Mozart's Requiem was one of the first classical pieces I got to know, so I was preparing a blog entry that offered my perspective on this inspirational work. But when I heard Jane Glover talk about the Requiem, I decided her eloquence far surpassed my own. Click here to hear the author of Mozart's Women share a few of her insights.
(For more information about MOB's virtually sold-out performances of Mozart's Requiem on February 5 and 7, click here.)

I'll admit it: I've been involved in classical music long enough to be slightly cynical when it comes to the "old warhorses," the works that are trundled out repeatedly, I imagine, because they draw crowds. Just when I'm at my most jaded, I remember that these pieces are also performed because—though it may seem obvious to most—they're unforgettable artistic achievements. The last time I heard Messiah, for example (at Handel Week Festival 2009 in Oak Park), I had chills from the start of the opening tenor recitative, "Comfort ye, my people."
 

Although the rushed purchase of back-to-school supplies heralds fall in our house, I know for sure that autumn has arrived when I start writing copy for Music of the Baroque’s program books. This week, I completed program notes for Handel’s Acis and Galatea, the charming and surprisingly short “pastoral entertainment” with which we’re opening our 2009-10 season on October 16.

It was a crisp fall Friday evening my freshman year in college, and I was at Handel’s Messiah. No, not a frat party (and there were plenty of those), nor eating the umpteenth pizza with friends (I probably did that later)—a nearly three-hour long oratorio. But I couldn’t convince any of my friends to go, even though this was several…okay, I’ll say it…decades ago when arts education in the schools was supposedly better.

I have a confession: I bring my child to “grownup” concerts, even though he’s slightly under the required age. Believe it or not, he actually prefers them. I might even bring him to Music of the Baroque’s May concert, even though both performances are on school nights. Truth is, although I’m a big fan of the classical family concerts in Chicago and think most of them are quite well done, my son doesn’t enjoy them nearly as much as me. We went to one a few weeks ago, and just as I was thinking, “This is perfect! ‘Real’ music, high-quality performance, and lots of perfectly-timed stories and dancing to banish all possibility of boredom,” my son turned to me and said, “Why do people always assume that kids will think this is fun?