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My Return to Symphony Center
The Chicago Symphony’s covid hiatus felt interminable. But a couple of weeks back, fifteen months after my last visit, I triumphantly walked the three blocks to Symphony Center for one of the three-weekends-only live and in-person productions the CSO decided to mount indoors before decamping for their annual Ravinia residency. The run-up announcements requested we […]
2021 Inaugural Post
I have not had a violin lesson since March 2020, when the veil of pandemic descended. My last post was on my birthday, eight months ago. A few things have changed in that time – I passed a playing anniversary – 7 years on the instrument last November – and we all started a new […]
From Bach to The Boy Paganini
In this past week’s lesson, as we have for months, Teacher and I played the Bach Concerto for Two Violins, the final piece in Suzuki Book Four, together. Happily, I did better than ever, despite having a rather lackluster practice record the week before. When we finished, she said, “I know you’ll keep working on […]
Rudolph Buchbinder and Beethoven
During its current 2019-2020 season, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is commemorating Beethoven’s 250th birthday (which is technically in December 2020, which will be in the CSO’s 2020-2021 season, but who’s quibbling) by programming a staggering number of the composer’s works. I wish I could see them all, but I’m pleased to be off to a […]
Overdue Housecleaning: Suzuki #MeToo
William Preucil has long been one of Suzuki’s biggest success stories. Heralding from the first family of American Suzuki, he traveled the world as a young performer. Early in adulthood, he established himself as a first-rate concertmaster, holding the post with several prominent orchestras. He settled into the top job at The Cleveland Orchestra in […]
Stradivarius News
The latest chapter in the story of the Ames/Totenberg Stradivarius has just begun. The Totenberg family sold the instrument after it was recovered from the wife of the man who stole it in 1980 when she had it appraised upon his death in 2015. The instrument was returned to the Totenberg family, who then sold […]
Busy with Beethoven
As I continue to read the Swafford Beethoven biography, I’m listening to Beethoven almost exclusively. The author’s passion for the composer’s music is intense, and he imparts in me a desire to listen to all of it. The biography presents works as they appear in Beethoven’s life, mostly chronologically, with an occasional hint about things […]
Breaking 100
Perpetual Motions are all about speed. My current Perpetual Motion, the second piece with this title that I’ve played, is the second to last piece in Suzuki Book 4. The first was in Book 1, a very basic piece that I haven’t gone back to in a while. My focus of the moment is bringing […]
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 […]
Ryan Libel 