Longtime Chestnut Hill resident and acclaimed pianist Barbara Golden will perform music including traditional holiday songs and the John Rutter Magnificat in a holiday concert with the Ambler Choral Society at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 1, at the Supplee Memorial Presbyterian Church in Maple Glen.

Golden teaches at Settlement Music School in Germantown and has been a music professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Temple University, the University of the Arts and Moravian College and at numerous schools in New Jersey and Massachusetts. She has performed as a pianist, harpsichordist and conductor since childhood and continues to collaborate with other musicians in and near Northwest Philadelphia, even performing for no compensation.

“My dad died in 2022,” Golden said last week. “I have his cello, and if my grandson continues with his cello lessons, I will pass it along to him. That would be the best. I have made many decisions and choices in my life and have received lots of advice along the way. All of that has gotten me to the place that I am in today.”

You might say that musical talent and the love of performing are literally in Golden’s DNA. One of the most important people in Golden’s life, her grandmother Yetta, “brought music to my father and his sister, which was then passed along to my cousins and me,” said Golden who grew up in Bayside, Queens, and then Great Neck, New York. Her late father, a cellist, and the relatives on his side of the family all became musicians, including Golden’s cousin,  a violinist who is two years older. “We studied together,” Golden said, “and started playing together when I was five and she was seven. She is still my favorite musician to accompany. We seem to have our own secret unspoken music language, and it is so much fun and so intimate to make music with someone who is in my head, as I am in hers.”

As Golden learned and practiced, her beloved grandmother sat quietly in the room and knitted. “She listened and didn’t criticize or judge, just knitted,” Golden said. “When I was done, she offered love and appreciation, and that was the best.”

Golden went on to graduate with the highest possible honors as an undergraduate at Brandeis University, while getting her master's degree at Columbia University Teachers College and earning her doctorate in education, also from Columbia, in 2003 with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. The Hill piano master then dedicated decades of her life to teaching music, and cultivating an appreciation and enjoyment of it in her students.

“When students in a junior high general music class would say that music wasn’t important to them, I would give them an assignment: Don’t listen to music at all this week. They came back and laughed and explained why they couldn't do it and didn’t want to. And that was the door that opened the opportunity to educate them about music.

“I used this technique even with my college students, and it always had the same result,” she continued. “ Humans have chosen music throughout history in every culture, in every part of the world. Music is powerful and touches us at the deepest level. It is a gift for me to have music as a central part of my life and be able to share that and help others enjoy the power of music.”

More than nine years ago, Golden moved to Chestnut Hill to be closer to her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, a decision she is very pleased that she made.

“I get to be part of their lives and participate in everyday activities with them,” she said. “There is nothing better than being grandma. And they can come to my house, where we can bake, play games, watch a movie and have a sleepover. It doesn't get any better than that.”

As she grows older, Golden said the advice she received “that life is short, and it is important to be grateful, kind, honest and trustworthy” continues to resonate.  “I aspire to be that way and choose people in my life who value those qualities as well.”

And, she also continues to relish the opportunities life offers to learn and grow - even as a grandma. “Sometimes seeing life from that perspective is a challenge. When we do, we do grow. One of my favorite sayings is that when one door closes, get up and open it. That’s how doors work.”

 Supplee Memorial Presbyterian Church is at 855 Welsh Rd. in Maple Glen, near Flourtown.  For more information, email barbarajogolden@gmail.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com