Every piece in the Nutcracker suite is designed to propel ... he had discovered in Paris called the celesta. Similar to a piano in shape, it produces an ethereal bell-like sound.

Lemn Sissay explores Tchaikovsky's music from The Nutcracker ... piece would require the essential melodic material and bass line which are often in the Grades 4/5 parts, especially in the piano.

JoAnn Falletta, Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducts the first of a two-weekend Tchaikovsky ...