For 21-year-old George Antheil (1900–1959), Europe was going to be his launch on the world. He declared his intention of being an ‘ultramodern pianist composer’ and set out to conquer the world. His first solo recital was in London in

Pianos may be bulky instruments, but their bulkiness belies their true delicacy. From keys to hammers to strings, a single piano consists of hundreds of intricate tiny parts, and honestly, it’s a miracle that any have survived over the centuries.

Glenn Gould’s iconic stature as one of the great if not the greatest pianists has not diminished since he passed in 1982 shortly after his 50th birthday. Many of us know him for his recordings of Bach, especially the Goldberg

Peter Arnold Heise (1830–1879) was an active composer in mid–19th-century Denmark. A student of A.P. Berggren, who was also the teacher of Niels W. Gade (1817–1890), the leading Danish musician of the day, Heise started his composing career at age

Isaac Stern’s tombstone simply reads, “Isaac Stern, Fiddler.” However, the violinist was much, much more than that. He was an educator who mentored generations of musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman, and his activism on behalf of classical music

Jane Stirling – Frédéric Chopin’s student, patroness, caretaker, manager, and legacy-builder – has always lived in the shadows of her piano teacher. And yet she was an integral part of Chopin’s later life and one of the reasons why his

The German town of Donaueschingen is picturesquely located in the Black Forest in the State of Baden-Württemberg. It stands near the two sources of the river Danube, and it started to host a festival for contemporary classical music in 1921.

Franz Schubert (1797–1828) wrote over 600 vocal works, one of the oddest and yet most powerful of which is a ballad about a Queen, her dwarf, and a fatal encounter. The story opens in the middle of the night: we