George Frideric Handel premiered his opera Serse on 15 April 1738 at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket in London. The composer had decided on a semi-historical plot involving the hot-blooded Persian tyrant Xerxes. It is a rather complicated plot, typical of

Songs for Murdered Sisters (Margaret Atwood & Jake Heggie) On the morning of 22 September, 2015, a man went on a killing spree in Renfrew County, Ontario, murdering three ex-partners at their separate homes. Nathalie Warmerdam, the sister of baritone

I often explain how many — if not all — artists create; in my opinion, the saying that good artists copy and great artists steal should be admitted as common truth. While it is often well-hidden and sometimes resembles a

We don’t think of the late Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) in the realm of classical music except for his duets with Montserrat Caballée. Secretly though, the world of classical music has been looking at the music of Freddie Mercury and dragging

Perhaps some of you don’t know that the great cellist and pedagogue János Starker began his illustrious career as an orchestral musician. He played in Broadway orchestras too. Born in Budapest July 5, 1924, as a wunderkind, Starker performed all

Leningrad / St. Petersburg composer Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006) was considered to be one of the most gifted of the students of Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich. She studied with him from 1937 to 1947 and it is rumoured that he even

The American composer Charles Ives has often been associated with experimental music, or rather advanced music. One does not simply immerse himself in the academic music world through him. Indeed, his works include polytonality, polyrhythm, tone clusters, aleatory elements and

Nicolas Slonimsky (1894-1995) was a child prodigy, pianist, composer, conductor, scholar, lexicographer, and world traveler. His legacy continues to influence many musicians through his writings and compositions. Best known as the editor of Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Music, and author