Specific cities have inspired a huge amount of classical music over the years. Today, we’re looking at a selection of classical works explicitly connected to major cities, examining how each composer responded to each place. Some pieces reflect civic pride
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On This Day
8 May: Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales Was Premiered May 8th, 2022On 21 September 1927, Anton Webern penned an extended letter to Maurice Ravel. “Although we have never met, I write on behalf of my mentor Arnold Schoenberg to express his thanks for all your efforts to facilitate his upcoming appearance -
Pop-Classical Connection May 7th, 2022 We know…there’s only 12 notes in a scale and how many different ways can there be of combining them? Sometimes, you get a song in your ear and start to hear it in many different places. Sometimes it was deliberate -
On This Day
7 May: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Was Born May 7th, 2022Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, born on 7 May 1840 deep within the Ural Mountains roughly 600 miles east of Moscow, had Ukrainian, German, and French ancestry. His father Ilya Petrovitch Tchaikovsky, a mining engineer and manager of an iron works, traced -
A Celebration of the Piano in Chamber Music May 6th, 2022 In November this year, six selected young ensembles will be invited to Birmingham to take part in our International Piano Chamber Music Festival. All six will give a recital as part of the Festival programme and take part in masterclasses, -
On This Day
6 May: Nathalie Stutzmann Was Born May 6th, 2022Nathalie Stutzmann, born 6 May 1965 in Suresnes, France, was the first female conductor named principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra in December 2020. One year later, she was appointed the music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with -
Johann Kuhnau May 5th, 2022 “The Musical Quack” 300 years ago, on 5 June 1722, Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722) the immediate predecessor of Johann Sebastian Bach as Kantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig, passed away after suffering from extended periods of illness. Kuhnau was not only -
On This Day
5 May: Cédric Tiberghien Was Born May 5th, 2022In 1999, BBC Radio 3 launched their “New Generation Artists Scheme” as part of its commitment to young musical talent. Each autumn six or seven young artist at the beginning of careers on the national and international music scene join -
Not the Cello You Started With
An Interview with Valérie Aimard May 4th, 2022In 2018, cellist Valérie Aimard had a vision – 18 recording sessions later, that vision is complete, and you can now see what she imagined in that fabled time before Covid. Valérie’s Only Cello channel on YouTube is more than