Northeastern University launches Music Matters - a revolutionary multimedia website.

Northeastern University has launched an innovative music education wesbite called Music Matters. Music Matters is a modular, interactive, multimedia website introducing a wide range of music to a general audience.

BOSTON, Mass. --On October 15, the world will see exactly how much fun music can be. Northeastern University is bringing musical edutainment" to a new level when the Department of Music launches Music Matters, a worldwide, web-based, interactive music resource at http://www.musicmatters.neu.edu, sponsored by Northeastern University and produced by Northeastern staff, students, and faculty.

Music Matters is a multimedia travelogue that takes visitors on a musical journey around the world. Informal but informative-educational and entertaining, each program is based on a central musical idea divided into short segments. Listeners can choose which module to hear as many times as they wish, or decide to hear a different program altogether. This concept of listener choice is unique to web-based music listening and is unrivaled anywhere on the Internet.

In a unique format using modular Web Radio, Music Matters actively engages Northeastern students and faculty in all phases of development from planning and music performance to engineering and technical implementation. Students, in particular, have been instrumental in determining the program content, by keeping their faculty mentors in touch with the latest trends in music. In the case of the Music of Italy" program a student, upon his return from a study abroad opportunity in Italy, recommended the music of Paolo Conte, to the shows producer. As a result of the students efforts, an interview with Conte, as well as an inspiring performance, is featured in the program.

The series is hosted by well-known concert pianist Virginia Eskin, a faculty member in the Department of Music. She is the former host of one of public radios longest-running classical music programs, A Note to You, produced by Northeastern and WGBH Radio. Nat Johnson, veteran Boston radio producer and former Head of Reissues for RCA Records in New York is the creator and producer of Music Matters, Northeasterns latest achievement in distance learning.

Music Matters is a non-profit, cooperative venture designed to enlist the diverse talents and resources of the University and its arts and musical organization colleagues including the WGBH Educational Foundation and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.