Blogs

archive-post-image
The Early Years
It all started with a workshop. My then teacher, Mr Pulinkala told me about an Italian conductor who was in Delhi to conduct a workshop concerning opera. Being skeptical as most 14-15 year olds would be, I went there imagining
Read more
archive-post-image
The Opera Scene in China
On a cold windy night of December 2017, I travelled from Shanghai to Nanjing on a secret mission. I was invited by an anonymous patron who would like me to pay a visit to the just inaugurated Jiangsu Centre for
Read more
archive-post-image
Cellists Klengel and Becker: Towering Figures of the 19th Century
Like many other young cellists, I encountered Julius Klengel through his books of Technical Exercises in All Keys and his Daily Exercises. I wanted to play concertos not hours fixated on scales, arpeggios, and bowing exercises. But my father insisted,
Read more
archive-post-image
Polish Sensibility: the Mazurkas of Chopin and Szymanowski
Say ‘Mazurka’ and most people will reply ‘Chopin’. Fryderyk Chopin wrote at least 69 pieces in this form: 45 published during his lifetime, 13 published posthumously, and a further 11, which are known but where the manuscripts are in private
Read more
archive-post-image
The piano tuner: the pianist’s best friend
Just as pianists develop a strong attachment to the instrument they play most regularly so they can also form a very special relationship with the person who looks after that instrument – the piano tuner / technician.
Read more
archive-post-image
Are you Practicing Your Études?
“She plays duets instead of Grützmacher,” my father grumbled. “Janet, practice your études!” My father, trained in the European tradition, knew the benefits, and difficulties, of the strict methods of Dotzauer, Piatti, Klengel, Duport, and Becker, all brilliant cellists and
Read more
archive-post-image
Forgotten Cellists: May Mukle
In 1909, May Mukle, one of the first female British cellists to achieve international acclaim, received rave reviews for her playing of the Viktor Herbert Concerto at the promenade concerts in London, “Her splendid command of technique and her complete
Read more
archive-post-image
Schools of Influence
What is the Russian sound, or French style in piano playing? What differentiates a pianist who was taught in the English piano tradition from one who studied in Germany? The history of piano playing is built from a large network
Read more