No, the title doesn't refer to my birthday. That one is coming up in June, and will be for age 72, egads. Nope. The Last Mile to Year 50 refers to my long service as a professor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Next year I reach year 50 on the faculty. Double egads and mon Dieu. I'm satisfied with my performance as an SFCM college professor for the most part. I teach some of the more unglamorous subjects at the school: the three-year Musicianship (eartraining) unde

My fit of summertime audiophilia nervosa is officially over. I hope. Despite a fair amount of equipment change – well, OK, it was...

It has been a long time since the once-reviled "mechanical music" began making its inroads on our profession. Early in the 20th century,...

Blomstedt, Gothenburg, Stenhammar, and BIS: Heaven I'm definitely an audiophile but I sincerely hope that I never devolve into the crazy...

I practice a double career. On Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays from the end of August to mid-May I'm a college professor, the Chair of...

The other night I awoke abruptly after a particularly awful dream that had percolated up from who knows where in my subconscious. It was...

The Vienna Philharmonic isn’t just an orchestra. It’s the music world’s ultimate insiders club. You can’t get in merely by playing an...