Blogs

archive-post-image
The Great Women Artists Who Shaped Music II – Dorothy DeLay
Other than playing the violin fantastically, what do Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Anne Akiko Meyers, Sarah Chang, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Nigel Kennedy, Gil Shaham, Shlomo Mintz Philippe Quint and Cho-Liang Lin have in common? Their teacher! Dorothy DeLay.
Read more
archive-post-image
War and Music: Waterloo I
It’s difficult, 200 hundred years later, to imagine how much Europe was frightened by Napoleon’s return to power in March 1815. Before being sent to exile in Elba, Napoleon’s army had conquered most of Europe, creating an Empire that stretched
Read more
archive-post-image
Instruments of the Orchestra VI: The Oboe
After the sweet purity of the flute, the next woodwind is the oboe. It’s a woodwind, but instead of being mouth-blown like the flute, this instrument’s sound comes from a reed. And not just a reed, a double reed: two
Read more
archive-post-image
Women in Baroque Music
London Festival of Baroque Music 2015 Women in music, either as composer, performers, or inspirational figures, are never celebrated enough. This year’s London Festival of Baroque Music brings those women back to us with their Women in Baroque Music festival,
Read more
archive-post-image
Lions and Dragons
We’ve already looked at violin body design – now let’s look at the other end of the instrument and take a look at a part of a string instrument you’ve probably seen, but never really looked at: the far end
Read more
archive-post-image
Aimez Vous Brahms? III
With his widely recognised achievements as a pianist, composer and conductor, Brahms had succeeded in amassing a considerable fortune: 4000.000 marks from his compositions, earnings wisely invested by his publisher. It was also due to a frugal life: he dined
Read more
archive-post-image
Violin Design
We all know what a violin looks like – a beautiful instrument with a warm wood body and an elegant black fingerboard, finished off with a perfect wooden scroll. Ah, but that’s so last century. The modern violin can be
Read more
archive-post-image
Aimez Vous Brahms? II
We had already talked about the young Johannes’ performances around the city in the last sharing. As a handsome and energetic youth, he was already composing his first piano concerto (after a short stint as an arranger for opera-potpourris).
Read more