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Five From the Vaults

Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Laurie Anderson, Meredith Monk, and Robert Ashley - a veritable dream team of new music composers- all of them are artists who had already established themselves by the late 1970's due in large part to the Kitchen. The performance space actually used to be a kitchen on Broome Street, before it moved to its current home on West 19th Street in Manhattan. New dance, new art, and new music all have had a receptive home at that space ever since. New Sounds has featured many of these artists on the program since 1982, and to help celebrate the Kitchen's 25th anniversary, we've combed through the archives to bring you special editions of programs featuring interviews and exclusive performances by the above-mentioned artists.

  • Five From the Vaults: Part One
  • Five From the Vaults: Part Two
  • Five From the Vaults: Part Three
  • Five From the Vaults: Part Four
  • Five From the Vaults: Part Six


    Program No. 250

    On this March 16, 1989 edition of New Sounds, composer Philip Glass visited John Schaefer in the WNYC studios to discuss his theatre piece "1000 Airplanes On The Roof," which was touring internationally at the time. The work explores the phenomenon of alien abductions, and centers on the psychological profile of a person who has had that experience, and tries to come to grips with his own sanity. Also on the program are excerpts from Glass' collaboration with Robert Wilson "Einstein On The Beach". View the Playlist


    New Sounds American Portraits: Steve Reich

    “Hey, your record is stuck in a groove,” was a common listener comment received by many stations playing music by Steve Reich in the 1980's. One of the seminal “minimalist” composers, Reich once told John Schaefer that the labeling of his music is “not his job” - he’d rather that people think of it just as “music.” Here, in this early edition of New Sounds broadcast in 1988 as part of WNYC’s annual American Music Festival, Reich discusses his work with its repeating patterns and motifs, and slight variations over time. Hear excerpts from Reich’s “Tehillim,” “Desert Music,” Sextet, and a live performance of “Clapping Music” featuring percussionist Glen Velez, and the composer himself. View the Playlist.


    Program No. 633

    This presentation of music from the New Sounds Live concert series, originally aired on March 14, 1991 and featured live performances from the stage at Merkin Hall. Hear from Laurie Anderson, in a spellbinding performance recorded days after the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War in 1990. The conflict weighing heavily on her mind, she touches on her frustrating journey back from Europe, control, unequal pay for women, and many more musical harangues in her work "Some Love Songs". Plus, Composer and pianist Blue Gene Tyranny performs a solo piano piece from the audio -storyboard `The Driver's Son', a work for voice, orchestra and interactive electronics. View the Playlist.


    Program No. 723

    This New Sounds program from September 30, 1991 was the first time "television-opera" composer Robert Ashley had visited the WNYC studios. His work is widely considered to be the pre-cursor of "music-television," since, according to Ashley, "many more people watch television than go the opera." Together, he and host John Schaefer discuss his work Improvement (Don leaves Linda), the reissue of his opera, the Kitchen-commissioned "Perfect Lives," in conjunction with the publication of opera's libretto as a book, and other projects on the horizon. View the Playlist.


    Program No. 809

    Composer, choreographer, and vocalist Meredith Monk visited the WNYC studio for this edition of New Sounds from May of 1992. Together with John Schaefer, they preview the 1993 recording of her mammoth work, "Atlas," commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera. Listen to the dreamlike vocalise and rich vocal textures of this travelogue opera in three parts, which uses the female explorer as a metaphor for following one's own path. Plus hear excerpts from the concert version of Atlas, recorded live in performance at the World Financial Center, along with live performances in the studio. View the Playlist.


    Dapper John: The host in the early days of New Sounds.
    John Schaefer has hand-picked these five "vault" shows. We ask you to do the same. Can't remember the exact program? Send an e-mail with your suggestions for New Sounds programs to be recovered and rescued from the vault. Just describe it and mention a few of the artists or pieces - the New Sounds staff will probably be able to figure it out.