Mauricio Kagel (1931–2008) wrote Exotica on commission for the 20th Olympic Games, held in 1972 in Munich. In the work, he explored the idea of confronting musicians with instruments they’d never played before and challenging them to come up with

No great composer achieved their greatness in a vacuum. Although the narratives of music history often ignore them, all of the great composers had female relatives, friends, and colleagues who were major influences on their artistry. Today, we’re looking at

The piano is heavy, weighing between 480 to 600 lbs (180–270 kg) for an upright one, up to 1,100 (500 kg) for a baby grand, and over 1,200 (540 kg) for a concert grand. How do you put these out

When Carl Reinecke published the first of his well over three hundred works in the 1830s, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Liszt were at the height of their fame. Such was Reinecke’s longevity that when his final scores were printed, Schoenberg, Webern,

Just how musically talented was Carl Maria von Weber? Well, at the age of 17, he was offered and accepted the post of Director at the Breslau Opera in 1804. Weber had spent some time in Vienna, studying hard with

I have recently been fascinated by the art music of Estonia, partially fuelled by the success of Arvo Pärt. But as I have explored in earlier blogs, this triumph of Estonian culture would not have been possible without the groundwork

In building up to writing her Requiem, Elisabetta Brusa (b. 1954) wrote a Marche Funèbre for piano (1984), Adagio for string orchestra (1996), Requiescat for voices and large orchestra (1994–1995), Simply Largo for string orchestra (2008), and a Stabat Mater

In the revivals of the operas of the 17th and 18th centuries, one of the modern puzzles has been the use of men in women’s roles. We did have male singers, starting in the 1950s with Alfred Deller. At first,