‘Real live’ musicians—a flutist, oboist, cellist, and pianist—will perform music composed by moderator Rick Sowash over his six-decade career. Rick will share the back stories about how and why he wrote the pieces the way he did. Amusing anecdotes, colorful characters, unlikely adventures, improbable inspirations, and seemingly insurmountable obstacles will be revealed. No knowledge of music is required—only a curiosity about how music comes to be. The course will be part memoir, part recital, part lecture-demonstration, and all entertaining and informative.

Moderator: Rick Sowash has composed 600+ pieces of classical music, “about a dozen of which,” he says, “aren’t half bad.” His music is broadcast on WGUC and other classical music radio stations. He has written eight books, including “How Music Means,” which grew out of his OLLI course with that title. He has received OLLI’s Stephen Appel Award for excellence in teaching.