Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born into a large and close-knit Russian family in 1840. Every composer’s family has a major impact on his life, but Tchaikovsky’s family had an especially major impact on his. One brother became an early biographer

A composer new to the classical concert music scene has emerged, offering riches of note. Perhaps the release of a first symphony could be ignored as simply a one-off — enjoyable on its face, but not necessarily a harbinger of

Violinist Joseph Joachim was one of the greatest violinists of the nineteenth century, and a dear friend of composer Johannes Brahms for decades. But in 1884, while he was going through a brutal divorce, Joachim was blindsided by what he

Greek National Opera, housed at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre, was host to the 2025 International Opera Awards in November. What was wonderful was its overview of the entire world of opera – not only in Europe but also

This quote is from an episode of Masterchef: The Professionals, a TV series to which I am addicted. It’s from a professional chef, a finalist in one season of the competition, and it struck a chord with me the moment

December is packed with some of the most famous (and infamous) anniversaries in classical music history. It’s the month when Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth Symphonies were heard for the first time in a freezing Viennese hall – the month when

In his exploration of the early piano works of Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915), French pianist Clément Lefebvre speaks of coming to the edge of the abyss when he plays the finale of the Russian composer’s Piano Sonata No. 3. This is

While Angelika Kirchschlager’s operatic achievements are widely celebrated, it is in the recital hall that her interpretive powers fully shine. In such private settings, she reveals a profound understanding of the intimate relationship between text, music, and the audience, and