Suzanne Bona

Today’s Beautiful Music comes with some informative and interesting commentary, too! Handel and Haydn Society offered their BAROQUE CHRISTMAS program, beginning with O COME O COME EMMANUEL. Ian Watson Associate Conductor of H+H programmed this concert, and talks about his choices, which include Heinrich Biber’s NATVITY Mystery Sonata. There is also an explanation by H+H […]

Today’s Beautiful Music is a stirring performance of GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN. The Christmas song of the plantation is from a recording called SONGS OF STRUGGLE AND REDEMPTION – WE SHALL OVERCOME. The album features bass-baritone Dashon Burton using his powerful artistry performing spirituals and protest songs. His collaborator is fellow Bronx-born pianist

ABENDMUSIK means “night music” and Abendmusik is also the name of a New York-based early music ensemble. Their recent recording WHYTE NOYSE is on the 2023 Sunday Baroque Holiday Gift list. Today’s Beautiful Music is the preview concert they recorded to introduce the recording. You can use the link below to learn more about all

It’s December 1, and today’s Beautiful Music is tailor-made for this date! It is the December suite from THE MONTHS by the English viola da gamba player and composer Christopher Simpson. Le Concert des Planètes Consort plays this fantasia for 3 viols with organ continuo.

Charles Wilson III is a composer and pianist who goes by BLKBOK professionally. The New York Times described him as “Bach in his left hand, Debussy in his right.” When you hear today’s Beautiful Music, you’ll understand why. These are two of BLKBOK’s compositions on his second album, BLKBOK 9. He calls the album, “

Today’s Beautiful Music is an introduction to the hurdy-gurdy. The unusual string instrument is played with a hand crank, and its ancestor — the  organistrum — dates back at least to the 12th century, and quite possibly earlier. You can watch a cool video interview about the hurdy-gurdy and how it works. You can also

Marin Baroque is an early music group based in the San Francisco Bay Area, led by Daniel Canosa. The period instrument chamber orchestra and choir’s 2014 concert of CANTICUM HEBRAICUM by Louis Saladin is today’s Beautiful Music. Saladin was a 17th century musician who composed for the Provençal Jewish community, and he was commissioned by

Listen to these sweet, pure-toned voices of the San Francisco Girls Chorus. This is their 2015 concert performance of a sacred composition by Caterina Assandra, and it’s today’s Beautiful Music, The Italian organist, composer, and Benedictine nun lived from approximately 1590 after 1618, and all of her compositions were sacred vocal works. You can use

Today’s Beautiful Music is a tantalizing tarantella performed by L’Arpeggiata. The early music group is led by Austrian harpist and orchestra conductor Christina Pluhar. They give this Neapolitan tarantella — a type of folk dance — such flair! You can use the link below to learn more about the history of the tarantella. https://www.britannica.com/art/tarantella

There’s a new movie about Leonard Bernstein featuring Bradley Cooper, who both starred in and directed the film. Leonard Bernstein died in 1990, and if you have come to listen to classical music more recently, you may not be completely familiar with him. So today’s Beautiful Music features Leonard Bernstein conducting a performance by pianist