Samuel Barber had always been looking for success in the opera house, an achievement that sadly eluded him. The story was markedly different in the field of instrumental music, as his Overture The School for Scandal was performed by the

Enclosed in a wooden box lies a magical mechanism: things whirl, a pinned cylinder turns, a little tuned comb is plucked, and music comes out. We looked earlier at all the different ways composers played with Johann Strauss II’s Blue

The violins of the great violinists are fascinating works of art. They’ve been coveted for centuries, heard by audiences around the world, and inspired countless musical masterpieces. Some have been stolen; others have been copied; all have been loved. Today,

Igor Stravinsky visited the Chicago Art Institute on 2 May 1947. He was struck by a series of eighteenth-century paintings by William Hogarth titled “The Rake’s Progress.” This series of scenes from a drama suggested the subject for an English-language

We still don’t know for certain, but Henry Purcell, the most original English composer of his time, was probably born on 10 September 1659. We do know, however, that during his life, he composed music for a wide variety of

Pierre-Laurent Aimard is described as “a brilliant musician and an extraordinary visionary.” A celebrated interpreter of the standard repertoire, he is also a key figure in contemporary music. Throughout his remarkable career, he has been the pianist of choice of

On 5 September 2022, the German pianist and conductor Lars Vogt succumbed to oesophageal cancer at the age of 52. He came to prominence after taking second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition, bringing exceptional sensitivity and lyricism

Considered one of the best pianists in the world, Jean-Yves Thibaudet has the rare ability to combine poetic musical sensibilities with dazzling technical prowess. As the New York Times writes, “…every note he fashions is a pearl… the joy, brilliance