The Belgian conductor and chorus director Philippe Herreweghe, born on 2 May 1947, is frequently credited with restoring the freshness and purity of Baroque choral music. As a critic wrote, “Herreweghe crafts intimate performances that try to impress with lean

The Prague-based, Czech language music magazine Dalibor reports on 2 May. “Our nation has received a terrible, terrible blow, Antonín Dvořák is no more. Yesterday, at half past twelve in the afternoon, he died from sudden heart failure, having been

When Zubin Mehta made his conducting debut at New York Carnegie Hall in 1967 a critic wrote, “Mehta has the capacity to control every sound made by an orchestra, and he does this with the simplest of gestures, every one

To celebrate the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which ultimately ended the War of Austrian Succession, King George II of Great Britain hosted a gargantuan festival on 27 April 1749. Citizens from all corners of the kingdom arrived in London to witness

For almost 20 years, Niccolò Paganini had patiently confined his concert activities to Italy before setting out to conquer various European capitals. Initially he appeared in Vienna and Franz Schubert excitedly reported, “We will never hear his like again!” He

Known for his “compelling performances, combining fierce intensity and passion with integrity and grace,” Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk has long taken audiences on compelling musical journeys. One of the pre-eminent cellists of our time, he was the first Scandinavian to

Sergei Prokofiev was born on 23 April 1891 in Sontsovka, now located in Ukraine but then a remote rural estate of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of the Russian Empire. His father Sergey Alekseyevich Prokofiev was an agronomist and managed the estate

John Eliot Gardiner, born on 20 April 1943, is revered as “one of the world’s most innovative and dynamic musicians, constantly in the vanguard of enlightened interpretation and standing as a leader in contemporary musical life.” He founded and artistically