Blogs

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Best Premieres at the “Société Nationale de Musique”
Paris has always provided the fertile soil for specialized music societies. Some have focused on early music, individual composers or single genres. Others were born from political division, or attempts to bridge them. A good many societies were based on
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Forgotten Pianists: Aldo Ciccolini
Erik Satie: Gymnopédie No. 1 A celebrated interpreter of Erik Satie’s music, Aldo Ciccolini (1925 – 2015) was born and raised in Naples, Italy. Enrolled at the Naples Conservatory at the age of 9 as an exceptional case, he studied
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Persistence and the Concept of ‘Grit’
How many times were you told as a child or teenager during your piano lessons that “practice makes perfect”? It’s a well-worn cliché and like most clichés it contains more than a grain of truth. Not only does regular practice
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“Opera is the Ultimate Art Form”: Maestro Xu Zhong
Starting from 6:00am on July 19 at Times Square New York City – known as the “crossroads of the world”- a digital billboard has been displaying an unique poster to endorse opera featuring Xu Zhong, President of Shanghai Opera House
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Why the Piano Is My Favourite Instrument
When people learn that I’m a pianist, they usually say “oh I’d love to learn the piano” or “I wish I’d kept up piano lessons”. The piano is one of the most popular instruments to learn, especially for children as
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Forgotten Cellists: Pál Hermann
Let Forbidden Music Sound Again Another cellist and composer whose name we should not forget is Pál Hermann. Born into a middle-class family in Budapest, Hungary in March of 1902, he showed great talent and audacity even as a child.
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Great Performers: Sir András Schiff
A consummate musician, with a ferocious intellect, András Schiff is one of the greatest pianists of our time – indeed of all time – acclaimed in particular for his interpretations of the keyboard music of J.S. Bach and the Viennese
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Perceiving Music
This article addresses the elephant in the room; music genres. And questions the whole concept of labelling art and music. For starters, let’s stop talking about classical music, jazz music, popular music, folk music, and let’s try to perceive music,
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