While pianists Yuja Wang and Lang Lang have undoubtedly achieved mass-market appeal, Igor Levit has, at least in German-speaking countries, become a political figure and social advocate. He is not only considered one of the best pianists of the century,

The American tragedy these days is gun violence and how it has become a part of the familiar scene. It seems like most films from the US have a gun in the imagery and the news is filled with today’s

Samuel Osmond Barber, born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on 9 March 1910, went on to become one of the most celebrated, honored and most frequently performed American composer of the 20th century. A critic writes, “Probably no other American composer

“The Pressure Which Liszt Has Put On My Personality Is Insufferable” In his lifetime the composer and teacher Joachim Raff (1822-1882) was greatly celebrated and admired. His music was valued, with some reservations, by Mendelssohn, Liszt, von Bülow, and Clara

Tenor Mark Padmore, born in London on 8 March 1961, came of age singing in choirs oriented toward Renaissance and Baroque music, and as a soloist he specialized in Baroque opera and choral music. Padmore grew up in Canterbury, and

Virtuosity is totally intoxicating. To me, there is nothing ambivalent in a performance of a piece of music of such complexity that only the most exceptional artists can tackle it. It’s like an athletic event of the most demanding physicality,

When fathers have plans and their daughters have other plans, it made for any number of comic operas and Cimarosa’s The Secret Marriage is one of them. Geronimo has two daughters, Elisetta and her younger sister Carolina. He wants a

Maurice Ravel was born on 7 March 1875 in the Basque town Ciboure, Basses-Pyrénées located in France, situated close to the Spanish border near Biarritz. It was the village where his Basque mother, Marie Ravel, née Delouart, was born and