The Council of Europe represents 47 member states, and roughly 800 million Europeans. Celebrating Europe’s rich linguistic diversity, the Council celebrated the European Year of Languages in 2001. At the end of this campaign the Council of Europe’s Committee of

Clara Wieck-Schumann (1819-1896) confided in her diary, “a woman must not wish to compose—there never was one able to do it. Am I intended to be the one? It would be arrogant to believe that.” Her husband Robert was supportive

Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 25 September 1906, Dmitry Shostakovich was the second of three children of Dmitri Boleslavovich Shostakovich and Sofiya Vasilievna Kokoulina. His father was studying physics and mathematics at St Petersburg University, and subsequently worked as

Perhaps some of you don’t know that the great cellist and pedagogue János Starker began his illustrious career as an orchestral musician. He played in Broadway orchestras too. Born in Budapest July 5, 1924, as a wunderkind, Starker performed all

Among the most feared course requirements for many aspiring composers and students of music is a class simply labeled “Fugue.” And it’s no wonder, as a good many universities that still teach this kind of skills will ask you to

Leningrad / St. Petersburg composer Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006) was considered to be one of the most gifted of the students of Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich. She studied with him from 1937 to 1947 and it is rumoured that he even

Ever heard the saying “all fingers and thumbs”? Today we are jumping from our previous topics of whole arm movement and postural support, to the ease of movement, control and power of the fingers and thumbs in playing a musical

Few of us believed the 2020 lockdown would go on for more than a couple of weeks. In the midst of the initial announcement by government, many musicians – and others – watched in horror as their work dried up