506 | Environmentally-Conscious Music

In this week's episode, hosts Riya Sidhu and Ryan Baxter interview Catherine Birt, a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) candidate in Performance and Literature.  Catherine is studying collaborative piano -- this, though, is just the tip of the iceberg!  In addition to her interest in piano, Catherine explores the emerging interplay between climate activism and classical music.  Intriguingly, Catherine points out that there has been a growing presence of environmental themes in classical music -- one example being the interplay of whale vocalizations ("whale songs") with some classical music in the late 1970s and early 80s, coinciding with the anti-whaling campaign.

Catherine plans on doing case studies and interviews with prominent musicians to better explore this interplay.  Tune in for more!





Recorded on Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Produced by Mark Ambrogio
Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by White Hot)