Bryan Senti explores the tension between classical music's elite associations and his blue-collar Hispanic upbringing, finding artistic resolution by channeling his family's migration experiences into 'La Marea,' a work that bridges Andean minimalism and experimental composition.

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Today we're putting The Tonearm's needle on violinist and composer Bryan Senti.

Bryan Senti won a BAFTA for scoring the BBC series Mood. He's composed for films since 2015 and worked with artists like Regina Spektor and Mark Ronson. But his new album La Marea tells a different story—his father's story.

La Marea takes Cuban migration and turns it into sound. His previous album, Manu, honored his Colombian mother through short violin pieces. This time, Bryan recorded with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. The result mixes classical precision with Latin American folk traditions and ambient textures. He recorded it specifically for Dolby Atmos. 800 tracks of strings, all acoustic, creating what he calls the feeling of being adrift at sea.

In this conversation, I talk with Bryan about rediscovering the violin as an adult, how techno influenced a string orchestra album, and what it means to honor family stories through music.

(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from Bryan Senti's album La Marea)

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[00:01:32] Family stories and the diptych of Manu and La Marea
[00:03:15] Growing up in a blue-collar Hispanic family and classical music as elite aspiration
[00:05:01] Adapting violin technique to Latin American folk music traditions
[00:05:56] Starting violin at age three
[00:06:08] The brutality of violin as sport and playing Sibelius at eighteen
[00:07:19] The soft quit: walking away from classical performance
[00:08:05] The pressure and stress of semi-professional performance
[00:08:46] Transitioning to composition after quitting violin
[00:10:00] Working with Dustin O'Halloran on Transparent and rediscovering the violin
[00:10:30] The Rocky moment: hiring a teacher to get back in shape
[00:12:00] Four hours a day of practice during the pandemic
[00:12:02] Taking a year to regain technical facility
[00:12:22] Learning as an adult versus learning as a child
[00:14:40] The internet's democratization of violin pedagogy
[00:16:37] Adapting violin technique to Latin American traditions
[00:17:04] String instruments in colonial Latin American music
[00:18:24] The spiritual minimalism of Andean folk music
[00:19:06] Finding an earthy, less academically constrained approach
[00:20:36] Relinquishing agency and Northeast ambition culture
[00:21:00] When ambition becomes a curse instead of fuel
[00:23:28] Creating music that connects with his children
[00:24:12] Living in Italy and experiencing immigration firsthand
[00:24:30] Geography and displacement: from Los Angeles to Italy
[00:27:31] Experiencing his own La Marea as an immigrant
[00:28:03] The difficult mixing process and Dolby Atmos recording
[00:28:42] First wave of Atmos releases versus native productions
[00:28:57] Composing specifically for Dolby Atmos
[00:30:27] Historical precedent for spatial music in Renaissance cathedrals
[00:33:41] The vision for live performance versus current solo presentation
[00:34:09] Logistical nightmares and scordatura in live orchestral performance
[00:34:46] Getting into techno through Movement Festival in Detroit
[00:36:40] Rrose and the connection to avant-garde classical composers
[00:37:59] Techno as music of the people versus Lincoln Center formality
[00:39:51] How techno influenced tempo and meter in La Marea
[00:40:23] Process-oriented and generative music
[00:43:06] Different approaches to catharsis and resolution
[00:43:13] What comes after the family work
[00:43:34] The importance of artist expression in current political climate

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Visit Bryan Senti at https://bryansenti.com
and follow him on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/bryansenti
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/BryanSentiComposer
Bluesky → https://bsky.app/profile/bryansenti.bsky.social
and YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYcpLxOuOB3XeZOquU84ouQ

Purchase Bryan Senti's 'La Marea' from Bandcamp → https://bryansenti.bandcamp.com/album/la-marea
or Qobuz → https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/la-marea-bryan-senti/arbupyv5913fc
and listen on your streaming platform of choice

For extensive show notes, links, and podcast information, go to https://podcast.thetonearm.com

Be sure to check out The Tonearm, an online music + culture magazine featuring fascinating perspectives and conversations with creative people → https://www.thetonearm.com

The Tonearm on Mastodon → https://social.lol/@thetonearm
The Tonearm on Bluesky → https://bsky.app/profile/thetonearm.com
The Tonearm on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-tonearm

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