On today’s episode of music/Maker with Tyler Kline, Tyler is joined by composer–pianist–choreographer Sugar Vendil, an interdisciplinary artist based in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn).

Beginning as a classical pianist, Sugar spent nearly a decade honing her voice; today her kinesthetic, improvisatory practice integrates sound, movement, and theater. She writes and performs solo works for piano and electronics and co-leads Vanity Project with Trevor Gureckis. A proud second-generation Filipinx American, she’s developing Antonym: the opposite of nostalgia (supported by NPN Creation Fund and MAPFund; co-commissioned by Living Arts Tulsa, High Concept Labs, and National Sawdust, premiering 2026 with her ensemble sugar vendil/isogram). Her commissions include work for Jennifer Koh’s Alone Together, The Nouveau Classical Project, ETHEL’s Homebaked, and ACF | Create; her album May We Know Our Own Strength is out on Gold Bolus.

In this conversation, Sugar and Tyler trace how movement, breath, and physical instinct shape her compositions; the shift from championing new music to composing her own; and how identity and agency inform an interdisciplinary practice across acoustic and electronic work. They dig into the seeds of Antonym, the body-forward “new virtuosity” she’s cultivating at the piano, collaborative processes that keep the work alive, and why she prefers the deeper connection of a newsletter over social platforms.

Sugar and her work can be found online at https://sugarvendil.com/, and you can subscribe to Sugar's newsletter at https://sugarvendil.com/eletter

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music/Maker episodes release every other Thursday!

Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com

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On today’s episode of music/Maker with Tyler Kline, Tyler is joined by composer and avant-folk vocalist Annika Socolofsky.

Annika’s music erupts from the embodied power of the human voice, moving between orchestral works, folk ballads, and unabashed Dolly Parton covers. Her “feminist rager-lullabies” reclaim lullaby texts for a new queer era, and she’s written for ensembles including Eighth Blackbird, Third Coast Percussion, and the Albany Symphony. She is Associate Professor of Composition at the University of Colorado Boulder.

In this conversation, Annika traces the experiences that shaped her creative life—from discovering composition in high school and witnessing the Silk Road Ensemble’s genre-defying energy, to finding her voice as both composer and singer.

She and Tyler talk about collaboration as resistance to the myth of the “lone genius,” what it means to make “lower-case-c” music with joy and play, and how writing and performing her own work became a space for identity, activism, and emotional honesty. They also discuss her Hardanger d’amore fiddle, her piece Turadh, and the power of vulnerability at the heart of her art.

Annika is online at www.aksocolofsky.com

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music/Maker episodes release every other Thursday!

Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com

Subscribe to the Loose Leaf Transmissions newsletter for new episodes, behind-the-scenes updates, and ways to support the work:

looseleaftransmissions.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions

Follow along on Instagram @loose.leaf.transmissions

music/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode of music/Maker with Tyler Kline, Tyler is joined by composer Michael Frazier.

Michael is a Black and Latino composer whose work blends jazz, birdsong, hip-hop, and improvisation into a musical language rich in harmony, gesture, and emotional depth. His music has been performed by ensembles including Strings & Hammers, OSSIA New Music, Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings, and Birds on a Wire.

In this conversation, Michael shares how embracing his cultural identity became a central part of his artistic voice. He and Tyler discuss how jazz phrasing informs his sense of musical time, how he approaches emotional connection in his work, and how his creative confidence has grown through writing music that feels fully personal and grounded in who he is.

Michael is online at https://www.michaelfraziermusic.com/.

music/Maker episodes release every other Thursday!

Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com.

Subscribe to the Loose Leaf Transmissions newsletter for new episodes, behind-the-scenes updates, and ways to support the work:

looseleaftransmissions.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions.

Follow along on Instagram @loose.leaf.transmissions.

music/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode of music/Maker with Tyler Kline, Tyler is joined by composer and pianist Beyza Yazgan.

Beyza is a Turkish pianist, composer, and multidisciplinary artist whose work blends her cultural roots with global influences, improvisation, and visual storytelling. Her 2024 album Human Cocoon was selected as The Guardian’s contemporary album of the month, and she continues to expand her artistic practice across multiple disciplines while based in New York City.

In this conversation, Beyza shares how improvisation opened the door to her work as a composer, how her Turkish upbringing and experiences in New York shape her creative voice, and how mindfulness informs both her music and visual art. She and Tyler also discuss learning to quiet the inner critic, trusting instinct, and how even small acts of creation can offer quiet forms of resistance.

Beyza and her work can be found online at https://www.beyzayazgan.com/

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music/Maker episodes release every other Thursday!

Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com.

Subscribe to the Loose Leaf Transmissions newsletter for new episodes, behind-the-scenes updates, and ways to support the work:

looseleaftransmissions.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions.

Follow along on Instagram @loose.leaf.transmissions.

music/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of music/Maker with Tyler Kline, Tyler is joined by functional potter, educator, and Atmospheric Artist-in-Residence at Queen City Clay, Sinclaire Marie.

A visual artist turned ceramicist, Sinclaire’s practice centers atmospheric firing (wood, soda, raku), functional forms, and a tactile language of texture, intention, and use. She shares how her journey from charcoal drawing to clay opened a new way of communicating—through objects we hold every day.

In this conversation, Sinclaire talks about the information a pot carries—throwing lines, flashing, ash, weight, rim, glaze traces—and why she leaves the marks of process visible as a kind of memory. She discusses integrating cedar (a Diné practice of cleansing and balance) by rolling its pattern into clay, and how listening to fire changes what pots become. Along the way: community wood-firings, the barter/trade ethos, teaching as a welcoming space, and the ongoing discipline of showing up to the studio.

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music/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions — Made for All Ears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode of music/Maker with Tyler Kline, Tyler is joined by composer Charly Daniels.

Charly Daniels is a Mexican composer based in Mexico City whose work spans orchestral and chamber music, film, dance, and symphonic band. His music has been performed both nationally and internationally by groups such as the Mexico City Woodwind Quintet, Arizona Woodwind Quintet, Borderlands Ensemble, and major orchestras throughout Mexico. His orchestral career accelerated after winning first prize at the Future Symphony Competition in Lithuania in 2020.

In this conversation, Charly reflects on his unusual path into composing — from sequencing music as a teenager with no formal theory training, to discovering orchestral music as his creative home. He and Tyler discuss how Mexico City’s energy shapes his work, how synesthesia influences his harmonic and timbral language, and why he strives to write music that creates emotional sensations rather than memorable themes. They also talk about artistic confidence, creative non-linearity, and the delicate balance between ambition and process.

Charly and his music can be found online at https://www.charlesphilipdanielstorres.com/

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music/Maker episodes release every other Thursday!

Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com.

Subscribe to the Loose Leaf Transmissions newsletter for new episodes, behind-the-scenes updates, and ways to support the work:

looseleaftransmissions.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions.

Follow along on Instagram @loose.leaf.transmissions.

music/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode of music/Maker with Tyler Kline, Tyler is joined by Italian-Colombian composer and producer Caterina Schembri.

Caterina is based in Dublin, Ireland, where her music traverses harmonic exploration, literary inspiration, multidisciplinary intersections, and symbolic meaning. She recently released her debut album Sea Salt & Turpentine on Ergodos, and her works have been performed by ensembles such as Ficino Ensemble, Chamber Choir Ireland, Lumiere Quartet, and Spilliaert Trio.

In this conversation, Caterina reflects on her path into composing, beginning music later in life, and navigating both academic and commercial pressures to find her personal voice. She and Tyler discuss how literature and text-writing have become central to her practice, how symbolism informs her musical decisions, and how introspection, identity, and creative discipline fuel her artistic life.

Caterina and her music can be found online at https://www.caterinaschembri.com/.

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music/Maker episodes release every other Thursday!

Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com.

Subscribe to the Loose Leaf Transmissions newsletter for new episodes, behind-the-scenes updates, and ways to support the work:

looseleaftransmissions.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions.

Follow along on Instagram @loose.leaf.transmissions.

music/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode of music/Maker with Tyler Kline, Tyler is joined by composer Nicolás Lell Benavides.

Nicolás is a 2024–25 Guggenheim Fellow whose music has been commissioned by the LA Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Eighth Blackbird, West Edge Opera, and many more. His work spans opera, orchestral, and chamber music, often drawing on cultural history, folk storytelling, and regional memory. Upcoming projects include Dolores, an opera about civil rights icon Dolores Huerta premiering in 2025, as well as new commissions for Eighth Blackbird, the LA Phil, and an album with Friction Quartet and mezzo-soprano Melinda Martinez Becker.

In this conversation, Nicolás reflects on why his music is rooted in curiosity and dialogue rather than autobiography. He shares stories of writing about cottonwoods and irrigation, sage grouse and New Mexican Catholic folk figures — and how that exploration connects to his own family and heritage. He also speaks candidly about the opera process, the challenge of revision, and how working with brilliant collaborators has helped him embrace humility, growth, and a sense of purpose in the work.

Find out more about Nicolás and his work at https://nicolasbenavides.com/

music/Maker episodes release every other Thursday!

Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.com.

Subscribe to the Loose Leaf Transmissions newsletter for new episodes, behind-the-scenes updates, and ways to support the work:

looseleaftransmissions.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissions.

Follow along on Instagram @loose.leaf.transmissions.

music/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.