Speakers' corner

Foothill College’s Author Series presents Mozart authority Daniel N. Leeson speaking on his newest book, ‘The Mozart Cache,’ the story of a variety of precious objects that, with a single exception, all appear to have been in Leopold Mozart’s apartment at the time of his death in 1787. Leopold Mozart, a composer, conductor, teacher and violinist, is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Included in ‘The Mozart Cache’ are various portraits of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, his sister, his mother and other members of his family. Author Leeson discusses how these items should be regarded by the scholars of Mozart’s life.

Author Daniel N. Leeson, one of America’s leading Mozart authorities, has been a professional performing musician for much of his life, and is a former officer of the Mozart Society of America. Leeson speaks on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 12 noon in the Student Lounge/Campus Center of Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills. For more information visit http://preznet.fhda.edu/fas.html or email CaseyMia@Foothill.edu. This event is free.

Roger Siminoff

Author and music historian Roger Siminoff appears at the Redwood City Downtown Library Thursday, Feb. 26 at 6:30 p.m. to talk about the life and work of Lloyd A. Loar, a prominent musician and acoustical engineer who is the subject of Siminoff’s recent book, ‘The Lore of Loar.’ Loar pioneered the development of string musical instruments and invented several systems for electrical amplification of string and keyboard instruments. Siminoff’s presentation is part of the Bluegrass Authors Symposium sponsored by Friends of the Redwood City Library and the Northern California Bluegrass Society.

Siminoff, the founder of Pickin’ Magazine and Frets Magazine, has written numerous books on musical instrument construction, including ‘The Ultimate Bluegrass Mandolin Construction Manual’ and ‘Constructing a Solid-Body Guitar: A Complete Technical Guide.’ Siminoff’s book ‘The Art of Tap Tuning’ features a 50-minute DVD that fully explains the process of adjusting the structure of acoustic stringed instruments to improve their sound. Siminoff currently devotes his full attention to luthierie and the production of mandolin kits, banjo and mandolin parts, and to authoring various texts and monthly columns on musical instrument construction.

Redwood City Downtown Library is located at 1044 Middlefield Road. For more information call 780-701 8 or visit www.redwoodcity.org/library. This event is free.