Suzanne Bona

Today a total eclipse will pass over North America and, depending on where you live, you may be able to see it. There’s a NASA link below with more information about today’s eclipse. And today’s Beautiful Music is tailor-made by George Frideric Handel — it’s the aria TOTAL ECLIPSE, NO SUN, NO MOON from the […]

Today’s Beautiful Music is great fun! It features music by Pauline Viardot-García, a French mezzo-soprano and composer of Spanish descent, who lived from 1821-1910. She composed dozens of songs, and she was also known for her brilliant arrangements of music by other composers. These include creating vocal duets with piano of some of Johannes Brahms’

A big story recently featured Sawney Freeman, a once-enslaved man who was a talented musician. Sawney Freeman is believed to have been the first published Black composer in America. His compositions were stored in Trinity College’s Watkinson Library for centuries, and only recently re-explored. Today’s Beautiful Music is a pair of articles about Sawney Freeman.

Cellist Klaus Mäkelä was born into a family of musicians and performers, and started conducting at age 12. His mother is a pianist, his father is a cellist, his grandfather plays violin and viola, and his sister is a professional ballet dancer. The Helsinki native is Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic, Music Director of

Today’s Beautiful Music is a nod to William Shakespeare during Poetry Month. O MISTRESS MINE is from Shakespeare’s THE TWELFTH NIGHT, and in the play is sung by the character Feste. This is composer Amy Beach’s setting of O MISTRESS MINE, from a recital performance feature soprano Rahel Pailer and pianist Julia Pleninger.

April is National Poetry Month, an opportunity to celebrate the importance of poetry in our culture. Today’s Beautiful Music is a composition for Woodwind quintet, String quartet, Jazz trio and Orator. The fusion of music was inspired by baroque era German composer and organist Johann Sebastian Bach and American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer John

Today’s Beautiful Music features a gorgeous composition by Mars Smith — a duo consisting of flutist Daniela Mars and pianist Paul Smith. HERE THERE BE MERMAIDS is sung by Lyyra, the new US-based women’s vocal ensemble created by the VOCES8 Foundation.

Happy April Fool’s Day! According to history.com, “Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.” This changed the date of the new year from April 1 to January 1, and those who didn’t switch were seen as “fools.” Today’s Beautiful Music is