The Secret Magic of Music

Great music has the power to transform. Understanding and appreciating classical music can enlighten, uplift, and educate not only the intellect but the soul. In The Secret Magic of Music, classical music devotee and psychiatrist Ida Lichter uncovers a more accessible side of music. By providing the performers’ insights, Lichter provides a special look into how great music can bring happiness and spiritual meaning to its listeners.

Not only does The Secret Magic of Music enrich the experience of music lovers, it introduces new listeners to classical music’s pleasures, mysteries, and transformational potential. Music has the ability to cross cultural borders and span personal difference, to unite people on common ground they might otherwise never find. The importance of passing on the appreciation of our musical heritage to the next generation is real. To lose it would be inexcusable.

Ida Lichter of Sydney, Australia

Ida Lichter is a psychiatrist based in Sydney, Australia. She has been involved with music for most of her life and studied piano performance and theory before taking up a career in medicine, specializing in psychiatry. An interest in performance anxiety led her to work in the field of therapy for musicians who were trying to master symptoms inhibiting their ability to play in public. 

For many years she lived in London, and together with her family, was intimately involved with Wigmore Hall, one of the world’s leading venues for the performance of chamber music.

She is a founder and director of Music In The Hunter chamber music festival, inaugurated in 1991 to commemorate the bicentenary of Mozart’s death. It takes place in the Hunter Valley wine-growing district of New South Wales, Australia, and celebrated its twentyfourth successful year in 2014. Members of the Goldner String Quartet, who are the core performers, have played at every festival, together with guest artists. Audience numbers are limited in order to maintain an intimate, collegial atmosphere. 

Dr. Lichter is committed to enhancing audience enjoyment of music and exploring the links between music and other specialties, such as art, architecture, wine, and jewelry in the ancient world.