"Without music, life would be an error." - Friedrich Nietzsche


It's a big world geographically and musically, and from James Taylor in South Carolina to street performers in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury to Handel’s “Messiah” in London, Bess DuRant has seen and heard a lot of it.

She has eclectic musical tastes - her iPod picks range from the alternative rock of Radiohead to pop artists such as Madonna - and she likes to share them by creating custom compact discs as gifts for friends. Her excitement about exploring musical genres dovetails nicely with her enthusiasm for travel, both in America and abroad.

While visiting Texas, she went to the Austin City Limits Festival, which grew from the television show she enjoyed with her father as a child. During a trip to Ireland, she developed a greater appreciation for the context behind the music of Van Morrison and U2. She began to truly appreciate American jazz while visiting Paris. She sampled a different variety of jazz in New Orleans - zydeco as well.

Where will her explorations take her next? It's hard to say - there's still a lot of the world left to experience.