Most orchestra lovers know who Harriet Smithson was, even if they don’t know her name. She was the inspiration behind Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique: a brilliant, era-defining actress who rose from obscurity in Ireland to bewitch the sophisticated Parisian audiences

Pianist Adelina de Lara’s name has largely been forgotten today. However, there’s no reason it should be. She spent over seven decades on the concert platform, made dozens of wonderful recordings, hobnobbed with many of the greatest musicians of multiple

Over the centuries, classical composers have used their fame and fortune to support various philanthropic causes. Whether raising funds for wounded soldiers, supporting abandoned children, or helping fellow musicians in need, all of these composers felt compelled to give back

Making an inspired mixture of the virtuosic and the picturesque, Spanish composer Joaquín Turina (1882–1949) composed the piano sonata Sanlúcar de Barrameda in the spring of 1921. He defined it as a ‘picturesque sonata’, but that innocent title hides the

When Paul McNulty first set foot in Prague in the winter of 1994, he didn’t know that a chance encounter with a piano from Amadeus would change the course of his life. The piano, identical to the one featured in Miloš Forman’s

Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most productive composers in classical music history. The size and consistency of his output are all the more extraordinary when you consider how many deaths of loved ones he endured, and how intimately

In a recent recording, the four Fantasias Brasileiras by Francisco Mignone are presented by the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero, with Fabio Martino as piano soloist. These four works, written between 1929 and 1936, are fascinating piano

When it comes to symphonies, orchestra lovers certainly have their favourites. Think Beethoven’s Eroica, or Dvořák’s New World, or Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique. These classics have earned their place in the canon. The downside? They’ve occasionally overshadowed other brilliant works by the