Blogs

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Women Conductors Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling
Simone Young
Conductor Simone Young, the soon to be first female music director of the Sydney Symphony, and currently the orchestra’s Chief Conductor designate, has been in the news recently. On March 1st, she will lead London’s best Australian musicians to raise
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In Memoriam: Barry Tuckwell (1931-2020)
Barry Tuckwell (1931-2020), widely acclaimed as the preeminent horn player of his generation, has died on 16 January 2020 at a hospital in Melbourne. I still remember seeing and hearing him perform at a concert in Amsterdam, and like the
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The Marsalis Brothers and Other Siblings in Classical Music
Music is decidedly part of the Marsalis family DNA. Wynton is a virtuoso trumpeter, composer and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, while Branford is a virtuoso saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Their father Ellis Marsalis Jr. is a world-renowned
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Women Conductors Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling
Once the entire symphony orchestra has tuned and is seated, we anticipate the conductor, his arm extended, his greying hair smoothed to a sheen. Pompously, he crosses the stage and leaps onto a red-carpeted podium. Exuding unquestionable authority and power,
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My Beethoven by Oliver
Unlike many of my colleagues who grew up around Beethoven, either by hearing him in the home or studying his piano music, I managed to (unintentionally) avoid him for a long time, only really discovering Beethoven as I embarked on
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Forgotten Musical Siblings
The off-Broadway solo play “The Other Mozart” has been traveling the globe asking the question whether Maria Anna Mozart was the real genius in the family. To be sure, Maria Anna Walpurga Ignatia Mozart, commonly known under her nickname “Nannerl,”
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Seeking Diversity in Exam Syllabuses and Student Anthologies
We are very lucky as pianists/piano teachers to have such a wide repertoire, and one which is constantly being expanded as composers continue to write for the piano – which is why I find it rather disconcerting when new anthologies
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A Europe of Music
Europe is well known for being the birthplace of classical music. With major cities such as Berlin, London, Milan, Paris, Prague, Saint-Petersburg or Vienna, and an endless list of musicians and composers from Bach, Mozart and Chopin to Debussy, Stravinsky
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