Music of the Week: July 18, 2025: Karl Jenkins – Adiemus (Kilkenny High School Choir)
The song’s lyrics, by the way, are completely made up—“invented language,†Jenkins says.
Music of the Week
Music of the Week: July 11, 2025: Sam Burchfield – Song for Flood Victims
Please join us in prayers for the many victims of the Texas floods—the children that lost their happy lives, the families that were torn apart, those that are injured, those that are bereft.
Music of the Week: July 4, 2025: Tabernacle Choir – The Battle Hymn of the Republic
Let us honor the many heroes of liberty of the human enterprise and sing for all the lands of the free.
Music of the Week: June 27, 2025: Cosmo Sheldrake – Cuckoo Song (Live)
“If I was walking in the forest and randomly walked into Cosmo performing to nobody in particular, I would not question it at all.”
Music of the Week: June 20, 2025: Tabernacle Choir – And the Glory of the Lord (Händel)
A highlight was getting to meet one of the three organists who, during the Mormon services and concerts, play the enormous Salt Lake Tabernacle organ.
Music of the Week: June 13, 2025: Simeon ten Holt / Rondane Kwartet – Canto Ostinato
Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt described his work as being structured like the genetic code…
Music of the Week: June 6, 2025: Harpa Dei – Veni Sancte Spiritus
“Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and ignite in them the fire of your love.â€
Music of the Week: May 30, 2025: J.S. Bach – Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Electrifying, transcendent, mathematically complex, and yet naturally organic and majestic. It is not by accident the most famous fugue by any composer ever.
Music of the Week: May 23, 2025: JJ – Wasted Love
Last week’s Eurovision Song Contest produced a winner that is actually worthy of mention on our Music of the Week.
Music of the Week: May 16, 2025: Carrie Newcomer – The Gathering of Spirits
“I have always written songs because I had a question. And good questions can be asked more than once.â€
Music of the Week: May 9, 2025: Samuel Barber – Agnus Dei
What most audiences do not know is that in 1967, almost 30 years after writing the Adagio as the second movement of his String Quartet, Barber adapted the score for voices with words from the Christian liturgy called the Agnus Dei.
Music of the Week: May 2, 2025: Plumes – Singing for Animals
All animals love music. And with the special resonance that Plumes seems to carry in his voice, the most beautiful conversations become possible.
Music of the Week: April 25, 2025: Curtis Mayfield – Choice of Colors
This week’s music is one of Catherine’s all-time favorite songs. Curtis Mayfield was one of the greatest American performing artists of his generation. Catherine remembers how his music “inspired us to understand and love one another—it called us to the sweetness of soul.â€
Music of the Week: April 18, 2025: Patrick Cassidy – Na mBeannaÃochtaà (The Beatitudes)
It is the day of Christ’s suffering and crucifixion, the ultimate sacrifice of someone completely pure and innocent, a day that constitutes a deafening cessation, an earth-shaking hiatus in the course of historical time.
Music of the Week: April 11, 2025: Joseph Haydn – Trumpet Concerto
What is so interesting about Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in E-flat major is that it is the first composition for a trumpet that could play the full chromatic scale.
Music of the Week: April 4, 2025: Eric Clapton – Wonderful Tonight
It was Eric Clapton’s 80th birthday last week, which is a great reason to bring him to our Music of the Week.
Music of the Week: March 28, 2025: Alexia Chellun – Together
Let’s have another one of those wonderfully simple, soul-filled songs that carry a magic that will unnoticeably uplift the heart.
Music of the Week: March 21, 2025: Misen Groth – Forgiveness
For Music of the Week, we are listening to the opening theme song, “Forgiveness,†of a Danish TV crime series, The Eagle: A Crime Odyssey. The song was written by acclaimed Danish film composer and Emmy Award winner Jacob Groth. Groth has composed the music score for over 30 movies, among them the famous trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, based upon the bestselling crime novels by legendary Swedish writer Stieg Larsson.
Music of the Week: March 14, 2025: The Wanamaker Pipe Organ
We are as much dismayed as Solari Report ally Dr. Joseph Farrell at the sad news that the three-story Macy’s in Philadelphia’s famous Wanamaker building (originally the Wanamaker Department Store) will close in March 2025.
Music of the Week: March 7, 2025: Abraham Alexander & Adrian Quesada – Like a Bird
Not the winner, but nominated for Best Music at this year’s Academy Awards, “Like a Bird†is a beautiful song about the inner pain and desire to be reborn a better human being that is expressed so profoundly in the movie Sing Sing.
Music of the Week: February 28, 2025: Salut Salon – Competitive Foursome
Discover the German lady quartet from Hamburg, Salut Salon, that has been entertaining audiences worldwide with a mix of classical music slapstick and a firework of virtuosic strings.
Music of the Week: February 21, 2025: Jean-Philippe Rameau – Le Rappel des Oiseaux
Like few other pieces, “Le Rappel des Oiseaux†struck a nerve in French Baroque music history. Everything that developed later through Debussy, Ravel, or Messiaen was forecast in these few phenomenal minutes of sound.
Music of the Week: February 14, 2025: Mitch Rossell – Son
Appropriate for today’s Valentine Day, this awesome ballad about life, loss, and enduring love by America’s Got Talent finalist Mitch Rossell is based on a true story.
Music of the Week: February 7, 2025: Jackson Browne – Before the Deluge
This week’s music is a thoughtful song by American rock music singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, born in Germany at the U.S. Army garrison in Heidelberg.
Music of the Week: January 31, 2025: Friedrich Kuhlau – Trio in G Major
The exceptional flutist Robert Stallman (1946-2019) is our choice for Music of the Week. Stallman was one of the outstanding classical flute players of our time, as well as a prolific music editor and teacher.
Music of the Week: January 24, 2025: Suhail Khoury – From Bethlehem to Gaza
This is what students of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine sang to their kin and human brothers and sisters in Gaza this Christmas.
Music of the Week: January 17, 2025: P.I. Tchaikovsky – 1812 Overture
Tchaikovsky wrote the Ouverture solennelle “1812†for the opening of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, one of the most impressive Russian Orthodox churches in Moscow.
Music of the Week: January 10, 2025: Jack DesBois – Waking Up
Jack DesBois is a subscriber, and we love his music!
Christmas with J.S.Bach
German: The Frauenkirche in Dresden. The dome of the after reconstruction shows paintings.
Music of the Week: January 3, 2025: Camille Saint-Saëns – Symphony No. 3 (Finale)
We are opening the new year with a grand piece from the reopening concert of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris under star conductor Gustavo Dudamel.
Music of the Week: December 27, 2024: George Frideric Handel – For unto us a child is born (Messiah)
Some say that the music of Händel’s Messiah helped to revive interest in Christmas.
Music on Christmas Eve: December 24, 2024: Tommee Profitt – Oh Holy Night
There are countless versions of “Oh Holy Nightâ€â€”originally composed in 1843 by Adolphe Adam with French lyrics by Placide Cappeau—but few are sung as a duet, and perhaps none with two key changes.
Music of the Week: December 20, 2024: Harpa Dei – Maranatha
The very early Christians who witnessed Christ’s ascension believed that He would return soon—yes, within their lifetime. “Maranatha†is an Aramaic exclamation that expresses this expectation of Christ’s imminent reappearance.
Music of the Week: December 13, 2024: Sting – Soul Cake
In his 2009 live performance of A Winter’s Night at Durham Cathedral, Sting includes a unique version of an old English begging song that originated in the tradition of baking “soul cakes†for the dead.
Music of the Week: December 3, 2024: Hulda Nystrom’s Songs
Comments and requests are welcome at: HuldaNystrom@sbcglobal.net
2024
Roadside Conversation30 November 2024
Who’s Knocking?30 November 2024
Notice…
Hulda Nystrom’s Songs
Hulda Nystrom’s Songs
Comments and requests are welcome at: HuldaNystrom@sbcglobal.net
2024
Roadside Conversation30 November 2024
Who’s Knocking?30 November …
Music of the Week: November 27, 2024: Mary Chapin Carpenter – Thanksgiving Song
It is Thanksgiving week in the United States, so we are publishing our Music of the Week early to bring you a song of gratitude through the beautiful tunes of five-time, Grammy-Award-winning country singer and songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter.
Music of the Week: November 22, 2024: Montserrat Figueras – El Cant de la Sibilla
Since medieval times and to this day, the mysterious “Song of the Sibyl†has been sung in churches of Catalonia and the Languedoc along the western Mediterranean.
Music of the Week: November 8, 2024: Sara Morgan – The More I Make
https://youtu.be/pPekp5vnwrA
Sara Morgan, country artist and songwriter from Arkansas, has a great way of packing irony with truth and depth. Her voice with country-style guitar is the ideal ins…
Music of the Week: November 1, 2024: Fr̩d̩ric Chopin РPiano Concerto No. 2
https://youtu.be/OQr32D8jukk
It is 175 years since the grand master of piano music, Frédéric Chopin, died in Paris on October 17, 1849. Though he was only 39 years old when he died, he revolut…
Music of the Week: October 25, 2024: Bible in Song – I Know the Plans I Have for You
https://youtu.be/nBZypA54xZ0
Jeremiah 29:11-14“For I know the plans I have for you,†says the Lord. “Plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Plans for good an…
Music of the Week: October 18, 2024: Archdeacon Roman Tamberg & Art Group Largo – To My Brothers
https://youtu.be/4pzbQjs_sC8
Found on Celia Farber’s Substack, we are offering this profound piece of music from Russia composed by late priest and songwriter Archdeacon Roman Tamberg and rece…
Music of the Week: October 11, 2024: Glenn Miller – Shhh, It’s A Military Secret
https://youtu.be/_Ym7QV3Rm_Y
What is really happening in North Carolina? Hurricane Helene took a very unusual path. Even days after the devastating event, reports are coming in of people being n…
Music of the Week: October 4, 2024: Celia Woodsmith and Jason Anick – Seapoint
https://youtu.be/5Ohw3cboblk
Jason Anick is a favorite among some of the Solari team who know and appreciate him personally as a generous mentor and teacher to young musicians and wonderful viol…
Music of the Week: September 27, 2024: Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 1
Gustav Mahler’s first symphony is, in our opinion, one of those compositions that should be heard in a live performance to appreciate its unique and sometimes sudden variations of tempo, instrument…
Music of the Week: September 20, 2024: Henry Purcell – Strike the Viol
https://youtu.be/cbJUZiSs_j4
Our Music of the Week comes as a suggestion from a subscriber, and what a beautiful recommendation it is. We are hearing the young musicians of Academy Baroque Soloi…
Music of the Week: September 13, 2024: Biko’s Manna – Don’t Worry, Be Happy
https://youtu.be/R3FFP_ihXsc
Even though they dropped out in the Quarterfinals of Season 19 of America’s Got Talent, this South African band of three young siblings—Biko, Manna, and Mfundo 
Music of the Week: September 6, 2024: Lynda Tait Randle – God on the Mountain
https://youtu.be/RCTl4tUYIAg
Catherine is on her home turf in Tennessee this weekend, meeting and greeting with our special Solari subscribers from the area.
With this week’s music, we trav…
Music of the Week: August 30, 2024: AntonÃn Dvořák – Carnival Overture
https://youtu.be/a1jNQgTVYrY?t=2
The great Czech nationalist composer AntonÃn Leopold Dvořák (1841-1904) wrote his Carnival Overture as the second of three overtures that he conceived origina…
Music of the Week: August 23, 2024: Kelly Newton-Wordsworth – The Forest of the Fallen
https://youtu.be/Uz0Q4cXG5EE
In 1988, singer and songwriter Kelly Newton-Wordsworth from Western Australia gave her life to God and asked him to show her how to do his will. The first thing he d…
Music of the Week: August 16, 2024: Southern Raised – Take Me Home, Country Roads
https://youtu.be/GGzj37OgQNI
Catherine is back in the United States (welcome home, Catherine!) and is taking to the road again on the great Financial Transaction Freedom tour.
She is going to…
Music of the Week: August 9, 2024: Icelandic Folk Song – à Sprengisandi
https://youtu.be/NTKtmQQaJYE
With Catherine speaking in ReykjavÃk, Iceland this weekend, today’s Friday music presents us with one of the most popular Icelandic folk songs that locals still sin…
Music of the Week: August 2, 2024: Camille Pépin – The Sound of Trees: Apaisé, boisé
Don’t we love the summer months, when we soak in as much sun and summer as we can to recharge our batteries of confidence, lightness, and resilience.
Our Music of the Week by French contempora…
Music of the Week: July 26, 2024: Carl Maria von Weber – Der Freischütz
https://youtu.be/8GQcGvtYP9Q
Our music this week is determined by Catherine’s visit to Lake Constance and the Bregenz Festival. Last night, after an afternoon “Meet & Greet” with European So…
Music of the Week: July 19, 2024: 40 Fingers – Sound of Silence & Last of the Mohicans
https://youtu.be/vOd6QAuK2YE
Four good-looking Italians with 10 virtuosic fingers each will make your nerve strings vibrate. Enjoy their live performance of a felicitous medley of two iconic bal…
Music of the Week: July 12, 2024: Pater Manuel and Band – Heast as ned
https://youtu.be/3h8lgVaX8TE
Anybody who understands these simple words in the Austrian-German dialect—“Heast as ned†or “Don’t you hear it?â€â€”is immediately captivated. This is a g…
Music of the Week: July 5, 2024: Voices of Concinnity – This Is My Song
https://youtu.be/0CuvFMwrEN0
Celebrating the great American day of independence on this 4th of July, 2024, we are choosing to honor the freedom of all peoples. We think of the sacrifices and her…
Music of the Week: June 28, 2024: Maria Callas – Ebben? Ne andrò lontana
https://youtu.be/-pkNpl-tZIw
Maria Callas was born in December 1923 to Greek immigrants in New York. The rest is history.
Maria Callas was, for many, the greatest opera singer and soprano of …
Music of the Week: June 21, 2024: Joey & Rory – Let It Be Me
https://youtu.be/Tbsk_-v6N6w
This country and Christian music vocal duo was the real husband-and-wife duo, Joey and Rory Feek. The song they sing, friends and fans will attest, is a genuine expr…
Music of the Week: June 14, 2024: Samuel Barber – Adagio for Strings
https://youtu.be/WAoLJ8GbA4Y
Samuel Barber’s Adagio, originally written as part of his String Quartet and later arranged for string orchestra, is one of classical music’s most outstanding lyrica…
Music of the Week: June 8, 2024: Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 8
https://youtu.be/FjNP4Wkd7xw
Austrian symphonic and religious composer Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) was one of the profound innovators of the classic symphony and a musical genius who, accordi…
Music of the Week: May 31, 2024: Alison Krauss – Down in the River to Pray
https://youtu.be/zSif77IVQdY
The Solari Team is celebrating and we are dedicating our Music of this week to two very special occasions. One of our core team members is being baptized this weeken…
Music of the Week: May 24, 2024: Once Upon a Time in the West – Katica Illényi on the Theremin
Beautiful Katica Illényi is an outstanding Hungarian violin player, singer, and theremin player who graces our music selection for this week.
The theremin is a fascinating instrument that is …
Music of the Week: May 17, 2024: Hildegard von Bingen – De Spiritu Sanctus
https://youtu.be/HYzPR0nwcmY
Seven weeks after Passover (Easter), it is the festival of Pentecost, also known as Whitsun—White Sunday—in the Anglican church. It is a highly significant holy …
Music of the Week: May 10, 2024: Adele – Rolling in the Deep
https://youtu.be/-fmCoUjOMXU
It is called “crossover” when an artist or music genre appeals to different types of audiences. Adele—deservedly acclaimed as one of today’s great vocalists—is…
Music of the Week: May 3, 2024: Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) by Johann Sebastian Bach
https://youtu.be/q-JDZP244Z4
The Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach are a pinnacle of music that almost all important pianists have tried to mount. The story goes, albeit regarded as q…
Music of the Week: April 26, 2024: Jennifer Jane Niceley – Desert Dreams
https://youtu.be/xIlclBq49t4
Our music choice this week wants to put another spotlight on Tennessee singer-songwriter Jennifer Niceley, who we featured in January 2023. There is something quite …
Music of the Week: April 19, 2024: Marlene Dietrich – Sag mir wo die Blumen sind
https://youtu.be/AybZIw8BRIM
The war machine is churning again, crunching our assets, our loved ones, our precious time and attention, and our plans for the future. War is of great profit to Mr….
Music of the Week: April 12, 2024: Al Jolson – April Showers
https://youtu.be/_79KIZ1IKcE
This week, let’s enjoy some wonderful 1920s music rolling over hills of daffodils in April….
“April Showers†is a song from the 1921 musical Bombo, performe…
Music of the Week: April 5, 2024: Emma Kok – VoilÃ
https://youtu.be/KdIhq1tb8Co?t=114
Teenage Dutch singer Emma Kok floors the entire audience during André Rieu’s annual Maastricht concert in July 2023. The song she sings with such striking a…
Music of the Week: March 29, 2024: Richard Wagner – Karfreitagszauber from Parsifal
https://youtu.be/QxNIwAxbWsY
It is Good Friday, the day of the Passion of our Lord and a profound event for the Christian believer, for on this day the reversal of darkness into Light was initia…
Music of the Week: March 22, 2024: Nathalie Stutzmann – Erbarme Dich
https://youtu.be/Jeil9S2exIU
We have a particularly fascinating piece for our Music of the Week; both the composition and its delivery are unique and, leading up to Easter week, a profoundly fit…
Music of the Week: March 15, 2025: Here Comes the Sun – The Petersens
Asked about the writing of this famous Beatles hit and our choice for Music of the Week, George Harrison said: “It seems as if winter in England goes on forever; by the time spring comes you re…
Music of the Week: March 8, 2024: Jewel ft. Dolly Parton – My Father’s Daughter
Jewel Kilcher and Dolly Parton, two superstars of American music, are both daughters of musical parents and singing families. Jewel stems from a Swiss immigrant family and grew up in Alaska. In a…
Music of the Week: March 1, 2024: Antonio Lotti – Missa a tre cori
Rediscovered among the Haverlin/BMI Collection of hundreds of original and rare musical manuscripts and scores donated to the Harvard University Library in 1996, the Mass for Three Voices (Missa …
Music of the Week: February 23, 2024: Zorba’s Dance – Flashmob
https://youtu.be/M7Ny8kgjDlc
There is a profound warmth and joy of life that oozes from traditional Greek rebetiko music. It almost inescapably brings movement and dance to the body. Zorba’s Dan…
Music of the Week: February 16, 2024: G. F. Händel – Ombra mai fu
https://youtu.be/FD8eL-1a0As
Xerxes was a grand Persian king (and Pharao of Egypt), probably best known to many as Ahasverus (a distorted pronunciation of the original XÅ¡ayÄr̥šÄ) from the&n…
Music of the Week: February 9, 2024: Tracy Lawrence – For the Love
Tracy Lee Lawrence is a Texas-born country music singer living in Tennessee. He has had numerous songs listed in Billboard’s “Hot Country Songs†charts, with several hitting number one. Law…
Music of the Week: February 2, 2024: Seo Linn – Óró Sé do Bheatha Bhaile
https://youtu.be/bzXswoAUi0U
“Óró, sé do bheatha abhaile†is a traditional Irish ballad. Its origins have been lost, but it goes back at least to the 18th century and before, when it was …
Music of the Week: January 26, 2024: Lewis & Clark – Tommy Emmanuel
https://youtu.be/TQMYgMMNT0w
“When I was inspired to write this music, I knew it had to be simple and I knew it had to speak of the great unknown.†~ Tommy Emmanuel
Tommy Emmanuel is one …
Music of the Week: January 19, 2024: Gabriella’s Song
Our Music of the Week is a song from one of Catherine’s favorite movies ever, the Swedish production As It Is in Heaven, a profound and touching film about the power of music. Life changes when…
Music of the Week: January 12, 2024: Wade in the Water – The Staple Singers
https://youtu.be/WDp1v2YgseM
Freedom and water are two of the themes that matter most in current Solari commentaries.
Our Music of the Week is a classic of American gospel singing that goes b…
Music of the Week: January 5, 2024: Ave Maria – Nina Solodovnikova
There are a number of compositions in musical history that were attributed to the wrong author. This famous “Ave Maria” is one of them.
Vladimir Fjodorovich Vavilov was not only an exceptional…
Music of the Week: December 29, 2023: Crowder – Auld Lang Syne
Let memories of 2023, and expectations for 2024 be cherished in the presence of those we love.
For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet
For days of auld …
Christmas with J.S.Bach
German: The Frauenkirche in Dresden. The dome of the after reconstruction shows paintings. The paintings were created by Christoph Wetzel.
From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Rel…
Music of the Week: December 22, 2023: Stille Nacht
“Silent Night†was born in Austria. It was one of those cultural miracles of human history that created an indelible impression on the minds and souls of innumerable Christians in Europe and,…
Music of the Week: December 15, 2023: Giuseppe Verdi – La Vergine degli Angeli
With Catherine traveling to Milan and Paris, we are offering Giuseppe Verdi’s musical contemplation of Mary Queen of Angels as this week’s Christmas music (presented here by Montserrat Caball…
Music of the Week: December 8, 2023: G.F. Händel – For Unto Us A Child Is Born
Handel composed the Messiah, an English language oratorio, in 1741 within only 24 days! It is one of the most inspired works of our musical history. The composer concluded the manu…
Music of the Week: December 1, 2023: Zach Williams – The Call of Christmas
December music at Solari is dedicated to celebrating Advent and Christmastide. “Advent†means the “arrival†or “coming†and is the time of inward preparation for the coming or the ret…
Music of the Week: November 24, 2023: Allie Sherlock – Hallelujah
If you go on a shopping spree in the streets of Dublin these days, chances are that you can hear Allie Sherlock busking some of the great songs of our time.
Allie became a media sensation when…
Music of the Week: November 17, 2023: Kaleo – Way Down We Go
Originally from Iceland, Kaleo is a rock band of four grade-school friends from a town near Reykjavik, who in 2015 moved to Austin, Texas and started to gain critical acclaim for their creative s…
Music of the Week: November 10, 2023: Is He Worthy?
Michael Sanchez and the Shadow Mountain Choir and Orchestra are performing one of the leading worship hymns to come out in recent years. Written by Andrew Peterson and Ben Shive, the song was fir…
Music of the Week: November 03, 2023: Colter Wall – Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie
https://youtu.be/6Zpz5wgwt2Y
At the age of 28 and with only four albums released so far, Colter Wall is already a legend. There is something incredibly experienced and authentic in the young man…
Music of the Week: October 27, 2023: Yael Deckelbaum – Prayer of the Mothers
https://youtu.be/YyFM-pWdqrY
(Please switch on subtitles)
“It’s time to wake the women from the beauty sleep, the heart of Mother Earth is weeping.†~ Yael Deckelbaum
Our Music of th…
Music of the Week: October 20, 2023: Charles Gounod – Sanctus
https://youtu.be/-xON2cqEJxc
The Sanctus is a central part of the Christian eucharistic liturgy within all Christian denominations—Eastern, Orthodox, Catholic, Oriental, Ethiopian…. It deriv…
Music of the Week: October 13, 2023: Compared to What
https://youtu.be/kCDMQqDUtv4
Our Music of the Week revisits one of the choicest pieces of jazz that has ever seen the light of day, featured on Solari before. Catherine regards it as her favorit…
Music of the Week: October 6, 2023: Eva Cassidy – Autumn Leaves
https://youtu.be/xXBNlApwh0c
All of Eva Cassidy’s (1963-1996) recognition as “one of the most unique, hypnotic, and powerful singers of all time” (producer William Ross) came posthumously. She w…
Music of the Week: September 29, 2023: Gamal John sings “It’s a Man’s World”
https://youtu.be/Ni4pMDeEUc4
My! Britain’s really got talent. Apart from being quite touching to watch his little boy running onto the stage being so proud of his father, this performance by 36-…
Music of the Week: September 22, 2023: Malakai Bayoh sings Pie Jesu
https://youtu.be/gqVRAE9xFLc
I first heard the Pie Jesu from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem in 1985, soon after it premiered, on a radio show reviewing its first performance at St. Thomas Church …
