Oksana Birch

Are you familiar with a tormenting feeling that starts little by little and gradually grows into inexplicable anxiety? Is it a tormented feeling that eventually turns into a nightmare?

A few days ago a friend of mine, who is a professional singer with a gorgeous tenor voice, told me a story about how after one of his performances, a man from the audience approached him and asked for an audition. The man sang a few songs.

Recently I read an interesting article on the topic of the modern symphony. However, it left me wondering. The author spoke of titans of symphony in the twentieth century, yet Prokofiev, Honegger, and Shostakovich completely escaped his attention.