A Mysterious Envelope Arrives. On 14 November 1849, Ludwika Jędrzejewicz opened an envelope. Ludwika Jędrzejewicz was having a bad month. Her marriage was in shambles because she had left Poland to be at her brother Frédéric Chopin’s deathbed. She had

“It’s not the mountain we conquer but ourselves” This quote by the renowned mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary speaks to the internal journey one embarks on when pursuing a challenging goal. Arthur Benjamin: Conquest of Everest Suite – III. The Great

Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä, born on 17 January 1996 in Helsinki, transcends the podium and captures the essence of every musical phrase with remarkable precision and depth. Known for his dynamic presence and innate musicality, Mäkelä brings an intensity to

Every now and then, the people who enjoy, love, or seek out music undergo a very special kind of occurrence. It could happen at an exciting concert or festival or merely in the fabric of day-to-day life: listening to algorithm-recommended

The Russian pianist and composer Vyacheslav Gryaznov, born on 15 January 1982 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the former Soviet Union, is renowned for his extraordinary ability for virtuosic technique and expressive performances. Appearing at such venues as Carnegie Hall and the

When Antonín Dvořák was a young man, he gave piano lessons to make ends meet. One of his students was a young woman named Josefína Čermáková. She was very beautiful and talented and would become one of the best-known theatre

The actor Ben Elton once remarked that “artists don’t create society, they reflect it.” In Hong Kong’s swiftly burgeoning opera scene, 2024 bore this out, tracing a journey from the restraint of Mozartian precision to something looser, stranger, and more

Turkish pianist Fazıl Say, born on 14 January 1970 in Ankara, has compiled a discography notable not only for its impressive range of classical repertoire but also for his own compositions. His ability to blend traditional Turkish sounds with classical