Connections Concerts

With Sophie Lippert

​**Morgan:** Welcome to Zeitgeist Radio, the podcast for music lovers to expand their horizons into new and interesting musical subcultures. I'm your host, Morgan Roe, founder of the Zeitgeist Academy. Each episode, I interview someone from a different musical community. Zeitgeist means spirit of the times. And my goal is to make that spirit come alive for you and help you appreciate musical communities you may not know much about.

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That's z e i t g e i s t academy dot com slash radio.

My guest today is Sophie Lippert, a cellist and pianist in Western Massachusetts. Sophie, welcome to Zeitgeist Radio.

**Sophie:** Thank you so much. So glad to be here.

**Morgan:** Yeah. I can't wait to talk with you. Let's start with you. How, how would you describe yourself musically to our listeners?

**Sophie:** Sure. So I am certainly a musician at core.

I'm a trained classical pianist and have been pulling out my cello a lot recently. I have cello in my lineage as well. But my classical background now very much informs me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. An expansion of what being a musician feels like right now to me. So I have a penchant in particular for elevating, playing, exposing works by underrepresented composers in particular music by women, and that has been.

incredibly rewarding for me to bring my training, you know, my very traditional classical background and training and technical abilities and apply it to really just give voice to all of this music that isn't being played. It is astonishing to me how much great music is written that is not in the common vernacular.

So that's one branch of who I am and what I do in the world. I am also an entrepreneur, so I'm always kind of thinking about how to, how to create a career for myself and by extension, like a world, right? How, how can, what I'm doing in the world be of greater benefit to the community of people around me?

To myself, you know, how can it be more kind of rewarding and sustainable and fulfilling and engaging? And how can it be impactful? And I really do think a lot about that, you know, and that's one of the reasons I think it does feel so aligned to me to be doing this work to expose works that don't get played very often, because I do think about, you know, it's, it.

In the most modest way I do, I want to always orient a little bit towards, like, what is the, what is the fingerprint that I, I have, like, what, who, who am I as a person? What do I have to do here that could, that could make a little bit of a difference? And that feels really Really important and, and, and meaningful to me to, to think about.

I'm also a teacher. So I have a great studio of students of all ages in particular, teens and adults. And I love that work, mostly teaching piano and last but not least, I am an event curator and a space holder. I do, I really think of myself a lot as. Someone who kind of holds space for or creates a container for some magic to happen.

So yes, it, it takes my expertise and capabilities in a certain way, but then I have to kind of stand back and let the, let the art flow through me. Frankly, I feel that way sometimes, you know, even as a player, right? Like what I'm doing is using, using the combination of. Skills and capabilities that I picked up over the years to play this great music, but it feels way less about me than it does kind of about, you know, being being a container for it or being a catalyst, a conduit for it.

And I feel that way too about the work I do, creating events and concerts and spaces for community to be there right it's, I'm. I'm holding the space in order for something kind of special to happen within it. But it's way more about, about that specialness than it is about me.

**Morgan:** Yes. Oh, so many thoughts.

First off. I've been really loving the word curator lately. I had a guest on a little while ago who is she curates events in LA. And it's the way she spoke, the word curator just brought it like such to life for me. That's the episode with Mel. I can put the link in the, in the show comments of amazing human being.

Who's kind of doing that same thing. I just been thinking a lot on that word curation and how How there's, there's so much in the world that to go into a space that's been carefully curated. I know when I go into those spaces, like it's, it's so amazing and magical that it's, you know, it's, it's very carefully put together.

So that's kind of what I'm sensing and what you're doing for the, the concerts and the community curation. Also we met in Portland. And I know a lot of musicians, obviously, but one thing that has struck me about you is the way that you embody heart in like, like it really shines from deep in you out and I'm kind of getting that sense as well as you're describing what you're doing.

It's like you have this heart. The spirit and heart are in alignment and then all of that gets pushed out. So those are just two observations. Beautiful introduction.

**Sophie:** That was gorgeous. Thank you for that reflection.

Yeah. So you have started or restarted something that, that caught my interest to where I reached out called these Connections Concerts.

Can you describe what those are and maybe the, the history of where they came from?

**Sophie:** Sure. Yes. Well, I like a good title. I like a good alliterative title. So this one does that, right? The Connections Concert Series, but The word connection is so foundational. You know, when I was thinking about initially dreaming in 2017, 2018, about what this concert series might want to be, this whole list of names, by the way, it was like ice radio, fabulous name.

Thank you. No, I, but you know, this whole list of names and then I, you know, thinking creatively, Oh, what, you know, all these kind of delicious, interesting sounding things. But at its core, I just kept coming back. Like Connections Concerts is about connection first and foremost. And it just feels so important to have that word.

And it's in its title even, you know, so it's about connecting classical music with other genres of music. At its core. It's about connecting audiences more deeply with the listening and concert experience than often will happen at a traditional show. It's about connecting unique and diverse and eclectic musicians.

who would not generally be on a stage together. And it's about connecting audience members, even with, with each other, kind of within that container, right? So we have, we always have classical music on the program and some kind of melange of Of like traditional classical stuff and then modern classical works by, by composers that don't generally get played.

And then always there are one or two or three or sometimes in my more ambitious endeavors, even more performers from different genres that also come onto the stage and share that space. And we generally do a little bit of trading off. So really letting people kind of. Share from their zone of genius and demonstrate who they are in their general form, right?

The hat that they generally wear as a musician or performer. And then we do some collaborations between all of the musicians together. And there's always moments for the audience to both engage with each other kind of through an We'll generally give some sort of conversation prompt and then ask people to turn to someone next to them and speak a little bit and or someone on the stage will lead some sort of intentional experience.

So we did. Earlier this year on one of the shows, I kind of did this, this meditative soundscape, which landed underneath an experience where the audience came back. We were pulling people back from intermission. We said, okay, come as you're coming back. Let's all kind of land in this space together. And we guided people through breathing and kind of like a little thought process, and then we all sang together.

We all vocalized together in that space. And so again, lots of different threads and there are different iterations and ways that expresses, but foundationally it is about. connecting all of the people in the room to each other, to the music and to an experience that's hopefully, hypothetically, and often does really feel genuinely like it, something emerges that's So it transcends any, any one of those one kind of forces

Zeitgeist moments.

We'll get to that again later, but yeah,

Now this you are in Massachusetts now, but these started in Portland. Am I right?

**Sophie:** Exactly.

Yeah. And I, I went to one at the old church in Portland. Is the iteration that you're doing now the same? Has it evolved? Obviously we had a huge pandemic in between. What's your, what are your thoughts?

How has this event evolved over the last several years?

**Sophie:** Yes. Well, there are certainly some significant differences and some significant ways that it really does embody the same mission and ethos. So I had. You know, this, this vision was birthed in 2018, 2017, 2018, I was awarded a very significant grant from Portland grant writing organization and was able to therefore fund a series, which was going to be eight shows.

It was, it did end up being abridged by the pandemic, but it was, it was. The scope was, you know, not, not huge, but it was significant. It was one of the biggest, you know, most impactful things that having a full season of eight concerts that people subscribe to right off the bat if they, if they wanted to, or by one off, you know, so there was, it was, it was, and, and I had the full roster lined up.

Even before any of the show started. So that was, you know, I was really thinking more, you know, kind of like if, if I was a producer of a chamber series or, or a symphony program, you know, like what the scope I really needed to be incredibly organized and have it all, have it all planned out beforehand.

And I'm really proud of. My ability to, to do that. That was, it was, it was ambitious and very exciting. And then yes, pandemic happened and life changed and I, life took me to Tel Aviv, Israel for 14 months. And I had, I got married and I had a baby and now we're here in Massachusetts. And having, I actually have, in the recreation, re, rebirthing of Connections concerts, one of the key things that happened was that I found another human being who was doing something already very much like Connections concerts.

In fact, she called them Conscious Connections concerts, but almost identical, even in the branding. And she and I Charlotte Malin, soon to be Charlotte Collins. She's, she's getting married in just less than a month found each other and immediately were clear that we needed to create something together.

And so Connections Concerts in its current iteration is kind of a confluence of what Charlotte was bringing into the world and what I was bringing into the world. And so, I mean, there's some key differences simply because we're running it as a team of two rather than a That is and that we could do a whole episode on that, right?

Right, right. The difference between kind of sole entrepreneurship and and working in, as a team and collaboration. And there are incredible blessings and incredible challenges. And it all is part of the, you know, part of the milieu. But it has been the shows I continue to we continue to open the shows much like I did and in in Portland, Oregon, which was is always welcoming people and inviting them in as co creators to the experience and saying a few intentional words and and then really.

Showcasing and elevating lots of types of music alongside each other. All of those components that I spoke about earlier, they, they do still exist. So I would say I'm still learning what connections concerts is here in Massachusetts. In 2024, we've had only two shows and we have one more this calendar year, and then we'll see what comes next.

Right. So. I, I could tell you all of the, the subtle differences, but I'm almost like, let me, let's just keep listening. I just want to keep listening to, to the concert series kind of as a business and as its own entity and see. What else? It's going to, we're going to know a lot more after even one more concert.

And then, you know, after Charlotte and I sit together and say, okay, what, what wants to come next, you know, and, and depending on the performers that come into our space and into our sphere and that we're collaborating with that, that changes things a lot. I mean, on our next show, we have a poet for the first time.

We have never kind of reached beyond, I've had a spoken word artist but never. reached beyond a more exclusively musical realm. Although I did, we did feature a dancer at one of the shows in Portland and that was really fun. So anyway, it, it, it will, I think it will continue to shape shift.

**Morgan:** Yeah. There's a phrase that we say at my day job, which has nothing to do with music, but it's a phrase that I love, which is your community decides who you become.

You may have all this business plan and all this like stuff figured out in your head, but then ultimately the people that walk in your doors and the people that come to your business or come to your concerts, they, they help shape who you are. I love that. Yeah. That's

**Sophie:** true. That's so spot on.

I love it.

So let's talk about some of the people involved. So you mentioned that you have a collaborator now as far as the guest artists, like who are these people? How do you find them? Who do you decide to curate in? And. And is it do you ever like put people like, Hey, I, I see you, but not this one, you know, like how, how does that work?

How do you decide who is part of each concert?

**Sophie:** That's a great question. So, you know, network community is is everything in a situation like this, partially because I have been really committed when I did the series in Portland, I wanted to definitely feature Pacific Northwest artists and state and state local.

And we've been feeling the same way in this, in this current iteration in Western mass to really trying to pull people from, from New England regionally. And, you know, partially because it makes it much easier logistically. We can generally have More rehearsals than just one the day before or at the dress rehearsal or whatever, but it also means that we're really, really, again, being responsive to and within the community, the local community that we're within.

Because these still are mostly in person events. We did live stream the last one, and that felt very rewarding and exciting to me because I love to reach out beyond in person audiences. And there is something very special about being in a room at the same time. And you know, the, the ecosystem that we create there is just like, Oh, it's so special to be within those spaces.

And I think that I and many other people are remembering that even more after the pandemic gave us some space away from those in person spaces. I really look around me at the community and at the network of musicians that's around. I am very curious. I am an eclectic listener. I listen very widely to music.

I am kind of a nerd with concert calendars. So I will, you know, who's playing what, you know, if I see a name popping up a lot or some, someone keeps mentioning, you know, it's, I'm kind of taking mental notes all the time. And. I'm, I'm desirous when I'm looking for collaborators of, you know, really people who are very You know, just embody their craft with a lot of, you know, with a lot of skill and a lot of heart.

I liked that you named that early on, you know, kind of this, this confluence of heart and spirit and how it just feels like that's part of the energy that I want to create. On on stage and in the space of a Connections concert and it's so valuable if there are performers. It doesn't matter what type of music you make or what type of art you make.

I'm, I'm more interested in if we can like speak the same language in terms of the type of environment that we're trying to cultivate together. So it's almost more important to me. I wouldn't say it's personality, right? But it's kind of. Musical ethos and that find that in a killer singer songwriter.

And I can find that in an amazing jazz musician, or we had this Cora player, John Hughes, who hails from Brattleboro, Vermont, and he played with Charlotte and I in our show earlier in April this year. And. It was just so clear. I saw him play, you know, I saw him play a few months before at, at a venue in, in town, in Amherst and just seeing him play, not only was I incredibly moved by the music itself, but I could feel that the heart within it and the, you know, the openness to using music as a tool for connection.

And so. I would say, yeah, it's going to concerts and listening and and listening to the music and listening to the community around me and in terms of choosing who goes where that can be a very interesting. It is, it is very much. That's one of the things that people don't can't see when they're at a show just how much thought and energy has gone into all of the, you know, this, all of the minutiae, all of the decisions that are made.

But yes, certainly thinking of Who belongs on stage at with who and what sort of environment you know what, what sort of pairings we can make that will really enhance the experience for for attendees, and that that really varies on a case by case basis and sometimes. My, I guess, well, and sometimes it doesn't work quite as well, but almost always, even, even if it feels like it's a little bit, I, I've always been surprised by no matter how different the performers are who end up on a stage together, how much, how many threads we can find to weave together.

**Morgan:** Yeah, I love this. A lot of my project here is, is recognizing that the way, the way I phrased it with several folks is classically, I'm classically trained as well, as you know, and I feel like we have our own like classical silo that we've like worked our way up. However far down, you know, we have like our silo and we look across and we see people and In the jazz silo or the bluegrass silo or like whatever silo and we like, we have this like, Oh, I see you there.

We, I may not know how you got there. I may not be able to play jazz or bluegrass, but there's like this. This I get you because you know how much like the work and everything that goes into reaching a certain level in any genre. And it's, it's kind of this building those, those connections is what I'm reminded of here with you is like, as long as you see someone actively looking out and not just in their own little silo of their own genre, like if you're willing to look around and see who else is looking around, it's like a pretty incredible yeah.

Community of. Of openness with other musicians. Yes. Let's talk about the people who come. So staying on the topic of people these are community events, but do you notice any patterns of people who are interested, who, who either come in person or who joined the live stream? Did you have success with your live stream and, and what types of people were, were tuning in on that as well?

**Sophie:** Yes, we did have success. We had about 60 people show up on live stream, which was pretty

cool.

Yeah. I, this is one of the reasons I love this concert series because yes, there are trends, but the audiences are also very, diverse.

**Morgan:** Cool.

**Sophie:** And there's something that reminds me of, I have this fantasy about a fantasy that I've actualized about having dinner parties.

One of my favorite things in the world is having dinner parties with people. People who wouldn't generally be at that table together, you know, and I hosted when I, I ran a yoga studio and wellness space for six years in Portland earlier in the 2012 to 2018. And one of the things we did there was, was this dinner series.

And that was exactly what, what that felt like is that people would look around and be in the same space at the same time. That who would not usually who were not accustomed to being at tables with the people like who they were looking across that. And so it's. There certainly is more that I could do to reach even more broadly out.

But there, when I have performers who are very different on stage, I will always get people who are fans of those songs. different performers in the, in the room at the same time. So just because it's circumstance, right? Because circumstances permitted and invite it. We have people who love classical music and we have people who love say, let's speak about this concert with John Hughes.

For example, we have people who love to listen to the Cora. And so first of all, There's sometimes there's an overlap in those, you know, I would be one of those people who loves to listen to classical music and the Cora, but oftentimes they are different communities, right? And so even just, you know, from the pure fact that we have performers who are playing different types of music, people will come into that room because they'd like to listen to one or the other type of music.

And then we will. You know, invite them. They will, you know, whether or not they, they signed up for it, right? But, but we, we really, they, they get much more than their money's worth in terms of like, okay, now that you're here, you're going to hear that and you're going to hear a lot. But I will say, so we, we often do get adventurous listeners, right?

Or people who, who might. be interested in classical music being done differently. I would say I'm in a pretty fruitful space for that because there's, there's a big university community in Western America. We have this big consortium of colleges. So there are lots of people making music, lots of professors and students and people involved in music communities around here who Are oftentimes interested in not just doing classical music in the way that it's always done.

And so there's, yes, the fact that there's some fertility for that here already, or, you know, it's People are open, I would say here. And so that, that's nice to have, to have audience members. And I certainly always, we've had people from the classical community, community who come.

But we also, we got interviewed on the big NPR station for the last show at the NEPM, New England Public Media. And so we had, Also, you know, a few people who drove down from New Hampshire who had, were like a, a jazz trumpet player who was like, I'm interested in collaborating with other types of musicians.

This sounds really cool. I want to come to this show, you know, and someone who was sitting behind another friend in the audience who was, who's been involved for years in the traditional folk music scene. And he just, he heard our interview and. Charlotte, in addition to being a fabulous classically trained violinist and violist, also writes original music.

And so on, in our interview on, on the radio, she sang one of her original songs along with a plucked viola part. So a very, and, and it was, it's, it's soulful and simple and very much oriented in folk music tradition. And so we had a couple of people who love folk music who came. So I will say it's In general, yeah, if someone shows up, they have to, they have to be at least open enough to consider that they're going to hear, hear something that they don't generally hear, or be a part of an experience that they don't generally hear.

That they're not generally a part of, but, you know, there's lots of different types of people who are curious and are, who are a little adventurous or maybe a little reckless. Like, ah, sure. Okay. Let's, let's try this out. You know? So it, it sounds like

**Morgan:** to me, like your audience would be almost just as interesting as your performers to just talk to these people.

Like, who are you? Why are you here? It sounds, they sound interesting.

**Sophie:** And Morgan, that's something that I would like to do because I, I would say it's not as well defined here. I did enough shows in Portland and I was entrenched enough in that community before I started the concert series. But I could tell you more clearly what, who my audience was there here.

I'm still learning again. So I, I, and I have not done what I would love to do. And we did in Portland and I, I, I thought it was brilliant. And there's a couple of things that we've done that I'm like. Why don't, why don't people do this more often, but I just, I did an audience survey in the middle of the concert one time because I'm like, what I'm, I'm in, maybe it was concert three of eight concerts, like how, what would be more valuable for me in figuring out the trajectory of the series than to.

Learn from the people who came.

**Morgan:** So

**Sophie:** if I've got a hundred people in the room right then I can ask people to fill out surveys afterwards, but they're not, you know, who people are going to. And so doing, give them an opportunity to do it right then in that space was, you know, selfishly very helpful, but I, I hope, you know, was, was, Really was also valuable for the attendees who were come for the rest of the series, and I would love to do that here.

I would love to do that on our next show. It requires a little bit more, you know, another, just another logistical thing to think about beforehand. But I, I really am committed. Yes, I have a vision right and within that vision becomes an agenda, but. It is not about me at the end of the day. Like, it doesn't matter if I envision that, Oh, this thing is going to be the best, you know, next time I'll, you know, every, I'll ask everyone to wear red or whatever it is.

If audiences come and like, That doesn't work for them, then I'm not creating an experience that has as much value and impact. And therefore, what does that mean? It just means I want people to feel, you know, come away feeling rewarded and filled and nourished by the event. And so whatever I can do in service of that, you know, so that they walk away.

Walk out of the concert space and feel like there was maybe some little something shook, shook around in their, in their heart or in their body that, that, that needed to be shaken around, or they heard something that they'll continue to think about, you know, or take, or, or even they just found a sense of how had a moment of deep relaxation or release or, or, you know, or uplift, whatever it is, whatever it is that that person needed, right?

But I want to, what I, what I create is really in service of that so much more than my vision. So that, that is, I'm glad you, I'm glad we're speaking this right now. It's a helpful reminder for me that of how Much I feel committed to listening to my audiences in addition to listening to kind of the business as it's different entity.

And I, I try really hard when I'm on stage, right. To tune into who's there and what's working, you know, and speak. And we always have some sort of reception afterwards. I'm immediately in the space with people afterwards trying to Get a little bit of a sense of, you know what, how things landed. But, you know, explicitly soliciting asking for feedback and then using that to inform what what is created in the future.

It feels feels really important to me.

**Morgan:** Your community decides who you become. I'm telling you, it's the best quote from healthcare, but like, it's so relevant. Can you feel Sophie's passion for this project? I love her energy. Later in this episode, Sophie talks about some of her favorite underrepresented composers. After this interview, she sent me a list of some of her favorites, and I'll be sending these out in my newsletter next week, along with bios and information.

About each person. If you're interested, head over to zeitgeist academy.com/radio to sign up. And while you're out there, feel free to jump on social media and give me a follow at Zeitgeist Academy on both Facebook and Instagram. I really appreciate it.

let's talk about genre for a moment. It sounds challenging to piece these together. So, so far I love the idea, but how in practice do you piece together genres which can be.

Kind of emotionally very different like I'm in a one space when I'm listening to classical but I'm in another space when I'm listening to folk and that how do you build an evening so that that transition is natural and not jarring.

**Sophie:** Yes. Great question. This also depends very much on the show, and the performers on the stage right.

**Morgan:** So,

**Sophie:** we do have. If I have. Yeah. Say like a hip hop artist and a classical duo and a soulful singer songwriter, right? We're going to be entering completely different energetic listening spheres for these, for these moments.

If I have a show like the last show I did, which was with my collaborator, Charlotte and James Bird, our dear friend, a singer songwriter. And we just kind of decided to, we looked at each other and said, I think we want to create something, really create something all together that. We start a thread at the beginning and we really weave it, kind of continue this energy throughout.

And so we just, we were so conscious and careful and conscientious and loving with how we designed the transitions from one piece to the next, from one, and we thought so much about What is the shape of this particular piece? You know, James would say, Oh, I have this piece that really is kind of opening and expansive.

And Charlotte and I said, great. Afterwards, we'll put these pieces, you know, this, this classical collaboration by Karen Tanaka, that is kind of in a similar energy, right? It's, it starts out really open and expansive, and then it kind of like takes you somewhere else. And then if it, if it, Closes at a kind of quieter space.

And then John said, or James said, Oh, and I have a piece that kind of opens very quiet and is a little more complex and dark. And we said, great out of that, I'll play the Chopin Ballade. And because it starts again, it's very, it's complex and colorful, and then it emerges into the light. Right. So sometimes we can do, we can design a where it's, it's pretty organic and amazing.

And then sometimes I have to completely Surrender to the fact that it's going to be very different and just lean into that. And so again, try to be, you know, I will, I ask all of my performers to tell me what they will be performing beforehand. You know, I don't, I would much prefer, you know, some people like to, Oh, I'm just going to feel it in a moment and see what wants to come up, but I want to know that I want to know what you're playing.

And I want to. listen to it and understand what's going to make sense to land where because we often still can shape an arc that doesn't You know, doesn't throw people's nervous systems off at least because there's some classical music that's much wilder and more frenetic, right? And some that's very soothing and sultry and, and nurturing.

And so, so. Even within the, the classical music we play, you know, being very intentional about how things, what the transitions are and, and then within, you know, that, that just, it just takes on a whole different level of complexity and, and level of intrigue to me. I actually love it. I love thinking about the show as almost like.

You know, a theatrical production with different scenes that come side by side. My, my mom, my mom is a theater director and I really, I realized at some point in my career, that part of what I do is a little bit like being a theater director,

**Morgan:** you know,

**Sophie:** I actually like that part of it a lot. And I think a lot about it and I'm very it's, I can, I can really just pour over the, the, the set list, you know, because I, I think that can, it can, the performers have, you know, there's so much that has to do with what makes a concert really special.

But the way that I put the program together really can make a big difference too. And, you know, so, so I, I think a lot, I do think a lot about that.

**Morgan:** About how many performers do you have at a time in a concert?

**Sophie:** Well, this, so this season we've had three performers on stage at each show, and in the past it was more like, generally I think it was four, and I've had as many as maybe seven at once.

**Morgan:** That would be a lot if there's seven from all different genres.

**Sophie:** And then in that case, I had like a jazz trio was part of it. Right. And so there was so, so it was not all unique entities. Sure.

**Morgan:** Sure. Yeah. Yes.

**Sophie:** Do

you perform in every concert?

**Sophie:** I do. I have thus far. Yes. Yes.

And what, what do you like to perform?

**Sophie:** Oh my gosh. So I spoke at the top of the show about how much I love playing music by composers that don't get played very often.

Yeah.

**Sophie:** And I really, part of it is because it feels like, It's so special to me to give voice like there's something that I just think about this music, much of it has not been recorded before, you know, much of it basically sits in archives, it lives wherever it does stored in digital files or physical files.

Just as sheet music, like it just lives there and it's stagnant and it's quiet and how amazing to be able to give this, like transform something that's just notes on a page into something that is not only, you know, is, is alive sonically, but is shared with other people then. So I just love, especially because I just think about, I, you know, I'm, I'm such a nerd sometimes, but I'll just sit there and think about like the amount of time and energy and devotion, these, people have put into writing this music.

And like, how preposterous is it that it doesn't get played and doesn't get shared? So, so I love, I love giving like, you know, I love giving space to that. And I am also astounded time and time again by just how great so much of this music is. It is just phenomenal music. And one of the, you know, I love so much.

So many of these composers for so many different reasons, but I, I named, I mentioned Karen Tanaka earlier. I love Karen Tanaka a composer who is still alive and writes has written pretty prolifically for, for a blend of different instruments, but also has a nice, a nice fleet of pieces, you know, a nice repertoire for solo piano.

And They are very diverse, so I love there's a couple that are very short. One I love to play it's called lavender field and it's just, it just shimmers. I just can't, you know, it, it just, it just shimmers something about the way it works harmonically. It's pretty simple and it's repetitive. It plays things over and over again, but.

I will use it often at the beginning of the show or at a moment when I really want to draw people in and it is profound, right? The way that certain types of music can impact many different types of people. So, that's part of what I find is powerful about that one. In. On the other, kind of on the flip side of Karen Tanaka's repertoire is she wrote this series of what she called techno etudes and they are rhythmic and wild and they have this kind of a very repetitive baseline that runs throughout, kind of drives and grooves and I'm, I'm a total sucker for a rhythm.

I, I, I've always. wished both that I was a drummer and that I was a killer jazz player because I just, I could, I could play, I can just lose myself in, in rhythmic riffs all day long. And so the fact that there is both this kind of ethereal, harmonic, transportive harmonic terrains that That Tanaka creates.

And then also these rhythms that I just, when I get into, I'm just like, Oh my gosh, I can, I, I just, I groove. I grew up.

**Morgan:** Yeah.

**Sophie:** So she's one of my favorites. But, but I, I can name very many and I wish, I wish we had space and time for that because I do, I love naming them and speaking about these perform, you know, when I was in Israel, I, I.

Learned a whole bunch about, I kind of dove into the Israeli music library archives. They have a big a storehouse of a lot of the, the local composers, Israeli composers. And so I, I, I. Met a few and corresponded with a few and learned music by a few. And so I love, I have a whole, you know, library of Israeli composers.

I love. And

**Morgan:** Well, if you want to name some of them, I can put them. I have a newsletter that accompanies each episode. So I can put my newsletter out and the archives are available. If people are listening later, if you want to send me some names, I can, I can put a list together.

If people want to go and check out some of these people, I do know that our audience is interested.

So

**Sophie:** fabulous.

**Morgan:** Yeah. Awesome. So let's say that. I happen to find myself in Massachusetts or on your mailing list. And I want to attend a connections concert. So can you set the scene for me? Like what's going on in the room?

Again, you're so detail oriented, but heart oriented and also your curation, like what are some things that I can expect walking into, into the room? Either big, big items or small items that I may or may not be aware of the things that are setting the scene for what can I expect?

**Sophie:** Well, I'm, I'm smiling as you ask this question because it really depends on the show again and in Massachusetts.

You know, already the last two shows we did were radically different and even the environments within we were in different venues. That's one of the things that I've done is performed a lot of different types of venues. So that in and of itself creates a very different experience. So the first show we did was at Bombix, a great just a beautiful venue in Old Restored.

It was a, it was a church originally. And it, so there are people are seated on, on old pews. The stage is beautiful. There's. very beautiful light both naturally kind of showing through stained glass and then they also light the stage very nicely. There is always going to be a piano on the stage and hopefully a fine instrument.

I do love to play on instruments that can really do the pieces justice and that you would be surprised by how much of a challenge it can be to find really good instruments. So I've been happy, lucky, to pair with Falsetti Pianos, a great piano store in, in the region here in Massachusetts, who's who supplied a piano for that, that first show at Bombix.

And yeah, and there'll be people there who are lots of different ages. We actually provided free child care at the last show because that's one of the things in this community, as I listened to this community and have become a mom myself, saw How hard it was for parents to get to concerts, to see live music because childcare is hard and times are hard and figuring it all out logistically is just, can feel so burdensome that it's like a big intervention to try to make it happen.

So one of the things that I've become committed to, and we'll, we'll do again in September is doing matinee shows.

**Morgan:** Mm hmm. Okay.

**Sophie:** It allows for so one of, you know, as he said, paint the scene there will usually be natural light in the space too, because it's not an evening show. And that creates a little bit more, you know, it's, it is certainly a different flavor, but I have come to really love it.

I've come to really love a 3 PM show, both as an attendee and as a performer. I think there's just a way that people are Yeah, people come with a little bit of different energy in the space. And we and we, as performers respond to that. So that said, so, so that's potentially one, one environment.

We have another environment. Oh, and usually having a reception, you know, so really, usually having there be, there'll be an intermission in the middle and moments where the audience is really invited to engage with each other. And so even at intermission, I often Find that people will speak to strangers a little bit, you know, and then we have a reception, a space afterwards where people can gather and speak again.

So really orientation towards community, right? The last show we did, it was an evening show and We kept the lights really low when people came in and we had these big, amazing Oracle cards that we put kind of on the, they were on a, like basically projected in the background.

And they, they shifted throughout the show, but it was very, it was very much more like you were entering like entering a darkly lit forest. Forest and kind of like wandering around amidst these and finding these kind of magical creatures along the way versus in the middle of, you know, at a matinee show, it might be a little bit more open, open energy than, than, than darker.

So I didn't really answer you. No, you

**Morgan:** did, which is expect something different every time, which is its own kind of delightful. Oh, that's so cool. We could talk for so much longer, but I do think I need to wrap up with our final question. So you know what Zeitgeist means? Yes. Do you know what Zeitgeist means?

Yes, I thought you would. So I , so I have this moment called zeitgeist moment. It's just that it's a phrase that I'm using to kind of express what we all feel. I just don't know another word for it, where we are listening to music or we're involved with music or making music, who knows, and you just kind of, it clicks and you plug in and suddenly you're greater than yourself.

You're part of something you plug into that spirit of the times, whether it's the times broadly in the whole world, or maybe it's the time of the evening or, you know, The moment but I think it's it's a moment that we all seek for as musicians, both to provide to others and to experience ourselves.

So I'm going to ask you what was either a recent or a memorable zeitgeist moment. I'd actually like to share with you one of mine to give you a chance to think about yours. And as we were talking, like I had one in mind, but I have to share two. So I'll make them quick. So first off. We've talked about genre and curating and kind of throwing in these little surprises.

So I had one moment recently, we went to see Cake, the 90s band.

**Sophie:** I was a super fan back in the day.

**Morgan:** Oh yeah. And of course they were great, but their opener, you know who they had for their opener was Folk rock band that sang in Ukrainian, they sang folk style, you know, the really tall, nasally folk style in Ukrainian.

And then they were like going to town on the, the drums, the tradition, they wore traditional outfits, traditional big hats. And they sang like a folk mash, it was always the folk mashup with some other style. So they wrapped in Ukrainian? Yeah, they did 12 bar blues in Ukrainian. Oh my God. And it was always juxtaposed with this folk style.

I'm like, such a fan now, . And that was just I, the particular moment was when they, they hit that, like this crunchy harmony in their first song. Yeah. And it was so pure and perfect and really crunchy. Yes. And I was just like, okay, this is going to be really cool. The moment I intended to share with you earlier, just thinking about curation was in Montana recently.

And had the great privilege to attend a, a songwriter's performance put on by a friend of my brother. And he worked so hard and talking about curation, especially of the artists, there was a moment where, cause they had four. Singer songwriters on stage. And there was just a moment where I, where it clicked for me, how absolutely perfect the four were with each other.

And I spoke with him later and it actually, he put a lot of time into saying, okay, if this person says yes, then I want this person. If they say, no, I need to go with these, like he really put together so that the flow, they were, they had just this tie. Of similarity, but also very distinct differences in personalities.

But that's the, the tie between them all was seamless and it was just a really beautiful evening to witness someone else curating something very particular like that. So

**Sophie:** those are two moments that were

**Morgan:** special to me where I kind of plugged in. So I would love to hear from you. What is a moment that's either memorable or recent?

**Sophie:** Great. Well, My brain went in 20 different directions when you were shifting about the first, you know, this Ukrainian group. And I, you said something about the crunchy cord and I just couldn't help thinking of one of my all time favorite artists, Jacob Collier, who just talk about crunchy chords. And I, I certainly have, when I listened to Jacob Collier, more than maybe any other artist.

I will have just those moments where I'll just get kind of a full body shiver and just, Whoa, whatever just happened right then, just like percolated into every part of me. And this is a wild. An unexpected and phenomenal way. So, but, but as a performer, the other moment that came up for me was one that I just kind of whispered about earlier, which was on stage in April of this year and leading the audience in, in facilitated kind of engagement experience, which I hadn't ever done.

Before in the way that I did, so it felt vulnerable to me, you know, it's I've done. I do a lot of things that I'm not used to doing right. But in general, there are things that oftentimes they're things that feel like a little bit familiar. And I've been. But this year I've been doing a few things that feel very new.

One of them is. Singing in public, which is, you know, my, my own using my own voice in public, which I'm very used to using instruments rather than using my, my own voice. So that's been edgy, but this one was also edgy because I was asking people to kind of take this meditative journey with me, but we got to this point in the meditation effort, or we'd gone through a couple of iterations before.

Kind of breathing and music and and orienting our bodies in space. And when the, when I invited the audience to sing, the sound that emerged from this group of people, I said, so maybe you want to bring your voice and immediately someone just started. And then the whole room just like erupted into what was, It was so beautiful.

It took my breath away and I think someone commented to me afterwards in the audience that, that they could tell how moved I was because I almost started to cry. It was so beautiful. It's completely spontaneous, right? Nothing, nothing orchestrated except for saying, you can use your voice now if you want.

And it was a harmonic and a rhythmic and all of those things, but it was so perfect. And so it just, I, I just, I, I, you know, I, I was, my, my breath was taken away and my words were taken away and, and that doesn't happen very often. Certainly not when I'm on stage and thinking about a thousand and one things at once for me to get, be so arrested by the sound to be nowhere but right then, kind of overcome an emotion was, was very scary.

Impact is significant.

**Morgan:** I love that. Oh, I got shivers. Oh, that sounds amazing. Well, Sophie, thank you so much for being on my podcast.

**Sophie:** Thanks so much for having me. It was a total pleasure.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Zeitgeist Radio.

**Morgan:** I'm taking a break in August, so please use this time to catch up on any episodes you might've missed. Thanks for all your support and make sure you are following me on social media so you never miss an episode. And of course, I send a great newsletter where I dive into something interesting brought up by each guest.

If you like learning about music and culture, please come along on this journey with me.

That's zeitgeistacademy. com slash radio.

Music for this episode was created by Ian Boswell. Please hit that subscribe button and tell all your friends you found a cool new podcast. See you next time.