The love story between Robert and Clara Schumann is often regarded as one of the most romantic in classical music history. Happily for historians, many of their love letters survive. They document their inner thoughts and emotions, as well as
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Defining Artistry September 8th, 2019 The miracle of an aristocratic performance lies in its capacity to vaporize everything that surrounds it…Mark Mitchell, ‘Virtuosi’ (Indiana University Press, 2000) Earlier this year I was privileged to hear two performers who are the living embodiment of superlatives like -
A Cutting-Edge Artist: Hilary Hahn—#100DaysofPractice and Other Ventures September 7th, 2019 Social media has become a necessary way of reaching audiences. Today’s artists have to make the decision to ‘beat them or join them’ and take on Instagram and Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and blogs, and choose whether to manage them -
Don’t Be Scared, It’s Only Music September 6th, 2019 If you don’t live in a museum and you love music, you may have heard of the music of Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen – born 1952. If you do live in Bach’s time and only ever expose your ears to -
Gaspard De La Nuit: Ravel’s Dark Fantasy September 5th, 2019 “Gaspard has been a devil in coming, but that is only logical since it was he who is the author of the poems.” – Maurice Ravel Considered to be one of the most fearsomely difficult pieces in the pianist’s repertoire -
The Scottish Inspiration
Sir Walter Scott September 4th, 2019The Scottish author Sir Walter Scott is second only to Shakespeare for the number of musical pieces that his works, both plays and poetry, have inspired. Some of the operas he inspired are still standard on the opera stage today -
Art Imitating Life
Ruggero Leoncavallo: Pagliacci September 3rd, 2019A fair number of composers are primarily known for only one piece of music. And such is certainly the case with the Italian opera composer and librettist Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919). His single lasting contribution, Pagliacci (Clowns), is still one of -
Stefan Jackiw September 2nd, 2019 American violinist Stefan Jackiw catches up with me after a whirlwind summer of music festivals, with some rare downtime in New York before his next set of travels around the US, Slovenia and Helsinki. You’ve played in three different continents -
Musicians and Artists: J. C. Bach, Carl Abel, and Thomas Gainsborough September 1st, 2019 Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782) was the youngest of J.S. Bach’s eleven sons and made his career in London, where he was called the “English Bach.” Born when his father was 50 years old, he lived with his older half-brother C.P.E.