Podcast
BIG EARS: CONVERSATIONS ABOUT MUSIC
Big Ears: Conversations About Music is a podcast that brings together cutting-edge musicians, journalists, and community leaders in discussions about the creative process, collaboration, and the transformative power of music. Big Ears: Conversations About Music will offer one-on-one talks between artists, roundtables and interactions with fans offering a behind-the-scenes look at the stories and connections that make Big Ears one of the world’s most unique festival experiences. You can listen to episodes here or click below to find your preferred podcast platform.
LATEST EPISODE
12 Highlights of 2025: A 2026 Big Ears Preview
January 1, 2026
In this special edition of Big Ears: Conversations About Music, four deeply engaged listeners—Ayana Contreras, Piotr Orlov, Liz Pelly, and Steve Smith—survey the sounds that moved them in 2025 and offer a preview of just a few of the highlights in store for Big Ears 2026.
The conversation encompasses a fiercely prolific Downtown innovator in John Zorn and a wide embrace of the contemporary classical landscape through the JACK Quartet and Hania Rani. It features fiercely independent rock bands such as Deerhoof and YHWH Nailgun, folk music deeply rooted in history and identity from Haley Heynderickx and Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band, and gospel music ripe for the dance floor by Annie & The Caldwells. It explores two vastly different fusions of electronics and improvisation from Patricia Brennan & Flying Lotus, alongside two trumpeters from Baltimore and Chicago, Brandon Woody & Marquis Hill, whose sounds are deeply informed by local community and collaborators.
This episode offers the kind of snapshot of outsider music scenes that only Big Ears can offer. Explore the common and contrasting musical DNA that defines our ethos. Give it a listen!
