Was born into a family of musicians and raised on classical music. I like lots of other kinds of music, too, but when one's mother was a piano teacher who played "the good stuff" at night, after I was tucked into bed and drifting off (I suspect so she could remember what it sounded like played correctly) to sleep, classical music holds a special spot in my brain.

In a week and a day, I'll be at the Messiah Sing my family tries to get to every year - it's just one of those things that really makes the season real for me. The little orchestra starts the opening notes of the Overture, and the world settles into place and my blood pressure drops a few notches.