I listen to less classical music these days than I ever did, and it was never my primary music love. But I listen to and read enough about it that sometimes, an extraordinary artist still catches my attention.
I was introduced to Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's work through a rave review by Alex Ross of the New Yorker. So it's apt in a way that I should learn of her untimely death from cancer at 52 from his blog as well.
One of the first things I bonded with Turi over was Lieberson's work -- I lent her my copy of Lieberson's Handel arias shortly after we started working together. She invited me in turn to what was supposed to be a performance by Lieberson of a new work by her husband, composer Peter Lieberson, as part of a series of quasi-educational concerts by the New York Philharmonic. The Liebersons cancelled that concert, and we saw Elliott Carter speak to a performance of a recent work instead -- wonderful, and inspiring to see a man so engaged with his art in his late 90s -- but we were both hoping that next season, we might get to hear what we'd missed.