This course will cover the following topics:

Week 1: Strolling Through Music’s Timeline
No small task, but we will take a piece or two from each historical era and listen to the transformation of musical styles from the 16th to 20th centuries and beyond. Plus, which composers knew each other and how did musical influence pass from one composer to another?

Week 2: Beethoven’s Harp Quartet
A chance to delve deeply into my favorite Beethoven string quartet - from the plucking style 1st mvt to the poignant adagio, to the explosive scherzo and diverse finale with variations. Performances to include the Guarneri, Amadeus, Fine Arts, Italiano, Budapest quartets and more!

Week 3: Instrumental Altos – the Viola and English Horn
An exploration of these two soulful melancholy instruments, from their roles in the orchestra to beautiful excerpts found in chamber music and concertos. Plus a look back at their ancestral cousins – the viola d’amore and oboe da caccia.

Week 4: Abbey Road Turns 50!
When the remix of the Beatles’ final album was released last September, it went straight to the top of the charts...again! We will listen to all the tracks as well as rehearsal outtakes and instrumental backings from each song.

Week 5: King of Choral Conductors
Robert Shaw’s work remains to this day the gold standard for the choral repertory. Maestros Toscanini and Szell both handpicked him to be choral director for their respective orchestras. Thankfully, Shaw has left us a vast and diverse discography from which we will sample.