The musical Fantasy (or Fantasia or Fantasie) has its roots in improvisation and rarely follows a strict musical structure (such as Sonata or Ternary form). In this respect the Fantasy is related to the Impromptu. The term was first applied

In 2015, a student coming up to her A-level exams looked at the composers assigned for the music syllabus. 63 composers and all male. Jessy McCabe brought this to the attention of the Edexcel program and a month later, Ms.

[Opera is] more than entertainment. Opera offers an insight into the complexities of the human psyche – it is a metaphor for, or an exposition, even, of our own personal dreams and nightmares… – Kevin Volans, composer Last week my

If you listen to the distinguished Italian cellist Antonio Janigro, and his pure, resonant sound in the Bach Suites, you’ll encounter a master of depth and perception. Such beautiful playing. One of the great artists of the twentieth century, cellist,

They all die at the end, those poor opera women. Madama Butterfly kills herself, Tosca dies off the parapet of the Castel Sant’Angelo, and Carmen has a face-off with her former soldier lover.

“What do you actually do?” and “What is your day job?” are all-too familiar questions to musicians. People are also endlessly fascinated about practising – “so how much practising do you actually do?” – and imagine we spend most of

Hilger was born in 1904 in the small town of Trauenau, Austro-Hungarian Empire, the youngest of eighteen children (only four survived.) Elsa and her two sisters, Maria and Greta, were prodigiously gifted young musicians. After the family heard the news

In this follow-up article about classical music apps, we turn to ones suitable for music-lovers and for those wishing to learn more about and listen to classical music.