Renaissance The Other Woman

Britain's Dame Gillian Weir is one of the world's foremost musical artists. Her unique career as an internationally acclaimed concert organist, performing worldwide at the great festivals and with leading orchestras and conductors, has established her as a distinguished musician. She is known for her virtuosity, integrity and outstanding musicianship, which combined with a notable personal charisma, have placed her in the forefront of her profession and won her the admiration of audiences and critics alike.

Great literature can be the means of understanding as well as creating our world—by teaching and reinforcing society's laws, articulating its values, and enforcing the social contracts that unite us as a culture. What if literature itself generated our ideas and feelings about justice, marriage and family, property, authority, race, or gender? What if it enflamed our determination to pursue justice—or, conversely, undermined our ability to detect injustice?

The Winter Tree is the new moniker for the American outfit formerly known as Magus. Both are the main creative vehicle for composer/musician Andrew Laitres, and his latest collaborators Deb Bond (keyboards) and Mark Bond (vocals and guitars). Magus dates back to the mid 1980s and has many full length releases, but in 2010 Andrew changed the name to The Winter Tree after a song from one of his favorite bands, Renaissance. The self-titled debut album was released in 2011. Soft symphonic art rock with nods in the direction of folk music is what The Winter Tree explores on their debut album, music pastoral in spirit and expression, emphasizing gentle moods and careful melodies in a manner that should appeal well beyond the art rock universe…