Ep. 040 - Stepping Into Radical Individualism in Composition with Annika Socolofsky

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...music/Maker episodes release every other Thursday!Listen and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, or at musicmakerpodcast.comSubscribe to the Loose Leaf Transmissions newsletter for new episodes, behind-the-scenes updates, and ways to support the work:looseleaftransmissions.beehiiv.com/subscribeSupport us on Patreon at patreon.com/LooseLeafTransmissionsFollow along on Instagram @loose.leaf.transmissionsmusic/Maker is a production of Loose Leaf Transmissions: Made for All Ears. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.