In classical music, the Romantic Era lasted from around 1810 to around 1910. That century gave us some of the most famous symphonies in the repertoire. Nineteenth-century composers like Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Dvořák, Schubert, Mahler, Rachmaninoff, and others elevated the symphony
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Charles Ives September 12th, 2014 Charles Ives (October 20, 1874 – May 19, 1954) is a composer whose music is still difficult for us to grasp and whose vision for music far exceeded that of his contemporaries. His music seems to be as strongly tied -
Bewitched in a Magic Garden
Giacomo Meyerbeer in Italy September 11th, 2014Giacomo Meyerbeer first visited Italy in 1816. He only planned for a brief study tour, but in the event, it gradually extended itself to nine years! During that time, the composer produced seven operas, starting with the semi-serious Romilda e -
Eating through the Ears September 10th, 2014 When I get back to Hong Kong next week, I am very much looking forward to a special lunch. An internationally renowned chef has opened his own restaurant! I can already tell you that the food will be beyond delicious -
Dancing to Death:
Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story September 9th, 2014If we look at Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) we see a musician who came to embody the best of classical music. He was a conductor, most famously making his debut in 1943 with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra on a moment’s -
Lavender Marriage
Marc Blitzstein and Eva Goldbeck September 8th, 2014The 2005-film Brokeback Mountain—an adaptation of the 1997 short story by Annie Proulx, which featured two married cowboys in love with each other—brought the issue of mixed-orientation marriages to public attention. However, this type of marriage between partners of differing -
Designing Sound September 7th, 2014 We all know what a piano looks like – large and square, if it’s an upright; or large and black, if it’s a concert grand. Yet, through the years, piano makers have done many explorations into the design of piano -
James McNeill Whistler – Claude Debussy – Nocturnes in Painting and Music September 6th, 2014 ‘Comme de longs échos qui de loin se confondent…. Les parfums, les couleurs et les sons se répondent’ (As long echoes confound from afar….perfumes, colors and sounds respond to each other’) Charles Baudelaire, ‘Correspondances’ The recent exhibition at the Sackler -
Tchaikovsky in the Hands of Two Masters September 5th, 2014 Two visiting orchestras will bring a lot of Tchaikovsky to Guangzhou this year, with appearances by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic under Yuri Temirkanov and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vassily Sinaisky. Both conductors are Russian, Temirkanov has led the St.