Creator of modern music In 2017 we celebrate the 450th birthday of Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). He was the most important musician in late 16th and early 17th-century Italy, and the first great composer of opera. He developed powerful ways of

Another concert programme, another artist biography comprising a dry list of eminent teachers and mentors, concert halls performed in, orchestras and conductors worked with, recordings made and “forthcoming engagements include”. All standard information: exchange the names and the impersonal text

Truth, Openness and Honesty Just out of the window of the coffee shop where I meet Ermonela Jaho, I can see the towering pillars of the facade of the Royal Opera House, where a couple of nights ago she was

Russian pianist Grigory Ginzburg (1904-1961) and his older brother were the first musicians in their family. His older brother had been studying piano and the young Grigory started by imitating him. At age six, his talent was recognized and in

Around Asia, Bhumibol Adulyadej was simply known as King Bhumibol the Great, ninth and longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. At the time of his death on 13 October 2016 he had been on the throne for over 70 years, and

For countless decades, visitors have come to Hong Kong to experience the sights and sounds of a bustling metropolis where Chinese roots and colonial connections converge to shape a dynamic commercial and cultural landscape. Travelers during the later parts of

The association of the Berlin Games with the Third Reich severely tainted the Olympische Hymne by Richard Strauss, even though the commission for the hymn did not come from the National Socialists but from the International Olympic Committee.