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Every young flutist in the second half of the 20th century aspired to be Jean-Pierre Rampal, the famous French flutist who put the instrument on the map as a solo instrument in the concert hall. A few lucky musicians got to study with him — including Ransom Wilson — and I remember being a fan […]

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing harpsichordist Mark Kroll. During our conversation, he mentioned that his wife, Carol Lieberman, is a terrific violinist with whom he has been collaborating for 50 years. In particular, he mentioned their recording of Violin Sonatas by a little-known French composer, Simon Le Duc. I was intrigued, because I

Today’s Beautiful Music offering is also fun and informative! It’s Portland (OR) Baroque Orchestra’s program TROUSERS & TIARAS, which explores gender roles in the operas of George Frideric Handel. They crafted the program because, for centuries, opera has manipulated gender: with men playing women, or women singing “trouser roles” as men.  

Ahhhh, Bach! It’s always a good time to hear Johann Sebastian Bach’s music. Today, I’m sharing pianist Awadagin Pratt playing some uplifting and lovely music by Bach. I also had the pleasure and honor of interviewing him recently for Sunday Baroque, so I have included a link to our conversation, too!     Suzanne’s interview

It was this week in 1969 that the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland ignited. And it was 1996 when a group of Cleveland area brass players formed their musical ensemble and named it after that infamous environmental disaster. This is Burning River Brass playing some Beautiful Music from the Renaissance era.    

As a flute player, I have long enjoyed the Sonatas composed by Anna Bon di Venezia, who had a tragically short life of less than 30 years. I am also always delighted to discover terrific flute players, such as Vladimir Soares. He’s an impressive Brazilian flutist and recorder player who has a lovely recording of

Today I’m sharing beautiful music by a composer whose name may be new to you: Nicolas de Grigny. He was a French organist and composer who lived from 1672 – 1703, and very little music is left from his short life. This is one of his compositions — VENI CREATOR — played by Russian organist

June 21-28 is National Insect Week! It’s the perfect occasion to listen to Georg Philipp Telemann’s CRICKET SYMPHONY!  It’s Telemann at his clever best — a chirpy composition for piccolo, chalumeau, oboe, 2 violins, viola, cello, 2 violones, and continuo.    

On this Father’s Day, I’m sharing Beautiful Music by one of the famous “stage dads” of classical music: Leopold Mozart. His son, Wolfgang Amadeus, was a precocious child prodigy, and Leopold did everything in his power to promote and exploit that talent. Leopold was a violinist and music teacher, including being the primary teacher of