Ep. 155 - On the Changing Landscapes of Choral Music - Jocelyn Hagen & Timothy Takach

“There’s still so much we can say through choral music, and a good portion of the music that gets put on the concert stage revolves around similar themes that are timeless, that humans are always wrestling with. At the same time, life moves on, and I think choral music in the last couple years has been a really important response to where we are as a society. An artist’s impetus is to respond to events, feelings, and all those sorts of things that get our heart racing.” - Timothy Takach“I’ve realized over the years that if I want my music to live and be performed in a bigger way, I had to figure out how to refine those musical ideas to make them accessible to more musicians. That has been a big part of what we’ve been doing in our own personal work, but we’ve been helping our composers through Graphite do that as well, saying, ‘this is an amazing idea. I love this sound. Is there a way you can make it simpler so more people can be successful with it?’” - Jocelyn Hagen Jocelyn Hagen composes music that has been described as “simply magical” (Fanfare Magazine) and “dramatic and deeply moving” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis/St. Paul). She is a pioneer in the field of composition, pushing the expectations of musicians and audiences with large-scale multimedia works, electro-acoustic music, dance, and opera. Her melodic music is rhythmically driven and texturally complex, rich in color and deeply heartfelt. A champion of the female spirit, many of her projects focus on the stories of women. She is a co-founder of Graphite Publishing and the band Nation, singing her heart out every chance she gets.Inspired by narrative, magical realism, speculative fiction and making better humans through art, the music of Timothy C. Takach is a mainstay in the concert world. Applauded for his melodic lines, text choices and rich, intriguing harmonies, his compositions are performed worldwide. He is a co-founder of Cantus, Graphite Publishing and Nation, and he is a co-creator of the theatrical production All is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914. Takach has frequent work as a composer-in-residence, presenter, conductor, clinician and lecturer.To get in touch with Jocelyn & Tim, you can find them both on Facebook (@JocelynHagenMus and @timothyctakach.composer). Jocelyn is also on Instagram (@jocelynhagenmus) and TikTok (@jocelynhagen). You can also subscribe to their YouTube channels (@JocelynHagenComposer & @TimothyCTakach) and visit their websites to subscribe to their newsletters: jocelynhagen.com and timothyctakach.com.Email [email protected] to contact our hosts.Podcast music from Podcast.coPhoto in episode artwork by Trace Hudson