Pauline Viardot (1821-1910) was one of the most celebrated mezzo-sopranos of her time! During a remarkable career spanning almost a quarter of a century, she performed on the most prestigious stages around the world, and her distinguished interpretations decisively shaped

Ravi Shankar’s opera Sukanya receives its world premier with a four city UK tour in May 2017. The work is a collaboration between the Royal Opera House of Covent Garden and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. It takes as its subject

Have you ever come across the composers Gulielmo Baldini and Dag Henrik Esrum-Hellerup? Baldini hailed from the beautiful and ancient Italian city of Ferrara, and his most famous collection of madrigals for 5 and 6 voices was published in Venice

Chopin’s ‘Minute’ Waltz has long fascinated the fleet of finger with its seeming titular challenge to a performance within the time indicated. The title, however, has long been deceptive – it’s generally read as a noun (as in ‘it will

In 1967, Aaron Copland wrote a commissioned work for the New York Philharmonic’s 125th anniversary. The twelve-tone piece Inscape opens with a bang – with 11 of the 12 tones of the scale sounding at once.

The supposed discovery of the only authentic photograph of Constanze Mozart caused considerable excitement in 2006. The media giants BBC and the New York Times reported that authorities in the German town of Altötting had found and authenticated a print

When the English music historian Charles Burney traveled to the continent to collect materials for his History of Music he predictably also visited the city of Mannheim. Burney was simply in awe of all the musical activities happening at the

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844- 1908) started his career in the navy, entering the Naval Cadet College in St. Petersburg at age 14. It was a fortunate choice of city because it gave the nascent composer a chance to continue his piano