Composers

I’m as mad as Hell. . .

I’m not actually “mad as Hell” – although, who among us who saw the 1976 film Network can ever forget the incredible scene in which we are urged by fictional…

Read More
Mickey Mouse Projection behind Orchestra performing Mozart

Mickey Mouse & Mozart

. . .one of my longer rants. Professional symphony orchestras in the United States face an annual challenge that we refer to in jest, belying the utter seriousness of the…

Read More
Vibration

Can You Feel the Vibes?

When I was in high school it was common to hear someone say: “That person has good vibes.” It was a compliment. ‘That person’ was emitting positive energy that could…

Read More

Secrets of Conducting

We know what you’re thinking! Who is “we?” We conductors know what many audience members are thinking when you attend our performances. From your perspective, it looks like a lion…

Read More

Open Sesame

Do you remember the first time you encountered that phrase? Perhaps you saw it in an English translation of Antoine Galland’s Les Mille et une nuits (One Thousand and One…

Read More
Piano Recital

The Annual Recital

A few weeks ago I attended the annual recital of my wife Marcia’s piano students, who range in age from six to eighteen. Annual student piano recitals have been a…

Read More

What a great idea to do this. It looks and sounds fantastic. I LOVED the music, the animated lettering and the design for Notes from Under the Piano…It takes a special gift to transform the written word into the spoken word…And the length is perfect, left me wanting more…

— ‘Notes from Under the Piano’ viewer