Nineteenth-century piano giant Jan Paderewski called her “the most wonderful musician in the world.” Helen Keller called her “the most accomplished deaf and blind person in the world.” She was, to our knowledge, the first blind-deaf person to make a

Robert Schumann, one of the quintessential composers of the Romantic era, is renowned for his deeply expressive piano music, lieder, and orchestral works that embody the emotional intensity, poetic sensibility, and structural innovation of the 19th century. His compositions are

In classical music, it’s rare enough for one composer to become famous, let alone an entire family. However, there have been a handful of families over the past few centuries who together have had major impacts on the art. Today,

What happens when the greatest English composers sit down for a chat in front of a microphone? The answer: expressions of dry British wit, surprising candour, and a long list of insights into the wider world of classical music. In

Described as a rare phenomenon in 1878 by the Neue Berliner Zeitung, composer Emilie Mayer (1812-1883) was dubbed the “Female Beethoven” and became one of the most prolific female composers of the 19th century. Hailing from Friedland, Germany, she composed

Lucille Dixon Robertson broke barriers as a powerhouse double bassist in both jazz and classical music. Born in Harlem to a Baptist minister, she started on piano before picking up the bass in high school. Shut out of symphony jobs

It is well-known that Mozart was one of the most important influences on the music of Tchaikovsky. Of him, Tchaikovsky used to say that he was the highest, the culminating point that beauty has attained in the sphere of music. The

Frédéric Chopin is one of the most beloved composers in history, and judging by Google searches, the Internet has lots of questions about him. Was he Polish or French? What did he actually look like? Did he ever marry George