Classical music movies are having a moment. Last year, Cate Blanchett played a renowned conductor in Tár, and Bradley Cooper is set to portray Leonard Bernstein in 2023’s Maestro. But the next big classical music movie due to hit our

Alexander Borodin (1833–1887). Like many of his fellow composers in mid-century St Petersburg, had a professional career and a side career. Professionally, Borodin was Professor of Chemistry at the Medico-Surgical Academy, and in his spare time, was a composer. This

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) celebrated his seventieth birthday in the Alrae Hotel in New York City on 5 March 1957. The New York Times published a glowing editorial in his honor on 4 March. “Heitor-Villa-Lobos, Brazil’s most famous composer and one

Throughout history, there has been no shortage of composers who were also brilliant performers. Even away from the obvious examples such as Mozart, Chopin, or Liszt, other composers such as Schumann, Ravel, or Richard Strauss had a prodigious talent for

Germaine Tailleferre is a composer who often flies under the radar for a number of reasons. She was a woman, and women composers have historically faced a harsher battle for recognition. She was part of a larger group of composers

Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787), working at the Habsburg court in Vienna and at the Parisian stage, completely reformed operatic traditions. At a time when virtuoso singers dominated the operatic stage, Gluck set out to return opera to its origins by

For a good many commentators, Grigory Sokolov is the “greatest living pianist.” And while such statements can be endlessly debated, Sokolov has certainly reached cult status among pianists and audiences. His colleague Daniil Trifonov exclaims, “Sokolov is a musical figure

Frederic Mompou’s music exists in the liminal space between ancient and modern. Nowhere is this more true than his Musica Callada (which roughly translates as ‘Music of Silence’). In many ways, it is his most radically modern work, yet its