Preserving our natural world has become vital for many of us but we sometimes are at a loss as to how we as individuals can make an impact. Italian cellist and composer Riccardo Pes had a visceral reaction when the

Scott Joplin was the pre-eminent composer of piano ragtime. In fact, one of his first and most popular pieces, the “Maple Leaf Rag,” became one of the genre’s most influential mega hits. Joplin considered the ragtime a form of classical

Maria Anna Cecilia Sofia Kalogeropoulos, better known as Maria Callas, was born on 2 December 1923 in New York City. She was the daughter of Greek immigrant parents, and her father shortened his surname to “Kakos” and subsequently to “Callas,”

Harriet Pearl Alice Cohen was born in London on 2 December 1895. We may have largely forgotten her today, but this little girl turned out to be one of the most important musicians of the twentieth century. The Musical Childhood

Ernesto Lecuona (1896–1963), the foremost Cuban composer of the first half of the 20th century, straddled the pop and classical worlds. He was a composer of popular and film music and a classical musician, performing internationally as a pianist and

Charles-Valentin Alkan (1819-1888) was one of the most celebrated pianists of the nineteenth century, mentioned in the same breath as Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt. He was also a most unusual composer, “remarkable in both technique and imagination,” and compared

Only one of Engelbert Humperdinck’s compositions may have entered the repertoire, but what a composition it is! Today we’re looking at the life and work of Engelbert Humperdinck, composer of the magical fairy tale opera “Hansel und Gretel.” Engelbert Humperdinck’s

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) first fell under the influence of Balinese music when he met the Canadian composer Colin McPhee (1900–1964) in New York in 1939. McPhee had just returned from 6 years in Bali and in 1940, wrote his highly