“A composer and improviser of uncommon depth and range.� – Chip Stern, Stereophile

Time Line, Ralph Towner’s newest solo album, was recorded in September 2005 in a unique setting that was quite different from his previous solo offerings Diary, Solo Concert, Ana and Anthem. In this interview with New York Guitar Festival co-founder and artistic director David Spelman, Ralph discusses the recording session for Time Line as well as many other topics from his legendary career.

Osvaldo Golijov's latest work, Ainadamar, is a searing opera about personal courage in the face of political repression.  Golijov weaves together two events from Spain’s bloody past using the poignant memories of two women: revolutionary martyr Mariana Pineda and Leftist actress Margarita Xirgu, sung by Dawn Upshaw. Central to the drama is the assassination in 1936 of poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, shot by the Fascists beside a spring in Granada called the Fountain of Tears (Ainadamar, in Arabic).

Golijov has the artistic courage to experiment with exotic combinations to devastating musical effect. Ainadamar has touched audiences and drawn praise from critics all over the world. "The poetic power of Golijov’s lyric voice and pulsating rhythms has a life force all its own." (Los Angeles Times)  "Dawn Upshaw was outstanding as Xirgu, singing here with Mozartian purity, there with gut-wrenching power." (Opera Magazine)

Peter Kiesewalter and Tyley Ross from The East Village Opera Company discuss how they took classic opera arias and made it into their own unique sound.

Once EVOC started to apply the harmonies and chorus to Verdi's "La Donna è Mobile," they noticed an immediate comparison to Queen, and even though they didn't intentionally try to sound like them, they realized they were tapping the same source Queen did.

Peter Kiesewalter and Tyley Ross from The East Village Opera Company discuss how they took classic opera arias and made it into their own unique sound.

"Nessun Dorma" was the one song Tyley Ross, as a singer, wanted to tackle. "It was the first song that sucked me into opera."