Frédéric Chopin’s brief engagement to Maria Wodzińska, a young Polish countess and gifted artist, is one of the most overlooked moments of his love life. Born in 1819 to an aristocratic family, Maria first met Chopin when she was just

History remembers Rose and Ottilie Sutro not only as America’s first internationally recognised piano duo, but also as two schemers who stole the score of one of the most beloved violin concertos ever. Born in Baltimore in the 1870s into

In a piano sonata for four hands dedicated to her father, American composer Judith Lang Zaimont (b. 1945) created a dance world of the US from over a century of music. In her youth, she studied with Rosina Lhevinne at

The Polish-Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki, born on 23 March 1995 in Calgary, Canada, has built an international career since his early teens. Primarily recording for Deutsche Grammophon, he has shown an affinity with Chopin’s music from childhood. Feeling intimately connected

The German conductor, composer and pianist Wilhelm Taubert (1811–1891), born on 23 March 1811, was part of a Berlin circle of musicians that included Felix Mendelssohn, Giacomo Meyerbeer, and the singer and writer Eduard Devrient, the librettist of two of

23 January 2020. A day the earth seemed to stand still. A day that will be remembered for generations to come. Just twenty-four hours before the Chinese New Year’s Eve, when the population of the world’s most populous country was

From Strauss’s Salome to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and beyond, some of the most famous pieces in classical music history began as scandals. (Read “The Most Controversial Classical Music Ever Written, Part 1”.) When these five works first hit the

Did you know that Johann Sebastian Bach actually has two birthdays? I think that’s just wonderful, as it gives us the opportunity to celebrate the music of the greatest of all composers twice. There is an explanation, of course. When