Clara Schumann wrote in her diary, “A woman is not expected to have any desire to compose.” However, she clearly had the desire, and more importantly, the ability to do so. For a variety of reasons she decided to stop

“Listen to Awesomeness” is a contemporary jargon used to market products related to focused listening – from audiobooks to earphones to DJs streaming music online. Even though the expression rarely exists in the classical music arena, it aptly reflects my

I watched with interest some of the Winter Olympics coverage from South Korea, in particular the snowboarding and skiing. It’s easy to spot the winners – people like Chloe Kim and Redmond Gerard (both from the US team): they display

Between 20th and 23rd November this year, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire will be home to the first Birmingham International Piano Chamber Music Festival. Artists including the Gould Trio, London Bridge Trio, Katya Apekisheva, Christoph Richter, Esther Hoppe, Alice Neary, Robin

Western music flourishes in Japan in the early twentieth century, mainly due to the influence of Hideo Saito, who performed and conducted to the end of his days. Hideo Saito is considered one of Japan’s greatest music teachers.

Laurette From SOR, F.: Songs for Voice and Guitar (2017) Released by Naxos Sor: Songs for Voice and GuitarFernando Sor was one of the greatest guitarists of his era and his works are still extremely popular today. His songs, however,

Did the diarist Samuel Pepys alert us to women conductors in 17th century London? There we went and eat and drank and heard musique at the Globe, and saw the simple motion that is there of a woman with a

Finding new meanings and emotions Having performed in venues across the world, including the Royal Festival Hall, Concertgebouw, and Carnegie Hall, Russian pianist Denis Matsuev arrives in Hong Kong this month to perform a cycle of the Rachmaninov piano concerti.