I have written before about how some repertoire is considered “off limits” to amateur pianists, and should remain the preserve of the professional. I think what such an attitude demonstrates is how the “core canon” of piano repertoire is held

Charles Gounod kept working during the final year of his life. He suffered a variety of afflictions and ills but composed sacred music and penned his memoirs and essays. When he returned home from playing the organ for Mass at

Raphaël Pichon, who literally grew up in the shadow of the Palace of Versailles, has had dual careers as a countertenor, and later as the founder and director of the historically oriented choir “Pygmalion.” With a decided gift for drawing

In 1876, after returning from a trip to Bayreuth to see the first complete Ring cycles, Edvard Grieg and his friend John Paulson (1851–1924) travelled up and down Norway. As a treat for the poet Paulson, Grieg took 4 sonatas

Maria Anna Mozart, known to her family as Nannerl, is one of the great what-ifs of music history. She was the sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, an inspiration and constant companion to him, one of her generation’s great piano prodigies,

Let’s talk about organs. Pipe, non-pipe, mechanical, and also electric organs. These huge, complicated, and often misunderstood instruments. But nevertheless, instruments which have accompanied the history of art, music, and religion and which endure to this day. The most common

Born on 12 October 1935 on the outskirts of Modena in Northern Italy, Luciano Pavarotti became one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. His bright and incisive tenor voice, paired with a directness of manner made him a

Her music was admired by Leopold Mozart. She was one of the first composers to write string quartets. As a young woman, she wrote a set of six violin concertos and performed them to great acclaim. She toured Europe as