Professor Carol
Today I am presenting a post that goes back a while (well, eleven years to be exact). The post itself floated up while searching my files for prose to complement a new talk I am giving at this year’s conferences: a consideration of the critical, … Read more
What things shape our understanding of the things we ardently pursue in life? In Episode #2 of Encounters, Hank and I talk about specific events that changed our approach to music (and, in some respects, life itself). In my case, the key incident involved a … Read more
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I landed in San Luis Obispo, bumping in plenty of turbulence on the last leg from Phoenix through remnants of the torrential “Pineapple Express” that hit California. Peering at slivers of dazzling Western geography through the barely breaking clouds, I was reminded of the spectacular … Read more
We have inaugurated a podcast series called Encounters. Approached about doing podcasts for a long time, we finally took the leap! This first episode features Hank and me, sifting through the riches of Western Classical repertoire in an effort to come up with our lists … Read more
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It’s time to take down our Moravian Star. This wonderful object, with its 32 points sending light in all directions at night, has been gracing our porch since December 3rd (the beginning of Advent 2023). But its reign will end Friday the 2nd, on Candlemas. … Read more
Childhood memories are powerful triggers. Two nights ago, I found myself telling the grandkids an inconsequential, long-ago story. Yet, as the details of the memory hit me, they stopped me cold. My grandson had sweetly suggested that grandpa should put in an elevator so grandma … Read more
The 1927 musical Showboat is very much on my mind. On January 23rd, Showboat will be our initial opera in this spring’s lineup for the series “A Night at the Opera.” Not the first Broadway musical we’ve offered in the nearly three-years of this series, … Read more
A favorite podcast of mine happens to be Classical Et. Cetera, a production of Memoria Press. In the interests of full disclosure, I adore the people who regularly populate its episodes: Paul Schaeffer, Martin Cothran, Tanya Charlton, and, until recently, Sean Saxon. Other folks move … Read more
Seeing The Great Books of the Western World spread crisply across the upper shelves of the library at CiRCE Institute’s new headquarters triggered powerful memories for me. Indeed, it was precisely this set of books that, long ago, signaled the existence of a world beyond … Read more
