Spanish pianist Alica de Larrocha was a favorite artist at our home when I was growing up and not just because of her diminutive stature. (She was less than five feet tall—like me!) Later in my life I was privileged

Spiegel im Spiegel has to be the best-known of all the music by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. Composed in 1978, just before Pärt left Estonia for Berlin, it was originally written for single piano and violin, though many other versions

Scottish physician Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) took up writing while still a medical student at the University of Edinburgh. His first stories were mysteries, but he also wrote about the difficulties of life as a fledgling doctor and many historical

In the back of the orchestra are the brass-winds: the wild brass instruments that have been tamed and brought into the orchestra, but who remain with the potential to put a wild call out over the rest of the ensemble.

The American journalist and author Elliot Paul (1891-1958) was born in Massachusetts, served in France in WWI, and returned home to become a journalist and author. He returned to Paris in 1925 to become a writer and part of the

William Byrd (1543-1623), in the preface to his Psalmes, Sonnets and Songs of 1588, set out Eight Reasons why everyone should learn to sing.

Guido of Arezzo (991-2 to after 1033) was a famous music teacher first at the Benedictine Abbey of Pomposa then in Arezzo, where he moved around 1025. At the time when Guido was teaching music, he came up with some

Last weekend, unconfirmed reports hit the internet about the great Swedish tenor’s death. By the following Monday the reports were denied by publicists and friends: Nicolai Gedda (born July 11, 1925) is alive and well.