The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas, has a reputation for excellence in no small part due to their illustrious faculty. To name a few, they include Norman Fischer, the Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Cello

Following the horrendous destruction caused by World War I, Germany was looking for a composer who spoke with a contemporary voice. Max Reger died in 1916, and neither Richard Strauss nor Hans Pfitzner had any real interest in New Music.

Let’s imagine that an archaeological dig unearths a precious statue from antiquity. Sadly, however, the sculpture is incomplete and missing arms and limbs. Such was the case in the early 16th century, and soon, a competition got underway to reconstruct

Between 1912 and 1948, art competitions were part of the Olympic Games. Initially, these competitions were grouped into five broad categories, including architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. In terms of music, subcategories encompassed mixed music, compositions for orchestra, solo

“I endeavoured to reduce music to its proper function,” wrote Christoph Willibald Gluck, “that of seconding poetry by enforcing the expression of the sentiment, and the interest of the situations, without interrupting the action or weakening it by superfluous ornament.”

During his time, Johann Nepomuk Hummel was considered to be one of Europe’s greatest composers and greatest pianists. He was Mozart’s most famous student, a protégé of Joseph Haydn, and Beethoven’s friend and chief competitor. With his forward-looking compositions, he

Classical, jazz and popular music are some of the most well spread music genres around the world. They are very different, but they often meet. Their places of origin and history differ, too, and each has evolved into a very

One of the foremost cellists of his generation, Leslie Parnas, enjoyed a distinguished career as a performer and a pedagogue. Known for his technical prowess and gorgeous depth of tone, Parnas exhibited profound musicality and “an aggressive approach to phrasing.”