Aug 27, 2020

In 1783, Mozart wrote a letter to his father. He wrote, in part: "On Tuesday, November 4th, I am doing a concert in the theatre here and, as I have not a single symphony with me, I am writing a new one at break-neck speed, which must be finished by that time.” The date of that letter was October 31st. In 4 days,...

Aug 20, 2020

This week I had the huge honour to speak with the composer, vocalist, violinist, and producer Caroline Shaw about her music and her performing career. Caroline is one of the most exciting composers around these days, and it was a special thrill for me to try to get inside of her compositional head in this...

Aug 17, 2020

I’m sharing today’s mini episode for two reasons - the first is that I wanted to show all of you who are not subscribed on Patreon what I put up there every week. Every Thursday, I do a sort of deep dive on a specific passage that I didn’t have time to get to in the main show. Sometimes its a specific passage or...

Aug 13, 2020

In 1741, Bach published a piece called “Aria with diverse variations.” Little did he know that the piece would become one of the most beloved and nearly mythical works in all of Western Classical Music. The piece I’m talking about is now referred to exclusively as “The Goldberg Variations.” Today we'll talk...

Aug 10, 2020

This week I had the pleasure of speaking with Annik Lafarge, author of “Chasing Chopin,” a book being released Tomorrow, August 11th, wherever books are sold. This is really a wonderful book and you’ll hear in this interview all of Annik’s abiding enthusiasm about Chopin which comes through so beautifully in the...