Vying with Mozart for the Viennese connoisseurs Working as a contemporary musician and composer alongside Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven must have been a rather daunting task. Yet, a good number of critics and scholars considered Leopold Koželuch (1747-1818) the finer

Be stronger and more certain London-based baritone Benjamin Appl will perform in Hong Kong later this month; he talks to me about his journey from bank apprentice to world-renowned singer.

Sonic Explorer and Visionary On 25 March 1918, Achille-Claude Debussy (1862-1918) lost his battle with rectal cancer at his Paris home. Aged 55, Debussy was universally acknowledged as one of the most important musicians of his time. His harmonic innovations

Finding new meanings and emotions Having performed in venues across the world, including the Royal Festival Hall, Concertgebouw, and Carnegie Hall, Russian pianist Denis Matsuev arrives in Hong Kong this month to perform a cycle of the Rachmaninov piano concerti.

Spokesman of the “Mighty Handful” Antoine Queuille named his sons after great military men, and that included Alexander, Napoleon and César. He was an officer in the French Army who settled in Vilnius, Lithuania after Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow in

Don’t Be Afraid! Sebastian Manz achieved fame as the first person to win the top prize in the ARD clarinet competition in 40 years. Nowadays, in addition to his bustling solo career, he holds the position of principal clarinet with

“Contesting the rubbish of effeminate song” It might be difficult to believe, but at one time the art of counterpoint was considered “the child of ancient aberration.” Bach’s Art of Fugue was seen as hopelessly out of date, with the

‘A Duty to the Music’ Based in Shanghai, Chinese bass-baritone Shenyang performs in Hong Kong with the Hong Kong Philharmonic this month. Although from a musical family (both his parents were singers too), Shenyang came relatively late to the world