· By Nicholas Stevens
Listening to Remember: Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Nourishing Souls
In March 2023, ArkivMusic hosted a Live Q&A session with violin soloist and chamber musician Kelly Hall-Tompkins. She spoke about the album Forgotten Voices, devoted in its entirety to a collectively authored song cycle of the same title. 15 composers, from Kevin Puts to Errolyn Wallen and Angélica Negrón to Hall-Tompkins herself, contributed individual songs.
The ever-ambitious "soloist entrepreneur" detailed the musical and logistical challenges of commissioning, rehearsing, and recording so many original works in a coherent set. However, we also discussed the sources of lyrics and sense of mission behind Hall-Tompkins's album—respectively, attendees at concerts held by her organization Music Kitchen: Food for the soul, and its aim of bringing live classical music to shelters for the unhoused.
Thanks to our friends at AVIE Records and our media partners at Naxos of America for their support!
In 2022-23, ArkivMusic has co-hosted live Q+A sessions with guitarist Christopher Mallett; pianists Eleonor Bindman, Frank Dupree, and Sara Aimée Smiseth; composers Peter Boyer and William McClelland; countertenor Randall Scotting; and cello-piano duo Gabriel Schwabe and Roland Pöntinen. The recorded video from these talks lives on in perpetuity!
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