The solo violin has long been acknowledged as the perfect instrument to express emotions like love, longing, heartbreak, rapture, and romance. The Romantic era lasted from the early nineteenth century to the early twentieth century and produced numerous works that
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Hector Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17 January 27th, 2016 Hector Berlioz’s visit to the Odéon Theater in 1827 not only inflamed a deeply burning passion for his future wife, the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, but also for the dramatic genius of William Shakespeare. Berlioz’s infatuation with Harriet gave rise -
The Creativity Iceberg January 26th, 2016 Musicians will be familiar with this image of an iceberg. The tip, the visible part, represents our public persona and the music we perform and share with others, while the much larger mass which is hidden below the surface of -
Minors of the Majors
Ludwig van Beethoven: Rondino in E-flat major, WoO 25 January 25th, 2016“Minors of the Majors” invites you to discover compositions by the great classical composers that for one reason or another have not reached the musical mainstream. Please enjoy, and keep listening! -
Seeing and Hearing January 24th, 2016 The concert hall is like the theatre, and the performer the actor on the stage. And for the audience, a concert is both a visual and aural experience – we “listen” with eyes as well as ears. Today audiences are -
Music and Art : Stravinsky and Picasso January 24th, 2016 Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes brought music, art, and dance into the 20th century. Eschewing the traditional, Diaghilev worked with the leading artists in all fields to bring a new life to a fairly moribund art form. -
Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda (1801-1866): The Missing Link January 23rd, 2016 In 2016 we remember the 150th anniversary of the passing of Johann Baptist Wenzel Kalliwoda. Remember might be a somewhat misleading word, as the 20th century never managed to acknowledge his contributions to music. Interest in the composer was reawakened -
Léo Delibes: A Life of muted passions January 22nd, 2016 You might never have heard of the composer Léo Delibes, but I bet you are familiar with at least one of his tunes. I am, of course, talking of the “Flower Duet” from his opera Lakmé. The opera has barely -
Léo Delibes January 21st, 2016 Let’s dance! The reputation of Léo Delibes (1836-1891) rests almost exclusively with his two 90-minute ballet scores Coppélia and Sylvia. For the first time in the history of music, Delibes had crafted ballet scores of symphonic proportions. Full of memorable