In they come, swaggering and posing, the heroes of the bull ring: the toreadors! In Bizet’s Carmen, the latest love of her life, Escamillo, appears in a procession to the bull ring in Act IV. Escamillo’s arrival and dallying with
October, 2025
Singaporean pianist Rae Pung has already established an international profile as a performer and teacher and is now the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the upcoming 2026 Virtù d’Arte International Piano Competition & Festival. Her musical journey, which began at
When Yunchan Lim swept to victory at the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, his performance of Rachmaninoff’s Third Concerto immediately became the stuff of legend. Three years later, the original video has seventeen million views on YouTube. Since then,
When you think of film music, names like John Williams, Hans Zimmer, or Ennio Morricone might spring to mind. After all, their sweeping scores are practically synonymous with the silver screen. But long before lightsabres hummed or spaghetti Westerns galloped
One of the unusual movements in Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals is his 11th movement: “Pianists.” We opened with the march of the lions, we had an elephant, and upcoming is the most famous movement, The Swan, but in the
Composers tend to have famously tumultuous personal lives. Some struggled mightily in their marriages, and more than a few got divorced…sometimes more than once! Today, we’re looking at seven divorces experienced by five famous composers, as well as the stories
Bicentennial Celebration: Waltzing Through Time On 25 October 1825, in the bustling heart of Vienna, a child was born who would etch his name into the annals of musical history as the undisputed “Waltz King.” Johann Strauss II, son of