As we celebrate the birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven on 17 December, we are once again reminded that the composer and thinker elevated musical expression to a new level of consciousness. From his early days, it was clear that Beethoven

Uruguayan-American composer Miguel del Águila (b. 1957) was commissioned by Buffalo Philharmonic principal cellist Roman Mekinulov for a cello concerto. Specifically a ‘concerto in tango form that would explore the less classical sound and technique of the cello’. Mr. Águila

In 1932, Mexican composer Carlos Chávez wrote incidental music for a staged performance of Jean Cocteau’s version of Sophicles’ Antigone. Cocteau had created the play a decade earlier and called it a ‘contraction’ of the original. The original, one of

Truth be told, I am almost apprehensive when watching or reading the morning news these days. Front pages and screens are full of yet more atrocities against humanity, and the death of innocent people from around the world is treated

The early to mid-19th century was more than just a time of waltzes, it was also the polka and the galop that held the floor. The most important dancemen came from Vienna: Johann Strauss I and Joseph Lanner. A group

In 1734, Johann Sebastian Bach was at the top of his game. His compositional powers were simply out of this world, and he composed six musically and textually interrelated cantatas for the twelve days of Christmas. He called the collection

Who doesn’t love their pets and animals in general? Musicians do too of course. According to musicians, our pets are quite musical. Leave it to us to make musical jokes about them. In case you thought I’d exhausted all our

American composer Missy Mazzoli (b. 1980) has been given the title of ‘Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart’ and in 2018, was one of the first two women commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera (the other composer commissioned was Jeanine Tesori). She attended the