Sometimes listeners claim that music – and classical music in particular – is above politics. Unfortunately for these people, history proves them wrong. Many of the greatest composers in classical music history were deeply engaged with politics, and their political

The two world wars forever altered the lives of everyone who fought in them…including the great composers. Some found creative inspiration amidst the violence, while others had their careers or even lives cut short by it. But these eight composers

Over the course of his career, bassist and conductor Serge Koussevitzky advocated for hundreds of new works, commissioned some of the most famous of them, helped launch a legendary summer music festival, taught a large percentage of the next generation

I was back in Europe. I was back in Russia. I was back in Japan. I was back in Thailand. The year 2025 marked my return to a life I had grown accustomed to before 2020: being a jetsetter, listening

Today, Frédéric Chopin is best remembered as a composer. But during his lifetime, his primary occupation was piano teacher…and he was very successful at it! In fact, his teaching career subsidised his compositions. Today, we’re looking at ten facts about

On a cold January day in 1751, 17 January to be exact, Venice lost in Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni one of its most intriguing musical sons. Far from being a dull footnote in Baroque history, Albinoni’s life and legacy paint a

When Léo Delibes died in Paris on 16 January 1891, the musical world lost a composer who had quietly but decisively altered the course of ballet music. His passing came at a moment of transition, as classical ballet was moving away

Born into scandal as members of musical royalty, Richard Wagner and Cosima Liszt’s three children – Isolde, Eva, and Siegfried – carried not only the Wagner name, but the weight of the entire family legacy. From bitter feuds and courtroom