Suzanne Bona

The poor viola! Such a beautiful sounding instrument, yet often the butt of silly jokes. Today you can enjoy one of today’s finest violists playing music by Johann Sebastian Bach: Nokuthula Ngwenyama plays Bach’s Chaconne from the Partita #2 for solo violin.                

Today’s offering is Beautiful Music played on a Beautiful and special musical instrument!  Domenico Carlo Maria Dragonetti (1763 – 1846) came along a little after the Baroque era; he was an Italian double bass virtuoso and composer. This is his music, played on Dragonetti’s own instrument by the stellar musician and teacher Chi-Chi Nwanoku, who

Beautiful Music today, featuring the Beautiful Artistry of legendary singer Leontyne Price from a 1980 recording. She’s singing the sumptuous aria WHERE’ER YOU WALK from George Frideric Handel’s musical drama SEMELE.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KmgW4RN5-0

Although my parents were not musicians, they loved music and had a varied collection of LPs in our home. One I remember well was the Chopin International Piano Competition recording featuring pianist Garrick Ohlsson. He was the first (and to date only) American to win the competition. I played that recording over and over, mesmerized

In addition to the many familiar musical instruments — and their recognizable ancestors from the baroque era and before — there are other exotic and lovely instruments that may be less familiar. Today’s offering is Beautiful Music played on the serpent. Yes, serpent. When you watch the video, you will sssssseeeeee why the instrument has

Some beautiful and cheery recorder music to share today! A concert performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto BWV1053 played by Lucie Horsch with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century.  

Today’s offering of Beautiful Music is from the 2019 Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition in Stony Brook, NY. You’ll see/hear the first and second place winners, as well as the complete finals. It’s a lovely celebration of the future stars of music. And if you or someone you know is eligible, there’s also

Today is Bastille Day — France’s observance of the start of the revolution in 1789, only a few decades after the baroque era ended. The offering of Beautiful Music today is France’s national anthem — LA MARSEILLAISE — written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (1760-1836). Liberté, égalité, fraternité!  

Hold onto your hat! Today’s offering of Beautiful Music features a couple of phenomenal flute players tackling Johann Sebastian Bach’s Double Violin Concerto. Jasmine Choi and Demarre McGill collaborated with pianist Colette Valentine on this arrangement for the Opening Gala Concert at the 2012 National Flute Convention in Las Vegas.        

Instruments in the double reed family — oboes and bassoons — often play a supporting role, but don’t often get the spotlight. So here is music that lets them shine: the Sonata #3 for oboe, bassoon, violin, & b.c. in B flat major by Bohemian/Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745).