Imagine a theatre where the orchestra doesn’t just accompany but actively plots the drama. Where the sets literally explode, the dancers act out gory mythological murders between acts, and the leading lady ends the night by throwing herself into a

The French pianist Aldo Ciccolini was born on 15 August 1925 in Naples, Italy, but he made his home in Paris in the late 1940s. His artistry was a rare blend of precision and sensitivity, making his performances both captivating

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the most famous composers who ever lived – but the myths surrounding him sometimes obscure the quirkier facts about his life. Beyond the powdered wigs, Mozart was a complicated, funny, deeply human figure whose

Composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff had two daughters, Irina and Tatiana, born at the family estate of Ivanovka in 1903 and 1907. The Rachmaninoff children grew up between Russia, Dresden, and Switzerland before the Russian Revolution forced the family into

Famous stories have frequently been turned into operas by different composers. “Romeo and Juliet” was set to music by Vincenzo Bellini in 1830 as I Capuleti e i Montecchi, with Charles Gounod composing his version in 1867. Giovanni Paisiello composed

Antonio Stradivari was the greatest violin-maker to ever live. Over the course of a seven-decade career, he made around a thousand instruments, with roughly 650 surviving today. Those instruments have become the most sought-after on the planet, selling for millions

‘You must have played well today, for I did not notice you.’ In his memoirs titled Am I Too Loud?, pianist Gerald Moore recalls the remark of famed (and famously egotistical) British singer John Coates, among many an anecdote from

In November 1828, composer Franz Schubert died in his brother’s house, unmarried. The fact is somewhat ironic. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most emotionally expressive composers of his generation. He helped invent the Romantic-era art song,