Those familiar with the novels of the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami know that there are recurring themes throughout his books such as jazz, cats, and women’s ears, to name just a few. In his 2002 novel, Kafka On The Shore,

When you’re in Austria, you’re assaulted by images of Mozart – not Mozart the Composer but Mozart the Chocolate. The Mirabell Chocolate Factory in Salzburg is the creator of the famous Mozartkugel. It’s a little ball of milk chocolate, filled

Dear Yuja, I am writing this open letter to you, as I want the world to know that I am in awe of your piano playing. Since I followed your musical career from the age of seven, I have not

The interaction between classical and pop music can often be an extended exercise in looking at old material in a new way. We don’t mind when Barry Manilow uses a bit of Frédéric Chopin’s Prelude in C Minor, Op. 28/2

It’s difficult for me to add much to the many tributes to Claudio Abbado that have appeared since his death. As well as obituaries detailing his life and achievements, there have been statements from those who worked with him, who

‘Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.’ ‘To educate somebody, you should start from poems, emphasise on ceremonies, and finish with music.’ Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC) There have recently been a number of

I recently came across an extraordinary image. Many police services combine images of a suspect to create a general photo-fit image. But the federal police in Berlin recently combined a number of portraits of a man who died in the

“Are soloists nice?” audiences ask. “Not all of them,” I’d reply cautiously. (One doesn’t want to taint the concert experience, after all.) Some soloists can be self-centered; others reserved. There are soloists who stand out as genuine, warm and wonderful