The Secret Magic of Music: Conversations with Musical Masters

Ida Lichter is a psychiatrist based in Sydney, Australia. She has been involved with music for most of her life and studied piano performance and theory before taking up a career in medicine, specializing in psychiatry. An interest in performance anxiety led her to work in the field of therapy for musicians who were trying to master symptoms inhibiting their ability to play in public.

Great music has the power to transform. Understanding and appreciating classical music can enlighten, uplift, and educate not only the intellect but the soul. In The Secret Magic of Music , classical music devotee and psychiatrist Ida Lichter uncovers a more accessible side of music. By providing the performers' insights, Lichter provides a special look into how great music can bring happiness and spiritual meaning to its listeners. The Secret Magic of Music is a collection of thought pieces based on interviews with the foremost conductors and performers of chamber music. It is organized by performing artist and is intended to provide each musician's perception of classical music's value and social function. As the journey from the score to the listener takes place, Lichter reveals how each performer's passion, dedication, and outstanding talent affects their lives, their performances, and their listeners. Lichter explores why classical music is often considered unpalatable to the casual listener, how it can have the power to heal, its function in therapy, among other loaded questions. Not only does The Secret Magic of Music enrich the experience of music lovers, it introduces new listeners to classical music's pleasures, mysteries, and transformational potential. Music has the ability to cross cultural borders and span personal difference, to unite people on common ground they might otherwise never find. The importance of passing on the appreciation of our musical heritage to the next generation is real. To lose it would be inexcusable.