Music, like many other trades, tends to run in families. Likely a combination of genetics and environment, the shared activity of music making may even pass down through multiple generations. And as we well know, not all members of a

What’s the Difference? Here’s My Approach Last month I gave a masterclass at George Mason University School of Music in Fairfax, Virginia, the largest 4-year public university in Virginia. I heard four young cellists, and later addressed the full University

When it comes to unconventional classical music, there are several composers that can be singled out. Some who would fit the bill are Philip Glass, Erik Satie, Stravinsky, Schoenberg and my favourite unorthodox composer, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. Born in

Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin can play anything just about better than anyone else on the current international piano circuit. Or so it would appear from his fascinating recitals whose diverse and ambitious programmes range from Alkan to Ives, Liszt to

After many decades of performing, one would think everything that could possibly go wrong has… Wrong! Or am I a magnet for snafus? Last month, my pianist and I drove the two hours to a University in a nearby town.

Long before the recent cultural revolution that wants us to slow down the pace of our lives known as the Slow Movement, we had the slow movement in music. Composers have always known that to balance their music, there needed

Does your music collection have a cross-section of classical and electronic music? If not, it should. Because classical and electronic music share many sonic similarities. The number of contemporary pop, rock, electronic, and alternate music groups and composers who have

Alfred Brendel is one of the reasons why I play the piano. My mother was a great fan of Brendel, and my love of Schubert’s piano music, especially the Impromptus and Moments Musicaux, is the direct result of my mother