It seems extraordinary to us now, in these equality-conscious times, that women composers and musicians were, until fairly recently, sidelined, ignored or simply erased from music history. Now, women such as Clara Schumann, Amy Beach and Cécile Chaminade are recognised

What is it about conducting fathers whose sons followed in their footsteps? Many professional musicians sire musical offspring, (myself included) but I was struck by the number of conductors in the bunch and thought you’d like to hear more about

This atmospheric miniature was composed in 1963 as a test piece for the inaugural Leeds Piano Competition (which was won by Michael Roll, the seventeen-year-old pupil of Dame Fanny Waterman, the competition’s founder). The competition committee regarded it as a

What is the daily life of a composer like? How much time did Mozart spend on composing? Did Bach have a day job? What was Ives’ parallel career? Let’s find out the daily creative habits of some of the most

A concert in a carpark? It’s certainly a novel way to experience live classical music, orchestra and audience gathered on Level 8 of a 1980s brutalist hulk of ugly concrete. The traditional rules of engagement of classical music are more

1. Grigory Sokolov Winner of Tchaikovsky Competition in 1966, Grigory Sokolov has been hailed as one of the greatest pianists. Known for his mastery of the keyboard, Sokolov is always able to conjure up a kaleidoscope of tone colours from

Atmospheric, mysterious and dramatic, this quintessential example of “musical impressionism” is captivating to play and to hear. In less than 6 minutes of music, Debussy tells a remarkable story and creates a vivid aural, and visual, portrayal of the mythical

My first encounter with Beethoven was through the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music aural tests back when I was a little kid. One part of the test was to clap the rhythm of a short excerpt and