Clexical

Laurentia Woo
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Performing Arts

Clexical is a student-led nonprofit organization 501(c)(3) that aims to democratize access to contemporary music. Laurentia founded the Clexical team based on her personal struggles as a young musician to find contemporary pieces to play and learn about. The collective frustration with the limited resources for exploring modern music inspired her to establish a platform dedicated to enhancing access to contemporary compositions. Through Clexical, they aim to spotlight underrepresented composers, organize workshops and concerts for children with limited exposure to contemporary classical music, and explore innovative trends. Their shared vision drives Clexical’s mission to make contemporary music more inclusive and accessible for all, creating a space where individuals can explore, learn, and grow through the power of music.

  1. 4d ago

    Ep. 32: Interview with Missy Mazzoli

    This episode features acclaimed composer Missy Mazzoli. She grew up in Pennsylvania before attending Boston University and Yale School of Music, as well as earning a Fulbright scholarship to the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. She has previously taught at New York University and Yale, and currently teaches at the Bard College Conservatory of Music. She is one of the two first woman composers to have been commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera. She has been commissioned by orchestras across the world such as the New York Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, and BBC Symphony Orchestra. Mazzoli has been nominated three times for the Grammys. She is a recipient of the Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music at the New York Philharmonic, and the Music Critics Association of America Award for Best Opera. Along with Ellen Reid, she is the co-founder of Luna Composition Lab, a non profit organization dedicated to female, non binary, and gender nonconforming composers aged 13 through 18.      One characteristic of Mazzoli’s music is the stylistic breadth of it. From opera and ballet to film to instrumental music to the all-female band she founded called Victoire, her compositions are manifold, spanning various genres.

  2. 5d ago ·  Video

    Episode 31: Interview with Kevin Puts

    Welcome to Clexical, the podcast dedicated to contemporary classical music! I’m your host, Kweku Poku. Here, you will hear conversations with living contemporary composers about their work, their journeys as musicians, and their thoughts on today’s new music scene. Join us as we explore and influence the vibrant world of contemporary classical music. To learn more about our work, please visit www.clexical.org. You can find videos of all the interviews we have conducted so far, information about our outreach programs with schools and libraries, and our weekly blog posts discussing the current new music scene. Today’s interview was conducted by Jean Park. In this interview, composer Kevin Puts discusses his creative process and his views on contemporary classical music. He explains that inspiration comes differently with every project. When writing an opera, he begins with the story and becomes emotionally invested in its characters. For instrumental music, inspiration may come from a personal experience or an event in the world. He often develops his first musical ideas by improvising at the piano and believes that the opening of a piece must draw the audience into the music. Puts discusses his Concerto for Orchestra, written for the St. Louis Symphony. The work explores the lyrical and virtuosic possibilities of the orchestra. Its initial inspiration came from Amanda Gorman’s poem Hymn for the Hurting, written in response to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. After reading the poem, Puts imagined chorale-like music. This opening theme returns throughout the concerto, helping listeners recognize the musical material and follow the structure of the piece. He has become increasingly interested in writing distinctive melodies that listeners can remember and will want to hear again. Inspired by composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and Gershwin, he tries to create melodies with clear and memorable identities. At the same time, he believes that composers should remain open to many musical possibilities, including classical music, pop, film music, folk music, and music from different cultures. According to Puts, one of the greatest challenges for contemporary composers is that their works are often performed alongside masterpieces by composers such as Beethoven and Mozart. Modern composers must therefore develop excellent technique, understand how to write effectively for every instrument, and create music that performers genuinely want to play. They must also overcome the audience’s assumption that new music will automatically be dissonant, difficult, or unpleasant. Puts argues that accessible music does not have to be tonal or harmonically pleasing. What matters is the composer’s ability to communicate clearly, shape the musical journey, and guide a first-time listener through the piece. Contemporary music can express emotion not only through melody but also through harmony, texture, and different densities of sound. His advice to young musicians is to listen with an open mind and draw honestly from the musical ideas and influences they truly care about.

  3. 6d ago ·  Video

    Ep. 29: Interview with Erika Dohi

    Welcome to Clexical, the podcast dedicated to contemporary classical music! I’m your host, Kweku Poku. Here you will listen to conversations with living contemporary composers about their work, their journey as musicians and their thoughts on the current new music scene. Join us as we explore and influence the vibrant world of contemporary classical music. To learn more about our work, please visit www.clexical.org. You can find the videos of all the interviews we’ve done so far, all the outreach programs we’ve done with schools and libraries, and our weekly blog posts discussing the current new music scene. Today’s podcast will be conducted by Jean Park . Erika Dohi is an Osaka-born pianist, composer, and improviser in Harlem, New York. She began her composition by pulling a variety of elements from different pieces of music she listens. Erika was originally a classical pianist. Since she moved to New York, she earned her undergraduate degree and master's from the Manhattan School of Music. Erika received her doctoral degree at Stony Brook. While in college, she attended numerous concerts in New York City. Erika watched dance, movies, various collaborations, and observed different types of music outside of classical music. Those elements have influenced her to look for what she wanted to create. Erika’s compositions come from improvisation. She would often play the piano without rules, just playing what she hears. Mostly, that leads to a song or a composition. Sometimes she begins to come up with ideas, and that becomes a composition. For example, one of her pieces is called “Polaroid”, her first album. Erika had an idea of using the piano as a guitar. She learned this technique from George Crumb, an American composer. The steps are simple. First, you hold the piano keys, and then strum inside the piano, ringing certain chords.  She wanted to use the technique to resemble the sound of a guitar to make it into a pop song, becoming a musical piece basically. Even though it was less of an improvisation. For Replicant, one of those pieces from her first album, by playing the piano, she put the bolts in the piano. She was improvising those pitches that she prepared. Erika started the composition on the piano from what she had said earlier. It had developed from the song, which is the Polaroid. In her second album, she explored more into writing songs; it felt like a different process. She felt that it needed to have a form more than piano improvisation.  She wanted to write a few songs. For the lyrics of Replicant, the lyrics had to be Japanese. Everything felt like a new process. She usually improvised her voice and heard the melody that became the main part of the melody. Erika started to dig into beats. She started going through pop songs and more electronic pieces. Erika is interested in beat songs and synthesizers. Also, she keeps exploring compositions on the piano because it is her instrument, and she gets inspiration from classical repertoires, composers she is able to perform from their work. All of these elements are inspirations, and writing pieces on a strict acoustic piano is challenging what she has been. She wants to dive in. Erika also plays in an international ensemble.

  4. Apr 1

    Ep. 28: Interview with William Cooper

    William Cooper has had a very diverse career as not just a composer, but as a pianist and conductor as well. His music has been acclaimed by Augustin Hadelich, the Julliard Orchestra, Trio 180, the JACK Quartet, and the Lysander Trio, and has been performed at the Radio France Festival and the Wellesley Composer Conference.    Along with holding positions on the faculty at Purdue University, Vincennes University and Interlochen Arts Camps since summer of 2010, he founded the choral department at Ben Davis University.   Cooper received ASCAP awards in 2004 and 2007, and the 2012 Leo Kaplan Award, the highest prize awarded in the ASCAP Morton Gould awards. As a passionate devotee of early music, he was the recipient of the 2012 David S. Saxon award from the UC Davis music department for excellence in performance of early music. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D in music composition at UC Davis, studying composition with Pablo Ortiz, and conducting research on English Renaissance music with Jessie Ann Owens.

  5. Apr 1

    Ep. 27: Interview with Amy Williams

    Welcome to Clexical, the podcast dedicated to contemporary classical music! I’m your host, [Kweku Adusei-Poku]. Here you will listen to conversations with living contemporary composers about their work, their journey as musicians and their thoughts on the current new music scene. Join us as we explore and influence the vibrant world of contemporary classical music. To learn more about our work, please visit www.clexical.org. You can find videos of all the interviews we’ve done so far, the outreach programs we’ve done with schools and libraries, and our weekly blog posts discussing the current new music scene. Today’s interview will be conducted by Laurentia Woo.   Amy Williams' music has been defined as “simultaneously demanding, rewarding, and fascinating,” “fresh, daring, and incisive,” and “curious and playful”   Born in Buffalo New York in 1969, Williams went to Bennington College where she decided to devote her life to performing and composing contemporary works. After a fellowship in Denmark, she returned to Buffalo to complete her Master’s degree in piano performance at the University at Buffalo with pianist and composer Yvar Mikhashoff, and her Ph.D. in composition, working with David Felder, Charles Wuorinen, and Nils Vigeland. She began teaching at her alma mater, Bennington College, in 1998 as a member of the music faculty and then moved to another faculty position at Northwestern University in 2000. Since 2005, Williams has been teaching composition at the University of Pittsburgh, where she is a  full professor.   Amy Williams’ compositions have been presented at renowned contemporary music venues throughout the U.S., Asia, Australia, and Europe. These include the Lucerne Festival, Lincoln Center, Whitney Museum of American Art, Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, Gaudeamus Festival, Dresden Contemporary Music Days, Ars Musica, Aspekte Festival, Festival Musica Nova, and the Thailand International Composition Festival. Her works have also been performed by acclaimed ensembles such as the Pittsburgh Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Orpheus, JACK Quartet,, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble Surplus, Dal Niente, and many others.

  6. Apr 1

    Ep. 26: Interview with Diana M. Rodriguez

    Welcome to Clexical, the podcast dedicated to contemporary classical music! I’m your host, [Kweku Adusei-Poku]. Here you will listen to conversations with living contemporary composers about their work, their journey as musicians and their thoughts on the current new music scene. Join us as we explore and influence the vibrant world of contemporary classical music. To learn more about our work, please visit www.clexical.org. You can find videos of all the interviews we’ve done so far, the outreach programs we’ve done with schools and libraries, and our weekly blog posts discussing the current new music scene. Today’s interview will be conducted by Edward Lee.    Diana M. Rodriguez is a composer, artist, and educator based in New York City. Her music is most known as a blend between Colombian folk traditions such as Joropo and Cumbia, Rock en Espanol, and Ambient soundscapes. She crafts immersive electroacoustic compositions that explore themes of identity, belonging, and the landscape of internet culture.   DM R was born and raised in Bogota Colombia and attended a community college in Miami at the age of 17 which led her to pursue a PhD at Columbia University in NYC.   Her work experiments in electronic music and noise, pushing the boundaries of sound art in both solo projects and collaborations. Her music has been acknowledged in multiple major ensembles and festivals, including the International Contemporary Ensemble and the MATA Festival. She has had works commissioned by Fromm Music Foundation and National Sawdusts’ Hildegard Commission Initiative.

  7. Mar 9

    Ep. 25: Interview with Jeeyoung Kim

    Welcome to Clexical, the podcast dedicated to contemporary classical music! I’m your host, [Kweku Adusei-Poku]. Here you will listen to conversations with living contemporary composers about their work, their journey as musicians and their thoughts on the current new music scene. Join us as we explore and influence the vibrant world of contemporary classical music. To learn more about our work, please visit www.clexical.org. You can find videos of all the interviews we’ve done so far, the outreach programs we’ve done with schools and libraries, and our weekly blog posts discussing the current new music scene. Today’s interview will be conducted by Edward Lee.   Jeeyoung Kim is an acclaimed Korean-born composer. She defines her work as a harmonization of the unique cultural aspects of Eastern and Western traditions; Deconstructing and rebuilding cultural heritage through music. She is committed to the power music has to heal, connect, and be a medium for creative expression.   With an extensive educational background, Kim studied music composition at Yonsei University in Seoul South Korea for her bachelor’s, Indiana University for her Masters in music, and she earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts from Yale University. Kim received the Bunting Fellowship at Harvard University where she composed and researched Asian music and philosophy.   In addition to her astounding level of education, Kim has received a multitude of awards and fellowships including recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts, International Alliance for Women in Music, National Association of Composers, Meet the Composer, the Dale Warland Singers New Music Competition, Jerome Foundation, Aspen Music Festival, and many others.   Her compositions have been performed by renowned orchestras and ensembles such as the Korean Broadcasting System Orchestra, Chanticleer, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, KBS Korean Traditional Music Orchestra, Contemporary Gugak Orchestra, Suwon Philharmonic, Daejeon Philharmonic, and Empire State Youth Orchestra.

  8. Feb 21

    Ep. 24: Interview with Richard Wilson

    Richard Wilson is an incredibly prolific composer, having over a hundred works for a wide variety of instruments and ensembles. His compositions have been performed by a number of celebrated groups and artists including Dawn Upshaw, the Chicago Quartet, the San Francisco Symphony, and the London Philharmonic. Wilson has received many accolades for his works including an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Creative Arts Award in Music from the City of Cleveland, the Stoeger Award from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Also a renowned pedagogue, Wilson taught at Vassar College for fifty years, where he served as the Mary Conover Mellon Professor of Music.   Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, he started out learning piano and cello, with his teachers being Leonard Shure and Ernst Silberstein respectively. In his early musical studies, he studied at the Cleveland Music School Settlement. In 1963, Wilson graduated from Harvard University where he was a recipient of the Frank Huntington Beebe Award. He has been a composer-in-residence with the American Symphony Orchestra since 1992.

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About

Clexical is a student-led nonprofit organization 501(c)(3) that aims to democratize access to contemporary music. Laurentia founded the Clexical team based on her personal struggles as a young musician to find contemporary pieces to play and learn about. The collective frustration with the limited resources for exploring modern music inspired her to establish a platform dedicated to enhancing access to contemporary compositions. Through Clexical, they aim to spotlight underrepresented composers, organize workshops and concerts for children with limited exposure to contemporary classical music, and explore innovative trends. Their shared vision drives Clexical’s mission to make contemporary music more inclusive and accessible for all, creating a space where individuals can explore, learn, and grow through the power of music.

Information

  • Creator
    Laurentia Woo
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    31
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Clexical