As a music critic, Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim has won honors for her ability to unlock the communicative power of music in empathetic and stylish prose. After seven years of reviewing concerts for the New York Times, she created the Beginner's Ear series of live music meditations as a holistic approach to listening. Born to German parents in Brussels, she obtained degrees from the University of London, Sussex University, and Cambridge University, where she wrote her Ph.D thesis on the Jewish-Venetian poet Sara Copio Sullam. Ms. da Fonseca-Wollheim is an amateur violinist and avid chamber musician and lives in New York City.