About this season
Articulate connects audiences to the human stories behind art, offering a trustworthy, visually stimulating, never ordinary take on classical, contemporary, and popular art forms. From acclaimed musicians and best-selling authors to designers changing the way we live, each episode explores what great creative thinkers and doers can tell us about who we are, who we’ve been, and who we might become.
Episodes (14)
1. The Outsiders
Aired 8 October 2018
David Sedaris has been regaling us with tales drawn from his own life for nearly three decades—and he’s still on the hunt for fresh material. Priscilla Renea went from YouTube sensation to mega-hit songwriter. She’s indefatigable, and she’s doing things her way. Jeffrey Gibson’s life and work are profoundly shaped by his Native American origins.
2. It's All Between Their Ears
Aired 15 October 2018
Olivia Laing’s writing explores the aspects of life that are most difficult to put into words. Bill Fontana finds musical potential in everything. Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards has managed to quiet the destructive voices in her head.
3. Goth, Death, and Lovecraft, Oh My! A Halloween Special
Aired 23 October 2018
Goth, in all its forms, appeals to the dark side of the human spirit. Humanity’s greatest fear is not the unknown, it is the certainty of our own mortality. H.P. Lovecraft’s intergenerational legacy of horror.
4. Redefining "Possible"
Aired 30 October 2018
When countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo sings, he confounds expectations of how a man should sound. Long before Kory Stamper started writing dictionaries, she was just a kid in love with language. Former NASA physicist Robert Lang finds a natural fit for his mathematical mind in the ancient art of origami.
5. Roads Less Traveled
Aired 5 November 2018
Loss has shaped Tracy K. Smith’s perspective- as a poet, and as a person. David Lang may be a Pulitzer Prize-winner, but he’ll always think like an outsider. Open Mike Eagle’s “art rap” is a new style of humor-infused, socially aware hip-hop.
6. Journeys in Time and Space
Aired 12 November 2018
Delving into the poem that’s survived re-reading longer than the Bible and Shakespeare. Music has always been the quickest route to Kaki King’s soul. Thi Bui on how writing about her family’s journey from war-torn Vietnam helped to heal.
7. As if by Fate
Aired 19 November 2018
Shawn Colvin has dedicated her life to music. Masatoshi Izumi's family’s relationship with stone goes back hundreds of years. Erika Sanchez writes for teens who are complex and confused like she was at their age.
8. The Wildest Dreamers
Aired 26 November 2018
Taylor Mac believes that theater is sacred. But that doesn’t mean it must be sacrosanct. Tori Marchiony explores the enchanted worlds of young adult author Holly Black. Vieux Farka Touré was drawn to music because of his father, but pursued it in spite of him.
9. Marc Bamuthi Joseph: Stage, Page, Body, Mind
Aired 3 December 2018
Poet, dancer, and playwright Marc Bamuthi Joseph, in concert and conversation with Jim Cotter.
10. Unique Perspectives
Aired 11 December 2018
Yannick Nézet-Séguin is one-of-a-kind in the world of conducting. Type designer Tobias Frere-Jones disagrees with your 1st-grade teacher. Singer, songwriter, actor, and director Hayley Kiyoko.
11. Experiments Gone Right
Aired 17 December 2018
Pritzker Prize-winning architect Balkrishna Doshi learned a lot about his craft as a bedridden 10-year-old. Tori Marchiony finds out why Amy Seiwert is constantly pushing against boundaries- seen and unseen. Actor/writer/director Josh Radnor and singer-songwriter Ben Lee were friends for a decade before they decided to make music together.
12. The Seekers
Aired 25 December 2018
Don’t be fooled by the “lighthearted” music of They Might Be Giants. Sylvia Plath should be remembered as more than a poster girl for despair. An artist falls in love with an engineer. Perspectives shift.
13. The Pursuit of New Truths
Aired 26 December 2018
For Hélène Grimaud, music has been both a profession and salvation. Sarah Williams Goldhagen is on a crusade to fix architecture, now. Scott McCloud understands comics.
14. David Finckel: The Chamber Music Maestro
Aired 26 December 2018
Cellist David Finckel, in concert and conversation with Jim Cotter.