The Houston Symphony League (HSL) Book Club provides a dedicated timeframe to reflect, share, explore, socialize, engage, and expand our knowledge regarding our common bond and love of music.  The HSL Book Club, founded in 2013 during the HSL President tenure of Kelli Cohen Fein, recaptured in 2015 during the HSL President tenure of Betty Tutor, and steadfastly pursued by all subsequent HSL Presidents, encourages reading as a path to a deeper understanding of music in general . More specifically, the HSL Book Club provides a deeper understanding of the upcoming Houston Symphony symphonic music repertoire, a more robust and cohesive HSL community, and more integral involvement of the individual in the collective consciousness of both HSL and HS missions.  The HSL Book Club offers a delightful opportunity to embrace and understand music and literature in novel ways.

Ginny Garrett, the esteemed HSL Historian for many years, embodied the HSL Book Club’s consummate facilitator from 2013 through 2022.  She demonstrated an impressive breadth of knowledge and an entertaining manner in imparting information, stimulating thought and conversation that broadened everyone’s depth of understanding of the music, the composer, and the text at hand.  All attendees engaged in lively conversation, offering observant and thought-provoking insights. Likewise, the HSL Book Club setting at the homes of Diane Gendel and Kelli Cohen Fein was well-attended, providing convivial, illuminating discussion, social engagement, and always delectable refreshments for each morning session.  Further enriching the HSL Book Club’s meaningful impact, beginning in 2023, the illustrious and learned Robert Chanon assumed the role of a vibrant facilitator, and Betty Tutor joined Kelli Cohen Fein and Diane Gendel as a co-chair and hostess.

A few of the myriad highlights of the more than 10 years of HSL Book Club’s rich experiences  must be mentioned as we have been fortunate to have benefited from  so many talents:

Our guest facilitator, Lucy Lewis, presided with great aplomb as she presented Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan; Ann Thurmond graced us with her prodigious piano performance at one book club session; Harry Gendel was infinitely generous to provide Zoom availability during the pandemic; Ginny Garrett taught all the Book Club attendees to conduct at another memorable session and Robert Chanon captivated with his presentation on the genius of Leonard Bernstein.  

The HSL Book Club has proven itself over the last 11 years to be a successful educational and social activity for our members.  Our facilitator studies the HS season of slated works each year to find inspiration for pertinent, timely, and relevant books.  The opportunity to learn more about featured composers is a powerful draw for HSL members. We recognize that our learning curves remain vertical despite years of exposure to these great composers and their works.   The Book Club represents an inspirational and meaningful vehicle for our individual and collective music awareness. We meet twice a year – Spring and Fall from 10-11:30 am at the home of one of the co-chairs.  The time together provides a “measure” of education, friendship, and connection to music to the Houston Symphony and the Houston Symphony League members.

An impressive list of some of the formidable books the HSL Book Club has embraced through the years, beginning in 2013 to the present :

Why Mahler? How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed Our World – Norman Lebrecht

Mahler – A Life by Johnathan Carr.

Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema and the Transformative Power of Music – Tricia Tunstall

Beethoven  – Maynard Solomon

New Worlds of Dvorak-Searching in America for the Composer’s Inner Life  – Michael B. Beckerman

Hallelujah Junction – Composing an American Life by John Adams.    

Sergei Rachmaninoff – A Lifetime in Music — Sergei Bertensson and Jay Leyda.  

The Noise of Time – Julian Barnes

Dinner With Lenny – Jonathan Cottrell

George Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait– Walter Rimler. 

Sounds and Sweet Airs:  The Forgotten Women of Classical Music – Anna Beer. 

Schumann, the Face and the Masks – Judith Chernaik

At the Piano with Robert and Clara Schumann, edited by Maurice Hinson –Recommended by Darlene Clark – re sightreading practice

The Silent Musician-Why the Conductor Matters – Mark Wugglesworth

The Lives of Isaac Stern by David Schoenbaum.

Mozart’s Women by Jane Glover

The Infinite Variety of Music – Leonard Bernstein

Tchaikovsky’s Empire – A New Life of Russia’s Greatest Composer –  Simon Morrison.

Every Valley – Charles King

Join us in the learning and the friendship in pursuit of our common bond and passion for music !!!

“…For music consists of harmony, and harmony becomes far more complete if all the voices collaborate to form it.” ~Johann Sebastian Bach