Today is the first Sunday of Advent. We light the first of four candles and think ahead to the first week of a liturgical season much of the world ignores. The word “first” generally has happy connotations: baby’s first step, the first child to graduate … Read more
Sacred Harp, I’m Going Home For Thanksgiving, I have selected music that is quintessentially American. Of course, the Shape-Note singing tradition did not spring up spontaneously in America. It draws on various older traditions. But the style that survives (and thrives) today developed in American … Read more
In working with classes of first and second graders this fall, I’ve noted how enthusiastically they respond to that which is “real.” Genuine objects placed before their eyes seem to astonish and delight them: for example, placing before them actual large, framed oil paintings, watercolors, … Read more
You know how they say the greatest people are always the nicest! Well, here’s a good example. Listen to the master American composer and conductor Frank Ticheli as he reveals the concept behind Bash, his new piece that has its World Premiere tomorrow night at … Read more
Kevin Puts, And Legions Will Rise Some of the selections I make for this series are the result of careful planning and others come about on pure whim. I have some guiding principles—aesthetic, legal, and pedagogical—that constrain me only a little. I try to present … Read more
Things are heating up for all of us as Thanksgiving approaches. Here’s what’s cooking at our “Professor Carol” house right now. Our newest series Tour the Arts made its debut. Oh my, it was fun to tour the artistic and cultural treasures of Prague with so … Read more
Sibelius, Elegiaco From The New York Times: Who knew? Sibelius, composer of seven visionary symphonies, wrote a sizable body of piano pieces that remain mostly neglected. The adventurous Mr. Andsnes discovers them on this exquisitely played album of beguiling, lyrical and quirky works. Even those … Read more
A storyteller lives in most families. My father was the magnificent one from our clan. That mantel fell to me since his passing, which means I avidly convey his stories as well as my own. What surprises me is how eagerly these stories are received … Read more
Weber, Huntsmen’s Chorus I had planned to spend part of this fall in Germany, once again soaking up the local culture, but other events intervened. I first went to Germany courtesy of the U.S. Army and was assigned the task of performing with the band … Read more
His portrait gave me chills every time I walked past it—happy chills, the kind of goosebumps that signal the presence of greatness. Particularly his transparent blue eyes captivated me, animated with a luminosity lacking in the other portraits along that corridor. From a distance, those … Read more