Although Felix Mendelssohn predated Brahms, his cello music is on the cusp of romanticism, bridging the classical and the romantic periods of music. He wrote two cello sonatas, No. 1 in B-flat Op. 45, and No. 2 in D Major

Roses are gorgeously beautiful flowers, and they are associated with romantic love and beauty. And as far back as I can remember, which isn’t really all that long, the rose has been one of the most recognized symbols of Valentine’s

A week of concertizing, teaching, and community outreach started in Guangzhou six years ago and has expanded to include orchestras from up and down the Pearl River. The Guangzhou Symphony has been joined by the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Shenzhen

It is often said that life inspires art; that to its ultimate goal, art takes inspiration and pays homage to nature and to life. Over the years, it has been an obsession for artists; to imitate life. But what about

One of the great delights of Franz Schubert’s setting of Goethe’s poem Erlkönig is all the voices that appear in the work: in the vocal line, we have the narrator, the father, the child, and the Erl-king. The piano is

Charles Dickens, born on 7 February 1812 on Portsea Island (Portsmouth), Hampshire, is known for creating some of the best-known fictional characters in literature. We all are familiar with Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Little Nell, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Samuel

Finland declared its independence after the Russian Revolution in 1917. Finland had been ruled by Sweden since the late thirteenth century, but in 1908, Finland became part of the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy. Prior to this, in

Born on 3 February 1874 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Gertrude Stein was a central figure in the Parisian art world between 1903 and her death in 1946. Her Paris Salon at 27 rue de Fleurus “brought together confluences of talent and