This ensemble of 15 from Quebec City delivered a sterling demonstration of period instrument panache, and had the extra advantage of a Pied Piper-like soloist who worked his magic on three concertos.

On this day 41 years ago the legendary Beaux Arts trio graced the stage of Shriver Hall Concert Series in the second of 14 visits spanning from 1968 to 1995. The trio's name has recently been prevalent in the news again because of the sale of one of the greatest cellos in the world - an instrument owned by the late Bernard Greenhouse, founding member of the Beaux Arts trio. The instrument, a magnificent Stradivarius from 1707 that sold for over $6 million last week, was played by Mr. Greenhouse for over a half a century and the touching story of the bond between instrument and artist has been wonderfully told in a serious of New York Times articles:

Printed from the newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University at http://gazette.jhu.edu/?p=10477

45 years ago Mstislav Rostropovich, perhaps one of the greatest and most innovative cellists in history, graced the stage of Shriver Hall Concert Series in a recital that included Bach's third suite for solo cello, Brahms' E-Minor cello sonata, and Britten's C-Major Sonata. While scouring youtube for inspiring performances, I came across this 90 minute documentary on the life and legend of Slava. Produced by the BBC, the film is chock full of amazing performance, interesting facts, and moving anecdotes - its well worth watching and we hope you enjoy!

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a four-day weekend in New York City attending the Chamber Music America conference attending informational sessions, meeting with artists and their agents, and hearing artist showcases. This year's conference was centrally themed on Arts Advocacy with the keynote address presented by Americans for the Arts vice president for policy and research, Randy Cohen. Over the course of an hour, Mr. Cohen made a compelling case for why the arts are such a vital industry contributing considerably to local economies, being the cornerstone of tourism, and improving the communities in which they exist. Over the next couple of blog posts I'll elaborate on this further with the hopes that you may take a few moments to get involved and tell your state and federal representatives why the arts are important to you. If you wish to get involved right away, you can visit the national organization Americans for the Arts at www.artsusa.org or our local advocacy agency Maryland Citizens for the Arts at www.mdarts.org.

Here's an interesting piece courtesy of National Public radio with a blind listening test of a Stradivari and a newly made violin. So, can you tell the difference?