American composer Richard Danielpour (b. 1956), while working outside New York in Seattle and in Taos, New Mexico, had time to reconsider if he wanted to return to New York City. It’s big, it’s dirty, there’s 7 million other people

Jacques Offenbach composed some of the catchiest tunes and melodies ever written, and he exerted a powerful influence on subsequent composers for the music theatre. Initially, however, he was primarily known as a traveling cello virtuoso. He was born Jacob

Kaija Saariaho: Orion – I. Memento mori A painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art was the unexpected inspiration for composer Kaija Saariaho’s orchestral work Orion. Orion was the giant hunter in Greek mythology. A son of Poseidon, he was

For our 26th annual summer program this year, Morningside Music Bridge has selected 65 outstanding musicians, aged 12 to 18, from 11 countries. Representing the highest international standards of excellence, the young violinists, violists, cellists, and pianists will receive full

One October evening in 1898, having returned home after a long day teaching, Edward Elgar lit a cigar and began to improvise at the piano. Elgar recalls, “I began to play, and suddenly my wife interrupted by saying: ‘Edward, that’s

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) is frequently called the father of modern political philosophy and political science. Machiavelli’s best-known book Il Principe (The Prince) was written around 1513 and contemplates a new type of ruler not guided by the conventions of heredity.

Antonín Rejcha, later Antoine or Anton Reicha (1770-1836) came from a hard childhood. His father, Simon, the town piper of Prague, died when he was 10 months old and at age 11, he ran away from his mother who couldn’t