Listen to excerpts from the new opera by Evan Ziporyn, “A House in Bali” on this New Sounds.  The work is based on the memoirs of Canadian-American composer Colin McPhee who first brought the sounds of gamelan-influenced music to the west.

Meet composer and conductor Bill Ryan and Billband for this New Sounds program.  Ryan is the director of the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) new music group, and the mastermind behind 2007’s “story of the year in new music circles” where his all-student, all-volunteer band recorded Steve Reich’s 1976 masterwork, “Music for 18 Musicians,” to choruses of critical praise.  Bill Ryan and the ensemble went on to record Terry Riley’s “In C.”  Ryan is also a composer, and has recently released a record of his own compositions, “Towards Daybreak.”  Members of Billband - violinist/composer Todd Reynolds, and Bang on a Can All-Stars pianist Vicky Chow and cellist Ashley Bathgate- perform Ryan’s works live in the studio.  

Billband performs at Le Poisson Rouge this Sunday night, Feb. 10, 2013.  More information: "Towards Daybreak" record release show.

There's an hour of Near Eastern Jazz for this New Sounds Program.  We'll listen to Iraqi jazz from Amir Elsaffar's Two Rivers Ensemble and Turkish jazz from Okay Temiz & Saffet Gundeger.  Plus, Ethiopian jazz from Mulatu Astatqe, and world jazz from Rabih Abou-Khalil (specifically, "Levant jazz" from areas including Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan.)  All that, and more.

For this New Sounds, we'll hear music made with stuff around the house.  There are two works for teapots, one by clarinetist Andy Statman and the other a Beatles' tune.  Paul Lansky samples his sons beating pots and pans for "Table's Clear," while Pulitzer Prize-Winning composer David Lang writes music for teacups to be struck by So Percussion.  Plus, hear music for onions, and other innovative ways of putting household items in the service of music.

For this New Sounds, hear the concert recording of the world premiere of violinist vocalist Carla Kihlstedt's "At Night We Walk In Circles And Are Consumed by Fire."  The work is a collaborative commission with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and inspired by dreams - dreams collected from the band, some of her own, and some solicited through Facebook.  Comprised of nine song-parts, the topics range from meeting one's younger self, to having all of your teeth fall out, and a flying dream.

At the junction of art and pop songs lies tonight's New Sounds program. Listen to a song by Clogs, featuring guest vocalists Sufjan Stevens and Shara Worden.  Also, listen to music from Sarah Kirkland Snider from her gorgeous work, "Penelope," with vocals again by Shara Worden.  There's music from How To Destroy Angels, which is Reznor's latest collaboration with Atticus Ross and Rob Sheridan, along with his singer wife Mariqueen Maandig.  Hear innovative songstress Katie Mullins, as she crafts melodies around the African thumb piano, the mbira.  Plus, songs from David Sylvian, Evelyn Glennie featuring Bjork, and Susanna and the Magical Orchestra.

On this New Sounds, hear some unconventional piano works, including some amplified piano in a work by Charles Ives, “Serenity” as played by Jenny Q Chai from a collection of works, “New York Love Songs.”  Also from that same record, a work by Taiwanese composer Ashley Wang, involving digital piano.  Plus, from a new recording, listen to Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Piano and Javanese Gamelan.  The piano has been retuned to “play nicely” with the gamelan tunings in this world premiere recording featuring Gamelan Pacifica and pianist Adrienne Varner.  That and more.

For this New Sounds, listen to the found sounds of narration from strange and wonderful recordings in music by the Books.  We'll hear from their release, "The Way Out," a playful and surreal effort recorded in the Books' home studios.

Hear music by Afro-Cuban composer/conductor Tania León from a recently composed dance score, "Inura," on this New Sounds program.  León was born and raised in Cuba but her ancestry spans Europe, Africa, and Asia as well as the Americas.  Her score, “Inura,” is a vibrant and colorful work for voices, strings and percussion created for DanceBrazil, inspired by Candomblé.