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My Uncle Boris Goldovsky’s favorite opera was Mozart’s Don Giovanni and there was nothing more fun for me than playing first flute in his touring opera orchestra night after night, especially when he was on the podium conducting. I was 25 years old the first time I had occasion to so do.
Read MoreFor my family, there was a lot to learn about musical careers once they came to reside in the United States. Chief among the lessons to be mastered was the extent to which in America, music was a business.
Read MoreThe phantom of the opera knows all the nooks and crannies he used to inhabit. But what happens to his ability to roam the halls after a major renovation?
Read MoreWhy did I write The Nightingale’s Sonata? In the opening pages of the book, I give one answer. My mother had entrusted to me a beautiful silver podstakannik or tea-glass holder with an enameled portrait of my two uncles as children. My family had smuggled it out of Russia and eventually my mother passed it on to me along with boxes of family material. She had said, “You must tell the family story.” I promised I would.
But I had another reason for writing the book. . . .
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