The piano was the prominent vehicle for Sergei Prokofiev’s musical expression. In the tradition of the great piano virtuosos of the 19th century, he was initially looking to impress his audiences with his considerable keyboard skills. Igor Stravinsky attended a

“Minors of the Majors” invites you to discover compositions by the great classical composers that for one reason or another have not reached the musical mainstream. Please enjoy, and keep listening!

Johannes Brahms considered the poet Johann Mayrhofer “the most serious of all Schubert’s friends.” This complicated man, full of self-hatred and driven by emotions whose violence he could not accept, transferred the conflict-ridden passions of his inner world into powerful

Sergei Prokofiev would make a compelling case study for a textbook investigating the psychology of the exceptional child. Supremely talented in musical matters, Sergei had composed a number of overtures, various piano pieces and his first opera The Giant by

The early career of Ludwig van Beethoven was decisively shaped by the patronage of Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein and Prince Joseph František Maximilian Lobkowicz. In fact, without the unquestioning support and friendship from these two individuals, Beethoven’s musical

Although The Tempest, written in 1610, is thought to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest works, it had a lukewarm reception. The subsequent ban on the performance of dramas in the theater in 1642 caused The Tempest to disappear into obscurity.

The shameful, cowardly and revolting attacks on Paris in 2015 serve as a sad reminder that the veneer of civilization continues to be paper-thin! In a repulsive case of history repeating itself, Paris was also under attack roughly 100 years

When Niccolò Jommelli died on 25 August 1774 in Naples, the composer Gennaro Manno organized a magnificent funeral attended by the most prominent musicians and writers in the city. However, since Jommelli was considered one of the most important and