‘Almost Certainly Telepathic’

Do you believe in magic? South African guitar virtuoso GUY BUTTERY does, after an 'almost telepathic' session with MOHD. AMJAD KHAN and MUDASSIR KHAN, two master musicians from India, yielded the beautiful ONE MORNING IN GARGAON.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Fisk Jubilee Singers: From Whipping Post to Throne Room

The early struggles and ultimate triumph of the FISK JUBILEE SINGERS, as reported by JAMES M. TROTTER in his 1878 book profiling 'remarkable musicians of the colored race.' '
by David McGee
 

 

 

Abundant Love Before Breakfast

JANE PORTER's THE BOY WHO LOVED EVERYONE, illustrated by MAISIE PARADISE SHEARRING, offers valuable lessons to teach children about managing their emotions, as JULES explains. Also: "HERE COMES THE SUN," a short but welcome Spr...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Baby Penguins Everywhere!: A Chat with Melissa Guion

I welcome new-to-the-field illustrator MELISSA GUION. She’s here to share some of her bright, gentle watercolors and talk about her debut title, Baby Penguins Everywhere!, a picture book as much for the parents and teachers o...
by David McGee
 

 

 

‘A Perfect Blue-White Diamond, And Just As Rare’

Remembering the silver screen's, and one of the 20th Century's, greatest vocalists, DEANNA DURBIN, 1921-2013, plus a guide to her essential recordings on CD.
by David McGee
 

 
 

An Influential Recording Returns, And Then Some

Under the direction of JOHN RUTTER, the CAMBRIDGE SINGERS bring fresh vitality to works by SIR CHARLES VILLIERS STANFORD and HERBERT HOWELLS in an expanded reissue of a 1992 classic, STANFORD AND HOWELLS REMEMBERED.
by David McGee
 

 

 

‘You’ll Go Down In History’—And How

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen… But do you know the real-life tragedy that spurred Robert May to write a poem for his four-year-old daughter that became a cultural and multimedia phenomenon? Rudolph takes fl...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Senza pedale ma con tanti colori

WITHOUT THE PEDAL BUT WITH PLENTY OF COLORS: in his self-penned essay the towering classical pianist András Schiff discusses the challenges and nuances of J.S. Bach's music poses for the contemporary musician.
by David McGee
 

 

 

In Conversation: Larissa FastHorse, MacArthur Grant Fellow

In NATIVE AMERICA NEWS, an interview with playwright LARISSA FASTHORSE of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, who has been awarded a MacArthur Grant; and news of two Native groups honored with Ford Foundation grants as American Cultural...
by David McGee
 

 
 

From The Inkwell: An Animated Christmas

Four DVDs, five timeless holiday shows worthy for inclusion in any Christmas video collection. Stories well told, with humor, warmth, sensitivity. wisdom and outstanding animation. All essential titles for any serious Yuletide ...
by David McGee
 

 

 

A Classic Animated Christmas

From the vaults, classics indeed: 1939's 'Peace on Earth,' the only cartoon ever nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize; from 1913, Ladislas Starevitch's pioneering and amazing stop-motion animated 'The Insects' Revenge' (plus a pr...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Klezmer? Gypsies? Schubert? Yes!

Schubert's classic C Major Quintet re-invented by ZRI, a Hungarian klezmer band, in a revelatory performance following the group's acclaimed 2014 gypsy interpretations of Brahms's music
by David McGee