From his earliest days, the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz wanted to be a composer/performer in the great tradition of Franz Liszt and Sergei Rachmaninoff. In fact, despite his early successes as a pianist, Horowitz always claimed “he wanted to be

How is it that we don’t know more about the astonishing talents Marie Jaëll (1846-1925) and Dora Pejačević (1885–1923)? Jaëll, a French pianist, composer, and teacher, composed works in several genres—solo piano, concertos, and quartets. Attuned to music from her

George Crumb, one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century, passed away on February 6th. Crumb’s music was an exploration of humanistic art. A winner of the Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize, He was known as the

Virtuosity is totally intoxicating. To me, there is nothing ambivalent in a performance of a piece of music of such complexity that only the most exceptional artists can tackle it. It’s like an athletic event of the most demanding physicality,

On 17 July 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 with 283 passengers and 15 crew on board was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine. Everybody on that flight was killed by a surface-to-air-missile launched from pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory in Ukraine.

The pianists Yuja Wang, Lang-Lang, and Ji Liu, cellist Yo Yo Ma, composers Chen Yi and Tan Dun, and pipa player Wu Man are household names in the world of music. There are an astounding number of Chinese people joining

The end of January sees the UK deadline fast-approaching for self-employed people up and down the country to submit their ‘Self Assessment’ tax returns. Sight reading, much like filing tax forms, is something that makes sense in theory, but can

Many orchestra musicians start professional careers soon after graduating from a conservatory music performance program. There is a good chance that aspiring orchestra musician already gained first experience in ensembles, school orchestras, or by temping in a civic ensemble. After