I meet many piano teachers, at courses, workshops and masterclasses. It is always good to meet other piano teachers, to exchange ideas, and to enjoy a collective grumble about the exigencies of the job. Many of the teachers whom I

In 2017, Hong Kong is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region. To commemorate the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China, the HK Government is pulling

The unprecedented suffering inflicted by the relentless and ruthless personality cult of Chairman Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution had a devastating effect on society and on music. Within China’s cultural and intellectual fabric Beethoven had become synonymous with everything

When the Teatro Real reopened on 11 October 1997, it quickly became an internationally acclaimed opera house and an important cultural institution in Spain. A leading venue in the field of music and performing arts, its artistic projects, ranging from

People have been writing about the piano for almost as long as the instrument has existed, from early treatises on technique to manuals of exercises, student guides, pianist autobiographies, pianists writing about other pianists or the great works of piano

Driven from Europe not by politics but by his health, the Polish pianist Ignace Tiegerman (1893-1968) moved to Cairo in 1931 to help his asthma. He became the centre of piano education in Cairo for the next thirty years.

One of the biggest dangers to the wellbeing of operatic theatres throughout history has been fire! As one critic rightly said, “Scenery, stucco, seats and curtains were all highly inflammable. Add to those the wooden structure of the building and

The other day I was talking about John Cage’s infamous work 4’33” with one of my students, while giving the student an overview of music history. When we got to 20th century music, it was the student, not me, who