Magic Moments

On New Year's Eve I found myself rummaging through old papers, photographs, and press releases. How perfect, I thought, as the mere act ...

I was first introduced to the work of Abraham H. Maslow through Elaine Fine's marvelous blog, Musical Assumptions . Maslow's philoso...

The childhood memory of what may have been my intro to the Holocaust returned to me after watching the inspiring documentary about the worl...

The memoir 'Strings Attached: One Tough Teacher and the Gift of Great Expectations ' by Joanne Lipman and Melanie Kupchynsky has bee...

If any parents out there are wondering what artist/teachers are looking and listening for in young students, there's an illuminating int...

Truth be told, I had little idea what I was signing up for when I joined Arnold Weinstein 's online "Fiction of Relationship...

Sir Kenneth Branagh's retelling of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" with English libretto by Stephen Fry has finally been releas...

As a foremost American concert violinist, pedagogue, conductor and octogenarian, do you feel optimistic for the future of classical musi...

Andrew Solomon's most recent book, "Far From The Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity" caught my eye on sever...

OK, I'm hooked. I'm a Mark O'Connor blog addict. Fiddler/Violinist/Composer extraordinaire Mark O'Connor blows the lid off S...

I've mentioned in a previous blog post that the verb for studying and teaching is the same in Yiddish: lernen . I'm reminded of this...

As more professional orchestras face unprecedented upheaval and financial peril the symphonic musicians intone the same dire threat during ...

Thank goodness for caller ID. A few months ago, the marketing department of Seattle Opera called here repeatedly requesting to speak with...

Last evening, my husband had been sent the link "A Day in the Life" by David Usui, a young filmmaker from New York City. When I he...

For some people, Queen Anne's Bayview Manor might be simply a retirement community. Not for me. The Manor has become my university; th...

If I didn't get much sleep last night, it's because I opened The Perilous Life of Symphony Orchestras, Artistic Triumphs and Economi...

Inspired by this video  of Ana Chumachenko's engaging masterclass at Verbier Festival Academy of Mozart Violin Concertos Nos 3, 4 and 5,...

This holiday season, I recommend a perfect musical gift to share with loved ones of all ages. Maestro Arthur Shaw presents his beloved ...

photo by Sarah Talvi While reading Joseph Szigeti's "On The Violin" an invaluable resource for serious violinists, I became...

Randolph Hokanson  (photo by MKT) Confession. For many years after relinquishing my identity as a "concertmaster" or first chai...