We’ve just posted all the information on our 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival, coming up December 28-31. Check out the great performers, including both longtime favorites and some great newcomers, and the nice mix of repertoire. There are a few performances I’m particularly looking forward to – the opening evening’s Tchaikovsky Trio, the Brahms Sextet on evening #2, the Busoni Violin Sonata No. 1 with Buswell and Winn – but every concert is pretty much guaranteed to provide thrills. We’ve got a variety of ticket discounts and special pricing arrangements, all of which are spelled out elsewhere at our website.

Speaking of the website, some nice surprises are going to be coming to our site in the next few weeks, so check in regularly.

While I’m writing, I might also mention that Alex Ross, one of today’s great writers on classical music, has just started a new blog at the New Yorker website, Unquiet Thoughts. It supplements his other blog, The Rest is Noise, which will now be devoted to contents related to his books, particularly his great history of twentieth century music of the same title. Ross’s regular New Yorker columns are essential reading for classical music fans.

In a recent post at Unquiet Thoughts, Ross pointed to a very happy development – the initiation of a blog by John Adams, one of my very favorite composers. At first glance the blog, wonderfully titled Hell Mouth, will maintain the levels of intelligence, candor, and humor Adams exhibited in his very entertaining autobiography, Hallelujah Junction (now out in paperback). Check it out.