Playing the Brahms Clarinet Quintet interspersed with gypsy folk may seem odd – but this is what the band ZRI lives for. There is a method in their madness, and speaking to accordion player Jon Banks gave me an insight

Burt Hara is one of the great orchestral and solo clarinetists of our time. He was the principal clarinet of the Minnesota Orchestra for 25 seasons. A native of California, Burt has just relocated to Los Angeles to play in

String Quartet No. 12 in C Minor, D. 703, “Quartettsatz” The other day, I got a chance to chat with Joshua Gindele, one of the founding members of the internationally-acclaimed Miró quartet, and gain an insight into the history and

Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaya was born in Moldova in 1977. In some sense she is the epitome of the modern high-profile touring musician, with concerts in Linz, Vienna, London, Brussels and Tokyo alone in the next few months performing concerti with

Carol Ho-Yan Lin is one of Hong Kong’s leading mezzo-sopranos. A graduate of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA), she furthered her studies with the American mezzo-soprano Delores Ziegler at the New England Conservatory in Boston where she

The Nightingale from Czech With her father a mathematician and her mother a biologist, it would have been natural for Magdalena Kožená to become a scientist. Nevertheless, she chose to be a musician; piano was her first love, but she

Simon and I met in our teens, before he became known to the world as ‘Trpčeski’. As a person, he is full of joy, warmth and sincerity; as a pianist, he is natural, charismatic and phenomenal. Wherever he appears, he

With a jury comprised of not only opera managers and music directors around the globe but also international media figures, the annual International Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition aims to offer prizewinners the fast track into a career in opera. I