With the start of a new year, it is always good to summarise the highlights of the previous one and reflect on ways to make the very most of the one to come. The year 2012 has been busy. We

The music of Claude Debussy is evocative. One cannot help but be transported by his subtle shadings of tone color, delicate instrumentations and shimmering melodies. A master at the piano and of orchestration, his name is linked with Impressionism although

Max Bruch Kol Nidrei, Op.47 Israel Philharmonic Orchestra / Daniel Barenboim Jacqueline Du Pre After the Second World War, my parents escaped from their native Hungary to Munich. At that time refugees had to go to Munich in order to

It was early 2009 and I was searching for a way to distract my father and myself after the recent death of my mother. My father loved to “talk shop.” Little did I know that I would stumble upon an

Virtually every time I mention that I play the cello, the response is an enthusiastic “Oh I love the cello!” Despite the fact that the soulful instrument is very popular today, the solo concerto repertory is not abundant like the

The Minnesota Orchestra Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E flat major, WAB 104, “Romantic” (1888 version, ed. B. Korstvedt) Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, “Choral” Proms. The word brings to mind memories of parties past,

A mere 15 years ago, Hong Kong proudly escaped the shackles of British colonial rule and happily pledged its allegiance to an even more aggressive ruler in the north. There were no cries for independence or democracy, no calls for

I read two interesting articles recently. One was about the Metropolitan Opera, whose spokesman proudly informed Times Magazine that the average age of subscribers is much younger now, “dropping from 66.4 in 2005 to 64.8 in 2011” – which, let’s