HEALTH, WELLBEING & MUSIC: Beethoven’s Boost—Classical Music’s Impact on Brain Health

An image with a head silhouette with music notes coming out the head.

The profound sounds of a piano concerto can do more than stir the emotions of an audience; they can also stimulate the brain in ways that could potentially enhance cognitive functions. As Pacific Symphony prepares to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, featuring the Italian virtuoso Alessio Bax as soloist and guest conductor Andrew Litton (Feb. 22-24), it’s worth exploring the intersection where music meets mind…

A Musical Fairytale

A Musical Fairytale

It’s difficult for us to imagine the dire significance of Sofia Gubaidulina’s meeting with Dmitri Shostakovich in 1959 in Soviet Russia, where the Kremlin’s disapproval of a piece of music could put its composer in mortal peril. Born in 1931, Gubaidulina was, like Shostakovich, censured by the Kremlin while still in her twenties. Authorities warned her to change her music’s “mistaken path” to conform to government standards…