In January, 2005 at Stetson University, the TARAB Cello Ensemble performed a new music concert that was suberb and exhilarating. To the audience's dismay, the ensemble had no encore prepared (do any even exist?). I later found out that the group was comprised of recent Eastman School of Music graduates, many of whom I had conducted during the end of my academic tenure in Rochester. I was struck by the ensemble's determination to remain together to make music and, with their blessings, set out to...