Don’t laugh, but my favorite quote on music is spoken by Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter series. Listening to the school orchestra he says, “Ah, Music… a magic beyond all

Danish composer and pianist Friedrich Kuhlau (1786 –1832) was one of the key figures of the Danish Golden Age, and his music represented Danish romanticism. Most of his compositions were either for the flute or piano and to this day,

How much do we really know about classical music? I have recently read about how success happens to only a very small number of people. How everything that is successful is a tiny portion of the whole. How the law

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2022 was “characterized by strength, vitality, and growth, underpinned by the dynamism of the tiger.” It was a year designated as yang, the active principle of the universe in ancient Chinese philosophy. As such, in

We should never forget that performing artists are essentially entertainers. And one of the biggest entertainers of his time was described as follows by the British magazine Belgravia in 1880: “In the years 1847 the management of the Drury Lane

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 “Moonlight” In the wonderful and whacky world of fancy nicknames, nothing is more famous than Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata. Unsurprisingly, that particular nickname does not originate with

The New Year period is a rare occurrence where we take time to look both forwards and backwards. It is an opportunity to take stock of where we are, and many New Years, spent in the company of family and

Last year I wrote about what the associate principal cello does. As the person who held that position with the Minnesota Orchestra, I must admit, I often would ruminate that playing a concerto as soloist seemed easier than playing the