A new YouTube video series, "Talking Choral Music," featuring interviews with noted composers, conductors and business leaders in the choral community, will be launched on Friday, Oct. 16. The host is Cantilena Chamber Choir Music Director Andrea Goodman. See the programs at https://youtu.be/xKQQ3LSWSnE

The first video showcases Barnaby Smith, the London-based director of the British vocal ensemble VOCES8. The a cappella octet has toured internationally and has released recordings of classical music, including early English and Renaissance works, jazz, pop and their own arrangements, most recently on their own label. Smith, founder of the group with his brother Paul, discusses their unique sound and the repertoire that has struck a chord with audiences, especially in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

The second video in the series features Nolan Gasser, a composer, pianist and author of Why You Like It: The Science and Culture of Musical Taste. He has served as the chief musicologist for Pandora Media, the Internet radio service, and he conceived the Music Genome Project, the analysis system that enables Pandora to pinpoint and program for the musical tastes of its listeners. He is currently artistic director of Classical Archives, a leading online music service. Gasser will recommend some of his choral music favorites and explain how Pandora, the streaming service now owned by Sirius XM, determines the musical preferences of its subscribers.

Future videos include a panel discussion by four New York City choral musicians about how to make a living as professional performers, an interview with Rosephanye Powell, the American choral composer, singer, professor, and researcher whose influences include African-American musical styles and composers. After that will be an interview with the man who brings us the best in Russian choral music: Musica Russica publisher Vadimir Morosan.