Overtures are designed to grab your attention, setting the stage for whatever drama that follows. But over time, many of these musical curtain-raisers have broken free from their operatic roots to become stand-alone concert favourites. Today, thanks to YouTube, overtures

Encore pieces hold a special place in the violin repertoire. Unlike concertos, sonatas, or large-scale showpieces, violin encores are played in a casual atmosphere and designed to speak plainly and directly, over the course of just a few minutes. Over

For centuries, women composers have shaped the history of opera, but hardly ever received the recognition they deserved for doing so. Today, we’re surveying that remarkable history. From the earliest surviving opera (written by a woman in 1600s Italy) to

For nearly three centuries, the string quartet has been celebrated as the most intimate kind of classical music: a simple, heartfelt conversation between four equal voices. Because of that intimacy, composers have often turned to writing string quartets when reacting

Piano etudes don’t have to be dry technical drills. In the hands of a talented composer, they can become miniature works of art. While names like Chopin, Liszt, and Debussy tend to dominate discussions of the genre, women composers across

Over the centuries, composers have often turned to the violin to express emotions like loneliness, nostalgia, and grief. In this list of ten of the saddest violin concerto slow movements, we’re traveling from the Baroque Era breathlessness of Vivaldi’s Four

There is no other sound in the classical music world like a solo viola. It’s not quite a violin, and not quite a cello; instead, it’s an otherworldly cross between the two. There have been a number of works for