Arts & Music

Josh Conyers is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. He also has an incredible personal story. "I come from nothing. Living in shelters, drug abuse, and violence in my childhood home. This is my journey from poverty and strife to thriving as a father, husband, performer, and educator."

icarus Quartet pianist and Wake Forest University assistant professor of music Larry Weng discusses the collaborative process between performers and composers, highlighting the unique aspects of working with living composers like Jennifer Higdon. The Pulitzer Prize-winner then discusses her composition for icarus titled "Turbo Shift," inspired by Béla Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. In her homage to the great Hungarian master, Higdon incorporates prepared piano techniques including hand crafted mutes and wedges for the piano strings that alter the instrument's timbre and mimic the sounds of a busy mechanical workshop, expanding her compositional palette.

After graduating from Harvard, Alison Brown became an investment banker on Wall Street. But she left that career behind to pursue her passion: banjo. Three decades later, the Grammy Award-winning banjo artist and Compass Records Group co-founder looks back on her career with the August re-release of her 1990 solo album Simple Pleasures. She also discusses her 2023 release On Banjo with guest artists including Steve Martin and Anat Cohen.