Exploring New Music: Bassist-Composer Lisa Mezzacappa

By Carla Escoda, 17 May 2019

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“I wanted to play music that I wasn’t being called to play, so I realized I had to start writing it”

Kurt Gottschalk, 31st March

Among the most performed living composers by orchestras worldwide, Montgomery talks about her personal approach to musical storytelling, and writing a new cello concerto for Abel Selaocoe.

The giving of gifts: Pierre-Laurent Aimard on György Kurtág

Tim Rutherford-Johnson, 16th February

As the idiosyncratic, laconic Hungarian composer approaches his 100th birthday, we talk to Pierre-Laurent Aimard about his decades-long relationship with György Kurtág, on his unique playfulness and gift-giving.

Dinosaurs of the Baroque: discovering Les Dinos et l’Arche

Lawrence Dunn, 2nd January

Thomas Leininger’s Baroque-inspired children’s opera at Geneva’s La Cité Bleue is a unique stylistic departure, which asks the essential question: what happened to the dinosaurs left off Noah’s Ark?

A political composer? John Adams revisits Nixon in China

Thomas May, 30th September

Returning to conduct Rome’s Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia this November, John Adams reflects on the situation of music in the US – and why he has so often been labelled a ‘political’ composer.

Opera premieres 2025–26: visions and fairy tales

Bachtrack, 1st September

Contemporary music theatre seems to be in a state of rude health, and we preview several new stage works soon to hit the boards this coming season at venues and opera houses around the world.

Lightness and connection: the music of Jo Kondo

Tim Rutherford-Johnson, 29th July

The enigmatic Japanese composer, recently awarded the 55th Suntory Music Award, talks about his uniquely intuitive compositional style.

Carla Escoda

Born in the Philippines, Carla trained as a ballet and modern dancer with the Alice Reyes Dance Company in Manila. She has lived and worked in Asia and the U.S. and has written about the arts for Bachtrack, KQED (the northern California public media broadcaster), Dance International, dance journal/hk, the Huffington Post, Dance Europe and ballettothepeople.

Exploring New Music: San Francisco Bassist-Composer Lisa Mezzacappa