The American composer Joan Tower has made her reputation as not only a composer but also as a pianist and conductor. Her works are bright and reflect her international upbringing, as well as her classical training.

We all have heard stories of how much Salieri and Mozart hated each other. Well, they really didn’t! Clearly they were competitors in the high-pressure, high-reward musical environment of Vienna with Salieri holding all the important government positions, but there

In a sense, Chopin (1810-1849) occupied two worlds. In Poland, he was Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin of Warsaw. And, after age 21, when he had settled in Paris, he was Frédéric François Chopin. This Polish/European duality drove his life.

The piano has undergone all sorts of innovations and embellishments since its invention by Bartolomeo Cristofori in the early 1700s. The most significant advances in the piano’s design were in response to demands from pianists and composers for a sturdier

We are exquisitely attuned to sound from our very beginnings. In the womb, a baby eavesdrops on their mother’s soft cooing voice. When she starts singing lullabies, sound leads us to language, and when she rhythmically rocks her child it