Category Random Musical Encounters
In Memoriam: You Are Not Alone
Yesterday, I led a memorial service commemorating the life of a good friend. I worked with two of her very closest friends in the lead-up to the service, and, as is common, we gathered photos together for a slideshow to commemorate the occasion. As we compiled the show, a question arose about what kind of […]
Violin Grasshopper
I’m acquainted with a seven-year-old who has been playing the violin for a few months. I’ve talked about my passion for the violin with him and his dad on several occasions – once I even helped them through a broken string crisis. So we’re kind of violin buddies. On Thursday, his dad asked me if […]
The Mortal 80s
We hosted a dinner party last night, and as we often have for gatherings of our contemporaries, we chose music from the 1980s as the soundtrack – peppy, yet nostalgic. I think Google Play picked a list it called “80s to sing along with” or some such. None of us were singers, but at multiple […]
A King Day Song
My organization held a screening of the film Soundtrack for a Revolution back in November of 2016 – the PBS film highlights music as a tool for social change during the civil rights movement. Our screening was a response to the then-recent election of an unapologetic racist to the highest office in America. Since, the […]
Bailey on Bassoon at the Cultural Center
Vivaldi wrote 39 concertos for bassoon, a veritable treasure trove for aficionados of the instrument, according to Sandra Bailey, accomplished soloist. One of them, the Concerto in A Minor for Bassoon, was the second of three selections Bailey played yesterday in one of Chicago’s most magnificent venues – the Cultural Center’s Preston Bradley hall. […]
Christmas in July
While making great progress on my Suzuki lessons and my current Book Four Vivaldi Concerto movement, I do practice other things most days. For a while now, my primary side-pursuit has been Ashokan Farewell, the Jay Ungar composed tune that found ubiquity with its inclusion in the Ken Burns documentary The Civil War. I continue […]
Las Mañanitas
In school, I studied Spanish from the third grade through college. My high school Spanish teacher is the person I credit with being my best teacher ever – I had four years of Spanish with him, and proctored for him as well. He helmed the National Spanish Honors Society, of which I was a member, […]
Summer Cold
I’ve been struggling with an early summer cold and haven’t practiced much the past week (nor have I been out running in this luscious warm weather). I canceled my lesson Tuesday, and have generally been feeling too tired to play. The musical malaise comes at a sad time, when I’m just getting going on the […]
A Daniil Trifonov Matinee
Daniil Trifonov is a world-class concert pianist, born in Russia in 1991. As a child, he was educated in Moscow at the Gnessin School of Music under Tatiana Zelikman, and he has continued studies in performance and composition in the US with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of music. He has been captivating audiences […]
A Conductor at 100
Ed Simons has conducted the Rockland Symphony since he founded it – in 1952. He turned 100 on February 1 and is considered the oldest living conductor. His career in music began as a young child when his father exposed him to classical greats. He took up the violin at age 9, and has been […]
Ryan Libel 