One of the milestones in the history of music, the three-act drama Tristan and Isolde with libretto and music by Richard Wagner premiered on 10 June 1865 at the Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater in Munich with Hans von Bülow conducting.

Considered by many “the most beautiful tenor voice since Luciano Pavarotti,” Benjamin Bernheim is certainly one of the most exciting tenors to emerge onto the operatic stage in recent years. His exquisitely beautiful, richly coloured lyric voice simultaneously projects power,

Are you a stamp collector? I used to be, but not anymore. However, I still enjoy looking at stamps and being fascinated by the different designs. One afternoon, I was looking at my stamp collection, which made me wonder if

A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Emanuel Ax has been described as “a quiet, self-effacing character and a genuinely poetic musician, the antithesis of the glitz that characterises some of his more populist colleagues.” A multiple

When we think about the great composers, it’s easy to imagine them as super-geniuses isolated in their own little rarefied world. But of course, the great composers were only human, living and working alongside other humans. Almost all of the

One of the greatest concert and opera conductors of the 20th century, George Szell was a child prodigy. Educated in Vienna, Szell made his conducting debut at the age of 16 with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and he was appointed

The words “violin” and “fiddle” are often used interchangeably to refer to the same thing: i.e., a musical instrument with four strings and played under the chin with a bow. However, even though the instruments are almost identical, that doesn’t

Sandrine Piau initially made her name by working with William Christie in the field of Baroque music. Today, she commands a formidably wide-ranging repertoire, embracing operatic roles from Mozart to Poulenc and from Debussy to Britten. She also takes pleasure