When castratos ruled the opera stage, two of the most famous worked closely with the leading composer for the London stage, George Frederick Handel, to make their names in his music. He, obligingly, cast them as the heroes of his

Belarusian soprano Nadine Koutcher thrilled audiences at the 2015 Cardiff Singer of the World this month, and her glittering performances (and astonishing high notes) throughout the competition led her to the Main Prize. Though already an experienced performer on the

The Global Perspective Few musicians manage to balance teaching and performing as well as Greek-born violinist Areta Zhulla. A recipient of the Triandi Career Grant as well as the Tassos Prassopoulos Foundation Award, a passionate chamber musician with an equally

The 2015 BBC Proms start in two weeks’time. As a child and teenager, I used to go to the Proms every year with my parents, who would pour over the programme as soon as it was published (this, of course,

Leonard Bernstein undoubtedly was one of the most supremely talented interpretive musicians of the 20th century. Yet his compositional talents, as Mstislav Rostropovich has argued, “are simply not on par with his abilities as an interpreter.” Leon Botstein, President of

What’s your favorite one-sentence definition of music? Are there any here that exactly copy your thoughts or can you take it to a more extreme edge? Lady Gaga puts music in a different perspective: “Some women choose to follow men,