As the popularity of classical music declined and that of film music grew, it became increasingly common for listeners to encounter classical music for the first time through film scores and soundtracks. Whether specially composed for the screen or borrowed

Born on 3 August 1970 in Vilnius, Lithuania, Itamar Golan has collaborated with the most outstanding instrumentalists of our time for more than three decades. Since his early years, Itamar Golan’s passion has been chamber music, and his contributions are

If composing were a video game, writing a symphony is the final boss: the hardest challenge to meet, requiring the composer to use everything they’ve learned about their craft. Historically, symphonies have been the form composers feared above all others

Pietro Mascagni wrote fifteen operas, an operetta, several orchestral and vocal works, as well as songs and piano music. Yet, he is best remembered for his 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria Rusticana. Cavalleria Rusticana became the prototype for operatic verismo, and its

Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47 – better known as the Kreutzer Sonata – is one of the most famous pieces of chamber music ever written. The history of its reception is long and storied. It

In August 2019, pianist Alice Sara Ott shared the news on Instagram that she’d been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. In that report, she was optimistic that with the advances in medical treatment, people with this central nervous system disease could

In 1972, Jascha Heifetz – widely regarded as the greatest violinist of the 20th century – retired from the concert stage following a shoulder surgery that was only partially successful. He was 71 years old. His career had been one

Classical music anniversaries in August span four centuries of the art form – from the birth of Baroque composer Barbara Strozzi in 1619 to the death of Sviatoslav Richter in 1997. The month includes the anniversaries of the births of