How Smetana Established the “Czechness” in His Opera The Bartered Bride is a comic opera with three acts completed in 1866. It was written by Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884) with libretto by Karel Sabina (1813-1877).1 The first performance was held at

When people learn that I’m a pianist, they usually say “oh I’d love to learn the piano” or “I wish I’d kept up piano lessons”. The piano is one of the most popular instruments to learn, especially for children as

A great deal is said and written about “integrity” and “honesty” in musical performance. For most people, this means respecting the score by following the composer’s markings and attempting, as far as possible, to interpret the composer’s intentions in the

Let Forbidden Music Sound Again Another cellist and composer whose name we should not forget is Pál Hermann. Born into a middle-class family in Budapest, Hungary in March of 1902, he showed great talent and audacity even as a child.

A consummate musician, with a ferocious intellect, András Schiff is one of the greatest pianists of our time – indeed of all time – acclaimed in particular for his interpretations of the keyboard music of J.S. Bach and the Viennese

This article addresses the elephant in the room; music genres. And questions the whole concept of labelling art and music. For starters, let’s stop talking about classical music, jazz music, popular music, folk music, and let’s try to perceive music,

One of the most famous duets in all of opera comes from Lakmé composed by Léo Delibes. The opera is set in British India during the late 19th century and was first performed in 1883. It brings together many popular

In my first article on ‘letting go’ as a musician I explored how we know when it is time to “let go” of a piece of music we have been learning and set it free in a performance setting or