In Leipzig, Germany, there are ten researchers, employed full-time, trying to understand everything there is to know about Bach, his daily life, the whereabouts of missing manuscripts, authenticating newly found scores, doing paper analysis, doing handwriting analysis, studying letters, and on and on. The annual BachFest, taking place, over the course of two weekends and … Read more
January 2026 Every professional musician has a story or two of a laughably stupid review. Chalk it up to professional mutual mistrust. I recently decided to do something radical, at least from a professional musician’s perspective, by calling a reviewer on inaccuracy in the written review. Doing something like this is basically unheard of in … Read more
Have we reached a juncture where the medium of music is consumed in a way that was never intended by the composer? I’m fascinated by this question because it informs not only why I do what I do,but also what I hope transpires in the hearts of listeners. I believe that the vast majority of … Read more
I didn’t hear the quote directly, it was related to me later by my mother, but the comment made in passing from my very first mentor would mark my career trajectory. If I recall, my mother had asked him about playing the organ in Duke Chapel, and he responded “Every organist wants to play all … Read more
Evolving isn’t talked about much in our world. Pity, that – because I consider it the most important thing about life on this earth. We are born with the seeds required for living a meaningful life: compassion, wisdom, a thirst for knowledge, a desire to live (physical health), a desire for happiness (psychological health), a … Read more
Cathedrals & a Royal Peculiar I’ve always thrived on pressure. Perhaps it’s the residual effects of having worked as a triage secretary in a hospital Emergency Room while in college, or perhaps it’s just my particular constitution. But in the music world, one’s ability, or inability, to remain calm and flexible under extremely stressful situations … Read more
A few hours after posting my last blog, I was fired. It wasn’t the first time I’d been fired from a church job; it was actually the fifth! So the psychological pattern that would follow was well-known: shock from being broadsided, anger and desire for vengeance, long aftermath of depression and self-doubt. But this one … Read more
Although I don’t recall the actual circumstance, part of our family lore is that when I was three years old, sitting next to my mother at church (Presbyterian Church on the Green in Morristown, NJ), when the organ started to play, I leaned over to her and told her: “When I grow up, I’m going … Read more