Margaret Bonds, Sacred Music from the Heart

 Here is a link to my review appearing today in ConcertoNet, the international classical network. 

https://www.concertonet.com/scripts/cd.php?ID_cd=4974

Two new Beethoven novels focus on composer's early years

Invictus by L.L. Holt (Harvard Square Editions, 2019) was named a Finalist in the international Next Generation Indie Book Awards for 2021. Also known as the Indie Book Awards, the literary awards program recognizes and honors authors and publishers of exceptional independently published books in 70 different categories.

Holt's novel builds on the long-persisting legend that the composer Ludwig van Beethoven may have been, or been treated and discriminated against as, a person of color during his lifetime (1770-1827) 

The book is the sequel to The Black Spaniard by L.L. Holt (Unsolicited Press, 2016), a novel in which Beethoven breaks away, faces adversity, and takes Fate by the throat.

Award recognition is nothing new to this author. She has been mesmerized by Beethoven's music and life story since her childhood. Earlier, The Black Spaniard was short-listed for the GOETHE Book Awards for Historic post-1750s Fiction, a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards. Invictus was also a Finalist for the Landmark Prize for Fiction when it was still in manuscript form (under the title, Intensia).

Holt's award is in an exciting new category designated for books that deal with issues experienced by Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). She is currently contemplating writing a third and final novel about Beethoven as well as a fictional reimagining of the swashbuckling life story of the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a prominent composer and swordsman during the French Revolution.

Invictus                           Beethoven age: 0-16    Order here:        tinyurl.com/bdch9drp  

The Black Spaniard       Beethoven age: 21-33   Order here:        https://tinyurl.com/5n79nact

 

Kairy Koshoeva's Piano Wizardry

  Musician profile featured the Broad Street Review (Philadelphia) March 16, 2023, edition:

http://bit.ly/42hWhSX

Photo by E.G. Schempf

Bronfman Shines in Firsova U.S. Premiere

 http://bit.ly/3Y5vqWP

Review in Broad Street Review (Philadelphia, PA) March 2023.

                                                                Yefim Bronfman, pianist

I Hate to Write Negative Reviews. However...

https://concertonet.com/scripts/cd.php?ID_cd=4941  

Excruciatingly slow and oddly pointless. Can this still be Beethoven? Review in ConcertoNet.com

L.L. Holt in 2022 virtual interview on music, critics, bloopers, and fun

 https://virtualvenue.feelitlive.com/fa8bac77-5d4b-445c-bcbc-d44f094bbc50

Here is a link to this lively, laugh-filled interview program conducted weekly on the Internet by Win Derman. Alternatively, search for FeelItLive, the Win-Win Show, Episode 55 with Dr. Linda Holt . Click on the link above, not the photo below.