On exceedingly rare occasions, people with real talent and poise are drafted into political service. Such was the case with the pianist and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who became the prime minister and foreign minister of Poland in 1919. He

Filip Runesson’s Hur länge ska hon vara död? (after W.A. Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor, K. 626) Mozart and Death, but not the way you think about it. Swedish musician Filip Runesson took Mozart’s Requiem and rearranged it in klezmer

When outside wandering, how often do you just sit and look up? You can hear birds, and the wind, and perhaps the passing traffic, but have you tried to hear the clouds? Many composers also look up for inspiration and

Beethoven was famous for his curmudgeonly, antisocial personality. Of course, nowadays, we understand that his prickliness was, at least in part, due to his tinnitus and deafness, as well as the mental health struggles caused by his ever-deteriorating physical health.

With the rise of the home piano in the 19th century, there was an enormous demand for piano music both for the home and for the concert hall. Just as today, when we love to hear the Boston Pops play,