing a citizenship question amid a push to alter the census
The Trump administration proposes to include a question about U.S. citizenship status in this year's field test of the 2030 census, as Republicans push to alter the counts behind voting maps.
Some Public Health Service officers quit rather than serve in ICE detention centers
A special corps of health care workers have been called in to work with detained immigrants and many feel deeply conflicted about the assignment, saying they're not able to provide good care.
‘More relevant every day’ in the U.S.: A filmmaker documented Russia’s journalists
Julia Loktev's documentary My Undesirable Friends follows young independent journalists covering Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Measles continues to spread in the US, but with some letup
As South Carolina's outbreak grows to 876 confirmed cases, vaccinations in the state surged in January. Cases have also been reported in two ICE detention facilities.
The Winter Olympics gets 8 new events, including its first new sport in decades
Ski mountaineering will make its Olympic debut this year, the first winter sport to do so since 2002. Skeleton, luge, ski jumping and moguls are also getting new events.
