{"id":7115,"date":"2026-01-26T12:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T16:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/performingartsnews\/?p=7115"},"modified":"2026-01-26T12:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T16:27:09","slug":"a-conversation-with-cynthia-folio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/performingartsnews\/2026\/01\/26\/a-conversation-with-cynthia-folio\/","title":{"rendered":"A Conversation with Cynthia Folio"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Beyond<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the Notes presents<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the Notes: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tiger Lily Trio Plays Folio<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday, January 28th, 2026 12:00 PM<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles Library Event Space<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Light refreshments served. Boyer recital credit given.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All programs are free and open to all, and registration<\/a> is encouraged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to interview Dr. Cynthia Folio, who composed <\/em>Western Winds, Eastern Roots for the Tiger Lily Trio. <\/em>Western Winds, Eastern Roots will be available through PARMA Records along with several of Dr. Folio’s other Compositions<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo Credit: Chris Kendig (source<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Joanna Moxley:<\/strong> What drew you to composition as a career path?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cynthia Folio: <\/strong>I started out as a flute major for my undergraduate degree at West Chester University, and a teacher named Larry Nelson<\/a> had me playing a lot of contemporary music on flute. Eventually, he said, \u201cWell, why don\u2019t you join my composition class?\u201d I had played around with composition but had never really composed a piece before. So, I wrote my first piece in his composition class. It was a piece for solo flute called Flute Fantasy<\/em>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that class, I caught the composing bug. I was a theory major when I went to Eastman, but I took composition with Joseph Schwantner<\/a>. He is an excellent composer and won a Pulitzer Prize for one of his compositions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I came to composition a little bit late in my life. When I was younger, I actually didn\u2019t think women could compose; I had no role models, and my history classes were primarily focused on male composers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM:<\/strong> Do you have a favorite composer who is currently active?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Folio: <\/strong>One role model for me these days is Jennifer Higdon<\/a>, who is also a wonderful flute player. I don\u2019t know if she\u2019s actively playing so much anymore because she is so busy as a composer, but I was able to hear her play one of her own compositions for solo flute, and it was just awesome! Another local favorite is Andrea Clearfield<\/a>, who was a student of mine at Temple.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM:<\/strong> How did you balance teaching, composing, and performing throughout your career?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Folio:<\/strong> I\u2019m still trying to balance those roles, and I\u2019m retired! I\u2019ve got several projects in the works and I\u2019m still performing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: <\/strong>What was your process like for <\/em>Western Winds, Eastern Roots? How did you go about research for this piece?<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Folio:<\/strong> I played in a Middle Eastern band for several years, the leader was Joseph Alpar, who was a student of mine at Temple. He grew up in the Middle East, I think Turkey, and we played a lot of music from Middle Eastern countries. I was very taken with the style, especially the fact that it had an improvisatory aspect to it. I would always improvise a taqsim<\/a> <\/em>when we played together. I think he teaches at Bennington College and is not close by anymore, but that was a big influence for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s called Western Winds, of course, because it\u2019s written for flute, clarinet, and piano. The Eastern Roots would be the research I had done and my experience playing Middle Eastern music with this band. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JM: <\/strong>How did you balance incorporating eastern characteristics into a piece that is written for western instruments and carries the expectations of western harmonies?<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Folio: <\/strong>I used some of the rhythmic and modal characteristics from eastern music, which is included in the program notes, and I quote a couple of tunes from the Middle East. I sometimes use the western instrument in a non-western way, like the very opening where the flute does a glissando from the g-sharp to the a by sliding off the keys. I\u2019m trying to use the western instruments, because it [the music] is most likely to be played by western instrumental musicians while at the same time incorporating non-western techniques like slides and taqsim<\/em>, which is a form of improvisation. Since I know that western trained musicians can\u2019t necessarily improvise in an eastern style, I wrote out what I might have improvised if I were playing this piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the piece, I go back between western and eastern styles. In fact, I just noticed I go into a Baroque fugue<\/a> in the middle of the piece. Then the piece ends with a rhythmic figure that you don\u2019t typically find in western music but is common in the music I played with David\u2019s Harp<\/em> [the band led by Joseph Alpar].\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Please enjoy also these previous Beyond the Notes concerts featuring the music of Cynthia Folio!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folio + Phantasma featuring Rel\u00e2che Ensemble<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tangled S<\/a>trings<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

By Joanna Moxley<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beyond the Notes presents Beyond the Notes: Tiger Lily Trio Plays Folio Wednesday, January 28th, 2026 12:00 PM Charles Library Event Space Light refreshments served. Boyer recital credit given. All programs are free and open to all, and registration is encouraged. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to interview Dr. Cynthia Folio, who composed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36669,"featured_media":7121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[224],"class_list":["post-7115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Conversation with Cynthia Folio - Performing Arts News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/performingartsnews\/2026\/01\/26\/a-conversation-with-cynthia-folio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Conversation with Cynthia Folio - Performing Arts News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beyond the Notes presents Beyond the Notes: Tiger Lily Trio Plays Folio Wednesday, January 28th, 2026 12:00 PM Charles Library Event Space Light refreshments served. 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