Russia is home to many unique things and in music, one of the unique groups is the Horn Orchestra. So, you’re thinking – what’s so strange about an orchestra made up of horn players? The unique aspect comes in when

I get home from the Qatar Philharmonic Prom, notes in hand, ready to start reviewing. Thinking I’ll start writing in the morning, I wake up to the news that the conductor of the orchestra I saw the night before has

‘So… I’m graduating in a year… I could get a job… or I could commence further study!’ ‘So… I’m finishing further study in six months… I could get a job… or I could commence FURTHER study!’

Improvisation is one of the most important areas in which music can teach us how to live better. Because improvisation is life. Without improvisation, existence is not life; it is only the empty copying of old patterns – improvisation is

We don’t think of instruments as having been “invented” – they just have been there forever. In some cases, though, instruments do have a definite hand guiding them and none more so than the Saxophone.

Music is, unfortunately, no stranger to sexism. Right through the pop world to the lands of orchestras and opera, gender bias occurs more often than people wish to admit. So why do more girls play the harp, and how did

Recycling isn’t a new idea and one of the very odd ways in which instrument makers could benefit was in how they acquired their leather for making the pads for their woodwind instruments.

My stand partner for twenty years in the Minnesota Orchestra was another veteran, Robert Jamieson. He was the polar opposite of aggressive, gruff and passionate Shirley Tabachnick. Jamieson was a stoic and private gentleman of Scottish heritage. He had been