The majority of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756-1791) serious operas were composed for occasions connected to the Austrian ruling house of Habsburg. At the tender age of fourteen, Mozart composed Mitridate, re di Ponto for Milan, a city governed by the

There is considerable debate across the entire scholarly and social spectrum as to what composer was most influential in the field of Western Classical music. It may, or may not surprise you to learn that Glenn Gould considered Arnold Schoenberg

Picture this :- Eighteen days and nights of glorious music offered by a parade of world-class artists, talented Academy musicians and three Verbier Festival orchestras under the direction of renowned conductors; multiple masterclasses from 9:30am every day, held all day

Practising is a habit. If we are serious about our music, our progress with our repertoire and our technical and artistic development, we need to establish good and regular practising habits, as regular as cleaning one’s teeth. No one, not

Picturesquely located on the banks of the Danube River, the ecclesiastic basilica at Esztergom is Hungary’s largest church. Stephen I of Hungary erected the foundation of the present building between 1001 and 1010. Various fires and destructions by foreign powers

The accepted notion is that age confers a spirit of reconciliation and serenity on late works– Edward Said, ‘On Late Style’ What is ‘Late Style’? It’s a question that has preoccupied writers and thinkers, from Theodor Adorno, who coined the

I trust you have previously enjoyed reading about the “Musical Bed” and the “Musical Bike”. Now, here comes a real musical curiosity in the form of a double-bladed musical knife! It is a rare treasure indeed, as only three of

Visitations by foreign heads of state can be rather lavish affairs. And that was certainly the case when Archduke Ferdinand and Maria Beatrice d’Este, alongside a retinue of well over one hundred servants, visited the former hunting lodge of Prince