For two centuries, winning the Prix de Rome was the ultimate accomplishment for young French composers. The Prix de Rome, associated with the Paris Conservatory, was a fiercely competitive award that offered its winners the chance to create with fellow

In all, Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) composed 106 symphonies. Of these, 104 have numbers associated with them, while two additional symphonies were discovered later. Have you noticed that, when Haydn symphonies get programmed these days, if at all, it’s always the

Historically, April has been packed with pivotal moments in classical music history. The month has seen the births of Russian giants like Sergei Rachmaninoff and Sergei Prokofiev, as well as the deaths of some of the world’s most famous composers,

Born on 30 March 1959 in the rolling hills of southern Germany, Sabine Meyer grew up in a family dedicated to the clarinet. Her grandfather, her father, and her older brother all played the clarinet, and by the age of

Even the greatest classical musicians – those renowned the world over for their superhuman discipline and focus – have moments when everything just goes blank. In an era when memorisation is seen as a prerequisite for performing, memory lapses have

Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888) was one of the most celebrated pianists of the nineteenth century. It was said that he played faster than Liszt and louder than Chopin. In addition, he was also a highly original composer comparable to Hector Berlioz.

They’re the only member of the orchestra who stands with their back to the audience; nonetheless, every member of the orchestra keeps an eye on them…just in case. It’s the conductor, of course. The English historian Charles Burney quotes Jean-Jacques

Before modern concert halls and subscription series, classical music performances in Europe mostly took place behind closed doors at courts, in churches, or in private salons. But by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a new idea began to take shape: