Victoria Bond Composer and Conductor

From Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman Leah Roseman

This week’s episode features the fantastic composer Victoria Bond. You’ll be hearing music excerpted from several of her chamber music projects including Dancing on Glass, Frescoes and Ash and Instruments of Revelation. She has been commissioned by ensembles including the Houston and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras, the Cassatt String Quartet, and American Ballet Theater and has composed eight operas, six ballets, two piano concertos and orchestral, chamber, choral and keyboard compositions. She joins me for a wide-ranging interview and you’ll hear about her career as a conductor, the success of her Cutting Edge Concerts, her operas about strong women including Clara Schumann and Victoria Woodhull who ran for president of the U.S. in 1872 before women had the vote. Victoria is often inspired by other art forms and you’ll learn how this goes back to her childhood; she shared stories about her mother the pianist Jane Courtland who studied with Bartok. You’ll hear about some of her mentors including Ingolf Dahl, Roger Sessions , Pierre Boulez, André Previn, and Herbert von Karajan. I was so delighted to get to know both Victoria and her music!

I’ve linked quite a few episodes for you in the show notes for Victoria with Boman Desai, Coleman Itzkoff, Nimrod Borenstein, Jessica Cottis, Ruby Colley, Christina Petrowska Quilico, Gail Archer and Katherine Needleman among more than 250 episodes since 2021. Sign up for my newsletter, where you’ll get exclusive information about upcoming guests, consider buying me a coffee on my Ko-fi page, and buying some unique podcast merchandise. You can also review this podcast, share it with your friends, and follow on your podcast app, YouTube, and social media. It’s a very challenging media landscape for independent podcasters like me, and I do all the many jobs of research, production and publicity. ALL LINKS HERE!

(00:00) Intro

(02:36) Dancing on Glass album with several short excerpts

(08:29) different versions of her compositions, evocative titles, composition process

(15:14) Binary with excerpts

(19:20) Jane Courtland Victoria’s mother the pianist, Bartók

(24:13) Black Light with several short excerpts, influence of jazz

(33:18) Roger Sessions, Ingolf Dahl, learning composition, Brahms, Stravinsky, Bartók, musical structure

(40:30) connecting with audiences, Pierre Boulez, Cutting Edge Concerts

(47:00) Instruments of Revelation with clip of The High Priestess, dance collaborations, Lynne Taylor-Corbett

(55:19) Frescoes and Ash with excerpts from movements 1 and 2

(01:03:39) visual art inspiration, Blue and Green Music, Georgia O’Keefe with clip with Cassatt String Quartet

(01:09:23) Frescoes and Ash with clip of 3rd movement Scene From a Comedy