For a piano teacher, there is nothing more exciting than a young student possessing that magical mixture of natural ability, work ethic,...

Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She was a prolific composer, with hundreds of both...

How does one understand a composer whose music is often described as enigmatic, who considered her music to be beyond analytical approach...

Halim El-Dabh (1921-2017) was a composer, musician, ethnomusicologist, and educator. Born in Egypt, El-Dabh originally studied...

Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) was a French composer whose career was tragically cut short by a lifetime of dealing with illness. Yet,...

Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944) was a French pianist and a prolific composer. She began her musical studies with her mother, but quickily...

Every year, my mother would take me and my siblings to a concert at Orchestra Hall in Chicago. I would gasp in awe at the size of the...

Thoughts & Conversations offers a space for composers, performers, musicians, and educators to explore topics of their choice, from...

Luise Adolpha Le Beau (1850-1927) was a German composer, pianist, and teacher. Le Beau began her musical studies with her father from a...

Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989), is perhaps best known as an educator and as a co-founder the of Black Music Center at Virginia State...

Philippa Schuyler (1931-1967) was a pianist, composer, journalist, and author. Hailed as a child prodigy (and genius!), she made her...

Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Grammaté (1898-1974) is a Russian-born Canadian composer, pianist, and violinist. A largely self-taught composer,...

Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949) is perhaps best known as both a baritone and a composer of art songs and concert spirituals. Burleigh...