On the next Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline: Life cycles, carbon reclamation, our last universal common ancestor, black hole collissions… these are just a few topics that would inspire Nokthula Ngwenyama to compose her string quartet, “Flow.” And the common thread she discovered – and evokes musically – is that there is a common flow to our existence tying us to a universal energy.

Plus: What good is art in the remembrance of pain?

This question is what guided Barron Ryan when composing his piano trio “There Arises Light in the Darkness.” It’s music meant to assure all who grieve that someone else understands their pain… that despite suffering, there is still a reason for hope.

Tune in for that, plus music by Julia Perry, Evan Williams, Kevin Day, Carlos Simon, Jasmine Barnes, and Nathalie Joachim; and performances by Experiential Orchestra, clarinetist Jessica Pollack, Takacs Quartet, saxophonist Nicki Roman with pianist Casey Dierlam Tse, soprano Karen Slack with pianist Yoko Greeney, violinist Yvonne Lam, and others.