Suzanne Bona

A listener recently contacted me about how moved he was listening to music by Georg Philipp Telemann on Sunday Baroque. He expressed wonder at the power of music, and about our fundamental human need for beauty and joy. So today’s Beautiful Music is Telemann’s oratorio Das Befreite Israel. It’s a recording featuring Howard Crook, Ingrid Schmithüsen, Klaus Mertens, […]

Happy Labor Day! Today’s Beautiful Music offering features one of my favorite musicians playing one of my favorite pieces: violinist Hilary Hahn plays the Violin Concerto by Piotr Tchaikovsky from a recent performance in Dallas, TX on July 22, 2023. Even better, the talented working mom is backed up by the National Youth Orchestra, conducted

On this Labor Day holiday weekend, today’s Beautiful Music is by one of the hardest-working musicians of the baroque era: Georg Philipp Telemann. In 1998, the Guinness Book of World Records named Telemann as the most prolific composer for writing approximately 3,000 (or more!) musical works. One of Telemann’s compositions is this Concerto for 2 Violas,

Italian violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) was a revered violin virtuoso of his time who pushed the boundaries of modern violin technique. Paganini was such a phenomenal player that his name is often invoked to describe other exceptional talents — calling a musician “The Paganini of the [fill in the blank with any instrument]”

On this first day of September, today’s Beautiful Music is a composition by 17th century English viol player and composer Christopher Simpson. Only a fraction of his compositions survived into modern times, and all of it features his instrument, viola da gamba. Christopher Simpson’s suite SEPTEMBER is from his collection of fantasias called THE MONTHES,

Today’s Beautiful Music offering is a fusion of ancient and modern. The German Benedictine Abbess, writer, composer, and philosopher Hildegard von Bingen composed the musical notes in the 12th century. And the Aizuri Quartet gives it a 21st century twist, playing violinist Alex Fortes’ arrangement of Hildegard’s COLUMBA ASPEXIT.

Today’s Beautiful Music is a sassy song by Amanda Aldridge, who used the pen-name Montague Ring. Born in London in 1866, the singer, teacher, and composer was a student of singer Jenny Lind. When she had to end her singing career because of health issues, she became a teacher whose distinguished students included contralto Marian

Are you familiar with composer Louise Farrenc’s music? The Romantic-era Parisian musician lived from 1804-1875, and was a virtuoso pianist, teacher, and composer of three symphonies, chamber music, and choral music. At 15, she started private composition lessons with Anton Reicha, who was composition teacher at the Paris Conservatory. (Women were prohibited from enrolling at

Grammy-winning American musician John McLaughlin Williams studied violin, conducting, and composition. The multi-talented musician has guest-conducted orchestras all over the world. He provides today’s Beautiful Music with his violin, though, playing HERE’S ONE by American composer William Grant Still. The pianist is Norma Mclaughlin Nelson, John McLaughlin Williams’ mother! Use the link below to learn

Trailblazing conductor Marin Alsop was the subject of a documentary film about her life and career. The title of the film is THE CONDUCTOR, and it includes archival footage with Marin Alsop’s teacher and mentor Leonard Bernstein. It was recently nominated for the 2023 Emmy for Best Arts and Culture Documentary. You can read more about the