When I walk into my music studio I see Zoltán Kodály’s Sonata for Cello and Piano. It is prominently displayed and beautifully framed with Kodály’s signature splashed across the title page. Kodály was an important figure in our house. He

Surprising, as it may sound, some of the most intimate and convincing synergies between architecture and music were created in the 20th century. Take for example the “Philips Pavilion” designed to celebrate postwar technological progress for the World’s Fair Expo

With central funding for the arts scarce and centred around established institutions, the world of classical music is finding itself looking to philanthropy to back new ventures of all kinds. This is not new, of course – musical history is

Broadway on my Mind! Morton Gould: Chorale and Fugue in Jazz Some composers effortlessly move between the worlds of popular and classical music. Take for example Morton Gould (1913-1996), an American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist who was equally at

Maciej Małecki Polish Suite for string quartet (2007) Melodia From Chamber Music (Polish) (2010) Released by CD Accord Maciej Małecki: Polish Suite for string quartet (2007) – MelodiaThis is not only the debut album of OPiUM String Quartet, but also

On Friday, 1 November, and Saturday, 2 November, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, under Lorin Maazel performed an evening of Wagner. But, it wasn’t Wagner as most of us knew it. The evening started with the Siegfried Idyll, famously given its

“J’écris ce qui me chante” – “I write of that which sings to me”Francis Poulenc In 1916 in Paris, Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), a largely self-taught composer, was introduced by a close friend to Adrienne Monnier’s bookshop ‘La Maison des Amis

Last month, I had the chance to attend an orchestral concert directed by Pinchas Zukerman, featuring both Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra – of which he is Music Director – and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. I was apprehensive about this