A march, in its most simple definition, is a musical work with a strong rhythmic beat designed to keep soldiers in step. Outside of that very bald declaration, there’s a world of march music. The usual form of a march

What was it really like to study piano with Frédéric Chopin? Luckily, we don’t need to guess. His students left behind vivid accounts that reveal a teacher both demanding and inspiring: occasionally cranky, yet always deeply encouraging. Between his sharp

“It’s so disappointing when you see a bunch of instrumentalists walk on stage and you already know how a piece is going to sound…” Jack Sheen, composer & conductor (interview in VAN magazine) We live in a visual world, never

If you are looking for perhaps the most famous river journey ever sounded in music, look no further than Bedřich Smetana’s Vltava (The Moldau). The idea of turning the Vltava River into a tone poem occurred to Smetana in August

John Cage’s 4’33” is one of the most famous works in the classical music repertoire. Written in 1952, it consists of three movements. Together, the movements’ running time adds up to four minutes and thirty-three seconds. Per the composer’s instructions,

By the time Gioachino Rossini turned 38 years of age, he had composed 39 operas. He staged his first opera in 1810 in Venice, followed by productions in Bologna and Milan. Tancredi of 1813 established his international reputation, which quickly

Where do we start with embarrassing gigs? There are so many of them. One of my stories is the following: the Minnesota Orchestra plays outdoor concerts for a couple of weeks around the Fourth of July Holiday. We were set

Have you ever heard of the Romantic pianist and composer Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877-1952)? He might not be a household name, but he composed beautiful music, especially for the piano. Bortkiewicz was born on 28 February 1877, in Kharkov (now Kharkiv,