Ecclesiastes, or the Hebrew name I prefer, “Kohelet,” used to delight me.  I found when I mentioned this reaction to others, it often elicited a skeptical response:  No, that is a book of depression, the mournful elegy of Solomon’s old age, futility and even despair.  Why should the same text elicit such optimism and liberation to some, including me, and pessimism and darkness to others?  Jewish communities read the text each year at Sukkot, the Autumn harvest festival.  Is it the joy of the harvest or the dire onset of Winter that we bring to mind?  Of course it is both.  Moreover, bleak winter is a crucial moment in the cycle of fertility.

Liu Fang’s mastery of the pipa and the guzheng has established her international reputation as one of the great young interpreters of traditional Chinese music. She aspires to combine her knowledge and practice of Eastern traditions and Western classical music, contemporary music and improvisation, thereby creating new forms, uniting different cultures and discovering new audiences.

Keenly aware that Germany had no colonial presence in Asia, Heinrich Heine observed in 1821 that, while Portuguese, English and Dutch commercial ships might transport the material riches of India to the West, Germany would not fail to mine its spiritual treasures.

People have always been drawn to the idea of a child, a miniature person, performing at an adult level. The preternaturally gifted child becomes a small-scale replica of an adult, with the skill and power to gain the respect and attention of adult society. From the child prodigy’s point of view, however, the situation appears otherwise.

Having entered Brown University as a committed but less than stellar physics major, midway in my studies I suddenly found myself a music major courtesy of one of those lightning bolts that transform lives.