After the sweet purity of the flute, the next woodwind is the oboe. It’s a woodwind, but instead of being mouth-blown like the flute, this instrument’s sound comes from a reed. And not just a reed, a double reed: two

London Festival of Baroque Music 2015 Women in music, either as composer, performers, or inspirational figures, are never celebrated enough. This year’s London Festival of Baroque Music brings those women back to us with their Women in Baroque Music festival,

Violinist Nicole Wilson is a representative of a new breed of orchestral musician, for whom performing is just one strand to her bow. She played with the London Symphony Orchestra for ten years, spent five years as Principal 2nd Violin

Clint Needham has a knack for finding interesting material and inspiration in all kinds of places, and it is no wonder the New York Times has described his music as “wildly entertaining” & “stunning… brilliantly orchestrated”. The young composer from

We’ve already looked at violin body design – now let’s look at the other end of the instrument and take a look at a part of a string instrument you’ve probably seen, but never really looked at: the far end

With his widely recognised achievements as a pianist, composer and conductor, Brahms had succeeded in amassing a considerable fortune: 4000.000 marks from his compositions, earnings wisely invested by his publisher. It was also due to a frugal life: he dined

We all know what a violin looks like – a beautiful instrument with a warm wood body and an elegant black fingerboard, finished off with a perfect wooden scroll. Ah, but that’s so last century. The modern violin can be

When the Gotham Chamber Opera and the Jarvis & Constance Doctorow Family Foundation presented up-and-coming composer David Hertzberg with the inaugural Catherine Doctorow Prize for Music last year, they called his music “an extraordinarily beautiful sound world with a unique