The Internal Brightness of Nico Muhly

On his personal website, American composer Nico Muhly (b.1981) describes how one of the major influences in his work has been the Anglican choral tradition.

“My sense of line, melody, and harmony all come from strange, specifically choral sources: a little turn of phrase in a Howells Te Deum setting, or a Tye vocal leap that sends shivers up the spine.”—Nico Muhly

Muhly, whose new orchestration of Monteverdi’s Orfeo received its world premiere at Santa Fe Opera this summer, joins Oliver Camacho to show how he carries on and expands upon the Anglican choral tradition in his own work. They also discuss the responsibility of being a composer in the 21st century and the important stories that can be told in another genre at which he excels: art song.