A crazy 2010 has come to an end. It was the year of the Shanghai Expo and vuvuzelas, of positive events and negative happenings, and not least, lots and lots of music festivals. Apart from the countless music events and

For years, my New Year’s resolutions have looked like this: Get better grades; Find a handsome boyfriend; Increase revenues in my business; Lose some weight; Get married; Have a baby; Lose more weight; More babies; You get the idea. As

The Snowman and the Bear (City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong) 5PM, Sunday 5 December 2010. Concert Hall, HK City Hall As a pre-Christmas concert for children, featuring a narration of two children’s beloved tales with muted animation and a

In 1993, Dr Frances Rauscher and her colleagues from the Centre of Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California published a letter in “Nature” magazine that shook the music world. The report suggested that listening to Mozart’s music could

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I decided to board Windstar Cruises for my first music cruise, but it definitely exceeded whatever I had in mind. To be frank, I boarded the cruise ship extremely naïve. For one,

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), the great German-English composer, was almost completely blind by 1751. As a result, he was unable to finish his final piece of music “Jephtha”. Handel was told by Samuel Sharp, an eye specialist at Guy’s hospital,

I am pretty sure you know the famous Alabama Song, with its provocative lyrics. The tune brings back the decadence and perversion of early 20th century Berlin, conjuring the zest of Marlene Dietrich. It has been sung by a number

‘Father of Music’ Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) suffered visual problems from a young age. In his portrait, Bach appears to squint, and the way his facial muscles are aligned has led analysts to believe that he suffered from shortsightedness. His