The castrato voice is one of the most fascinating – and troubling – phenomena in the history of classical music. Produced by castrating boys before puberty, this vocal type combined the lung capacity and physical power of a male body

For most pianists, practising occupies far more time than performing. Indeed, for many amateur musicians, public performance may be relatively infrequent or not particularly important at all. Our musical lives are lived largely in private: at the piano, alone with

Opera Rara’s 56th season begins on 4 October 2026. While best known for restoring and reviving bel canto operas and the exceptional “Donizetti Song Project,” the company has also championed the music of Jacques Offenbach since its founding in 1970.

Nowadays, the music of violinist Niccolò Paganini has largely fallen out of fashion, save among violin nerds. But Paganini was one of the earliest icons of the Romantic Era, and he lived a colourful life to prove it. In 1946,

For today’s quiz question, we turn to Żelazowa Wola in Poland. We all know that Frédéric Chopin was born there, but what famous violinist is also traditionally said to have been born in that village? The answer is Henryk Szeryng,

Andrei Gavrilov, born on 21 September 1955 in Moscow, won the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition at the age of eighteen. A protégé of the extraordinary Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter, Gavrilov quickly established an international career. After his early EMI recordings,

When we look at the modern orchestra, we assume that those instruments have been there unchanged for centuries. Yet, like all things in the world, they’re subject to change, to alterations, and even experimentation. In their search for new or

Mozart‘s love life was as dramatic as any opera he ever wrote. He carried on a raucous correspondence with his cousin, fell hard for a teenage soprano who rejected him, and married his first love’s younger sister. Some music lovers