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Ten Excerpts from Robert Schumann’s Love Letters to Clara
The love story between Robert and Clara Schumann is often regarded as one of the most romantic in classical music history. Happily for historians, many of their love letters survive. They document their inner thoughts and emotions, as well as
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  • Lynn Harrell Gentle Giant and Virtuoso Cellist Lynn Harrell Gentle Giant and Virtuoso Cellist
    (January 30, 1944 – April 28, 2020) The music world has lost one of the finest artists of our generation, cellist Lynn Harrell, a towering figure in more ways than one. At 6 feet 3 inches, (1.9 meters) and 250
  • Guy’s 10 All-Time Favourite Music Pieces Guy’s 10 All-Time Favourite Music Pieces
    Music is all in the mind, sharing the same subjective space as good films, memorable books and cherished works of art. How else could we access “Happy Birthday”, the National Anthem or the Hallelujah Chorus at a moment’s notice? However,
  • Nine Outstanding Australian Composers Part I Nine Outstanding Australian Composers Part I
    The music from living Australian composers is fresh and alive with the sounds of this vast country and the inventive ideas of its many composers. The music and culture of the Aboriginal people from Australia is one of the oldest
  • La Symphonie de Poche La Symphonie de Poche
    Directed by Nicolas Simon, La Symphonie de Poche (‘Pocket Symphony’) is a unique collective of musicians dedicated to presenting new arrangements of familiar works, often in unfamiliar settings. The lineup, including harp, marimba, clarinet and baritone saxhorn (a cousin of
  • Composers on Other Planets – Mercury Composers on Other Planets – Mercury
    The planet Mercury has just under 400 craters. The wonderful part is that most of them are named for famous people in the arts: writers, artists and composers. The rule for inclusion is that “all new craters must be named
  • Jean Françaix: A Funky Promenade of Musical Styles Jean Françaix: A Funky Promenade of Musical Styles
    Jean Françaix (1912-1997) was a prodigious musical talent. He received his first lessons in harmony and counterpoint from Nadia Boulanger at the age of 10! Maurice Ravel was mightily impressed, and wrote to Jean’s father, “Among the child’s gifts I
  • Libertango Fun With My Daughters During Lockdown Libertango Fun With My Daughters During Lockdown
    Like the rest of the world, we felt deeply affected by the coronavirus crisis and when my youngest daughter started taping tissue paper as masks for her toys, I thought of doing a family project involving music, as a sort