With his marriage to Dedé Wolff in serious trouble, Astor Piazzolla was finding solace in the arms of other women. “I am now seeing a youngish lass, divine,” he told a friend. The affair with the “youngish lass” was short-lived

Frederick Delius’ opera A Village Romeo and Juliet leaves in a puzzle with the title – is this a tragedy of young love like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, or does the addition of ‘A Village’ make it something else?

“Wise artists seek out critical evaluations.” –The Musician’s Way As musicians it is important for us to receive endorsement for our work. This may come from teachers and mentors, colleagues, friends and family, critics and audience members: whatever its source,

It’s a sunny afternoon in Delhi and I am wandering around the Qutub Minar with my cousin sister, who asks me about the origins of the minaret. Before I can answer, a confident voice pipes in and prattles off the

Greek pianist Gina Bachauer (1913-1976) started her studies at the Athens Conservatory before attending the Ecole Normale de Musique to study with Alfred Cortot. In Paris, she was also able to study with Rachmaninov. Her professional debut was made at

Odetta Maria Wolff, affectionately known as Dedé, first laid eyes on Astor Piazzolla at a tea party in September 1940. She was not impressed at all, and found him “a rather ugly boy, round faced, who paid more attention to

Imagine going into a library in a foreign country and stumbling over a rare and mysterious book that endlessly fuels your imagination. Day after day you return to the reading room and try to decipher, understand and interpret what is

On a recent trip through the Provence in France, through fields of lavender, sunflowers, vineyards and olive trees, I was reminded of the importance of landscapes, and that of the Provence in particular, as inspiration for many artists, including Frédéric