EPISODE 51

Welcoming the Tension Between the Familiar & the Unfamiliar

Dr. Anthony Brandt

Operatic Composer / Author / Professor

April 21, 2021

Tony joins us from Houston, Texas. He shares with us his upbringing in a family with musical pedigree where his parents taught him the value of using his imagination to build and to create. He was tasked to learn the violin as a young boy and he did – but he took exception to practising it.

He learned soon thereafter that his curiosities instead lay with actually composing music. We follow Tony on his journey as a young man discovering his talents and passions and how he has applied them to his life’s journey as a composer, an author and a professor.

We discuss the animal brain and exploration vs exploitation – and the mystery of the creative source and freewill. We learn about Tony’s take on the “search and rescue” nature of his own creative journeys and the realization of how far we can travel far beyond our immediate sensory world. We discuss how we often defeat ourselves when we are tied up by our veneration of great masters rather than by the encouragement offered by their works. An illuminating chat.

Dr. Anthony Brandt:

LinkedIn Facebook Website Book Chamber Opera: “Kassandra” The Netflix documentary “The Creative Brain”