Musical stories and listening recommendations for every day of the year, told with Ian Hampton’s characteristic wit, wisdom and passion, drawn from his life as a professional cellist.

Told in the voice of Jan (the third-person narrator of Jan in 35 Pieces ), Ian Hampton delights, entertains and enlightens us with his tales of little-known composers and instruments, characters in music history and insider stories of the life of a working musician. Ian’s writing is enlivened by his playful drawings, recipes, poems/doggerel and advice for young musicians.

Who knew that Arnold Schoenberg and George Gershwin were friends and tennis partners? That Winnaretta Singer, heir to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune, was a musician who had a relationship with Virginia Woolf? Hampton not only shares his own story but celebrates Canadian musicians such as gay Québécois composer Claude Vivier who was murdered in Paris in 1983, Haida composer Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson and Chinese-Canadian composer Alexina Louie.

An entertaining and accessible musical tour through a year written by a music lover for music lovers.