Tonight at 7:30 pm ET, Q2 Music and New Sounds Live present a live audio webcast of composer Sarah Kirkland Snider's new song cycle from the Ecstatic Music Festival, with vocal performances by DM Stith, Shara Worden and Padma Newsome.

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.

Listen to a recent recording featuring vocalist Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond together with the new-music supergroup Signal (led by Brad Lubman) performing Snider’s remarkable song cycle, “Penelope” on this New Sounds.  It’s a haunting 60-minute song cycle for female voice, chamber orchestra, and electronics that limns the boundaries between art song, chamber folk and post-rock. 

For this New Sounds, listen to selections from Sarah Kirkland Snider's epic song cycle, Penelope. From a New Sounds Live recorded in March of 2011 at Merkin Hall as part of the Ecstatic Music Festival, hear composer/vocalist Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond.  together with the versatile sextet yMusic.  Also, yMusic performs Snider's instrumental piece, "Daughter of the Waves."

For this New Sounds, listen to selections from Sarah Kirkland Snider's epic song cycle, Penelope. From a New Sounds Live recorded in March of 2011 at Merkin Hall as part of the Ecstatic Music Festival, we'll hear composer/vocalist Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond.  together with the versatile sextet yMusic.  Also, yMusic performs Snider's instrumental piece, "Daughter of the Waves."

For this New Sounds program, John Schaefer throws his annual, highly subjective, completely opinionated list of the ten best new-music releases of 2010 into the ring. Listen to the contenders for this year: a chamber ensemble (ahem, feat. members of the National)  in collaboration with an indie vocalist, a Genius-award-winning jazz pianist and his trio, a classical ensemble with a rock rhythm section made of members from an influential post-rock band, a singer-speaker-storyteller with an alter-ego, an indie-classical song cycle for the same vocalist as mentioned above, and an unexpectedly beautiful combination of poetry, singer-songwriter and avant-jazz ensemble.  Plus some of the usual suspects...