KBCS

Composer and Seattle native Sheila Silver joins Flotation Device to talk about her opera A Thousand Splendid Suns, currently receiving its premiere production at Seattle Opera. Topics include her early influences, her decision to become a composer, her interest in North Indian classical music, and her approach to setting Khaled Hosseini’s daunting novel about two generations of beleaguered but resilient Afghan women. Accompanying the interview are excerpts from the opera’s first performance, plus selections from Silver’s epic Piano Concerto and her anti-war work Twilight's Last Gleaming.

Also on the program: Avant-garde landmarks by Stockhausen and Sun Ra turn 50 (and have more in common than you might think). Plus, new albums by Missy Mazzoli and Wadada Leo Smith, and new avant-electronica from Spain. Creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell.