Matthew Winkler is a Columnist at the Tufts Daily. He is a second year studying history and music. Matthew can be reached at [email protected].


Senior Profile: Freshman 15 founder Ben Lanzi’s inspirational musical journey

Graduating senior Ben Lanzi, who is majoring in music and minoring in Chinese, is ubiquitously associated with the Tufts music department and jazz scene. Lanzi, a pianist, singer and conductor, has performed with the Tufts Jazz Orchestra, Small Jazz Ensembles, Chamber Singers and Concert Choir. But perhaps what Lanzi is most known for in the […]


WEEKENDER: Talking with Fease ahead of Spring Fling

After winning Tufts University Social Collective’s Battle of the Bands, the Tufts student band Fease will be opening Spring Fling on April 29. Other live Fease performances can be heard Thursday at the Burren at 7 p.m. and at the Cantab Lounge on May 2 as the opener for Mega Mango. The band consists of […]


Winkler’s Weekly Symphony Guide: Young performers enliven old works at Symphony Hall

From April 6–8 the Boston Symphony Orchestra performed Unsuk Chin’s “Subito Con Forza,” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 2. Assistant conductor Earl Lee led the orchestra, marking Lee’s second time directing the BSO, and pianist Eric Lu joined as soloist for the Mozart.  With the exception of Chin’s […]


Winkler’s Weekly Symphony Guide: Q&A with pianist Eric Lu, continued

I recently interviewed pianist Eric Lu about his upcoming performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra from April 6–8. I could not include everything we talked about in our interview in the initial piece, so I have a few more quotes from Lu for my column this week.  Responses have been lightly edited for length and […]


Pianist Eric Lu shares thoughts on Mozart, Boston, classical music ahead of BSO performance

Pianist Eric Lu will perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall from April 6–8. Eric Lu, only 25 years old, emerged as an international soloist after winning the prestigious 2018 Leeds International Piano Competition. Lu began playing piano at age 6 in Bedford, Mass., where he took lessons […]


Snarky Puppy’s Michael League reflects on musical ingenuity, band culture ahead of Roadrunner performance

The five-time Grammy award-winning band Snarky Puppy will perform at Roadrunner in Boston to promote their newest album, “Empire Central” (2022), on April 8. Bandleader and bassist Michael League formed the band in 2004 after failing to place into any of the ensembles at the University of North Texas. Rather than give up, League created […]


Winkler’s Weekly Symphony Guide: Film and classical music

Classical music can be a daunting genre for beginners to enter. I believe this is because it is a completely foreign way of approaching music compared to what our society teaches us — see one of my previous columns for more thoughts on this. But, surprisingly, most people have already been subconsciously listening to, and […]


Oliver Hazard makes the Royale its living room

Indie folk band Oliver Hazard recently brought their down-to-earth spirit and love of music to Boston. The band, made up of Michael Belazis, Griffin McCulloch and Devin East, opened for The 502s at the Royale on Feb. 26. In an email to the Daily, Belazis related the band’s origin story, process of songwriting and thoughts […]


Winkler’s Weekly Symphony Guide: BSO Festival centers marginalized voices

The Boston Symphony Orchestra is in the middle of a festival titled “Voices of Loss, Reckoning, and Hope” that started March 3 and will run until March 18. The festival features a wide array of guest composers, conductors, speakers and performers, and explores themes of legal inequities, racism and the equal rights of women. In […]


In conversation with incoming Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Samy Rachid

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has named Samy Rachid as its newest assistant conductor, effective October 2023. Rachid, a young French conductor, formerly played cello for the Arod Quartet before leaving the ensemble in 2021 to focus on conducting. Since Rachid started his conducting career, he has won second prize in the 2021 Tokyo International Music […]


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