“Play always as if in the presence of a master.” Robert Schumann At first glance, Schumann’s advice can sound intimidating. It conjures the image of a formidable teacher, standing or sitting beside the piano, listening closely and ready to pounce

Chevalier John Taylor operated on two of history’s greatest composers and left both blind. Today we’re looking at the story of their doctor: John Taylor, a travelling showman who rolled into town in a coach painted with eyeballs, performed surgery

As an aspiring young pianist, I played several Chopin compositions with varying degrees of success. I remember tackling a few Preludes and Nocturnes, but my teacher was never completely happy with my playing. Mind you, in the hands of experts,

The Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky was born in the industrial city of Krasnoyarsk, in Soviet-era Siberia, on 16 October 1962. He surprised the world by winning the Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff in 1989, and he stormed from

Handel myths have circulated for centuries, and generations of music lovers have believed them. But the truth is more complicated. No, Handel didn’t compose Messiah with superhuman speed. No, the king didn’t stand at the world premiere when he heard

Frédéric Chopin’s death on 17 October 1849 was not sudden. It was the end of a long, slow, painful decline. During the final year of his life, he gave his last public concert, signed his will, and stopped taking new

Compared to their pop-star brethren, classical musicians’ love lives are usually deemed irrelevant to what happens onstage. But of course, that doesn’t mean classical musicians don’t have love lives. Generations of male pianists have had private lives shaped or concealed

In 1953, Leonard Bernstein became the first American to conduct an opera at La Scala. At the time, Bernstein was on a concert tour in Italy when conductor Victor de Sabata had to cancel his engagement in Milan. Bernstein was