Suzanne Bona

Recently I have read a few articles about the link between happiness and maintaining a sense of “wonder” about the world. The basic message is that experiencing life with wonder is a valuable way to promote one’s own happiness and satisfaction, reduce stress and calm anxiety. By looking outside ourselves with a sense of appreciation, […]

On Friday, I attended a Passover Seder with good friends. Some around the table were Jewish, several were from Christian backgrounds, and a few were unaffiliated with any religion. Today I attended an Easter brunch at the home of another dear friend. Around this table, once again, were people from many different faith backgrounds and

Shock waves reverberated virtually everywhere one looked yesterday, as news spread about the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It is stunning and surreal to see an iconic building that has stood for more than eight centuries being ravaged before our eyes. It’s a house of Christian worship, of course, and this tragedy struck

The “big name” composers of the baroque era, including George Frideric Handel and Antonio Vivaldi, have a recognized body of work that has been thoroughly studied and documented. Thanks to ongoing scholarly research over the centuries since the baroque era ended in 1750, we continue to learn more about these musical giants and their contemporaries,

Today’s program is the annual Sunday Baroque Bach Birthday Bash! As host of Sunday Baroque for 31 1/2 years, I have thrown this musical celebration for Johann Sebastian Bach since the early days of the program. It is both daunting and delightful to craft a representative narrative of Bach’s output within the confines of a

I recently attended a piano recital given by an extraordinarily talented friend. His program included a solo piano version of the first part of Igor Stravinsky’s groundbreaking ballet, THE RITE OF SPRING. It was the second time I’d heard my friend play this challenging work, and for the second time I was blown away. The

Have you ever heard the word “earworm”? It’s a melody that gets into your brain and won’t go away — a tune you keep humming over and over until you eventually find a way to dislodge it, or it mercifully evaporates on its own. “Air conducting” is the reflexive waving of arms that happens when

One of the many enjoyable aspects of my work is getting to interview interesting people. Often these are musicians, and I love asking them how they got interested in music and what inspired them. Recently, a violinist I interviewed told me he saw Itzhak Perlman on Sesame Street, and all these years later he still

I recently attended a memorial service for the mother of a friend and musical colleague. She was a woman in her late 80s — an accomplished and beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, friend, neighbor, and philanthropist. For about an hour, people shared stories of her sense of fun, generosity, hospitality, directness and kindness. I

Over the past few weeks I have been busy  … how about you? My days have been joyfully filled with baking, entertaining, playing holiday concerts, and listening to special music to program on Sunday Baroque for the holidays. Many people have favorite family treats that are synonymous with the holidays; maybe you’re like me and