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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In touch with Menahem Pressler June 18th, 2014 Very few musicians can boast a career as long or distinguished as that of Menahem Pressler. Born in 1923, he fled Nazi Germany in the 30s, and emigrated to Palestine. By the end of the 40s had already made his -
The Eccentric Knight
Richard Strauss: Don Quixote op. 35 June 17th, 2014Few characters have captured our imagination than Don Quixote, the befuddled knight—a pathetic, aging oddball who dreams of righting the world’s wrongs. The knight is the protagonist of Miguel Cervantes’ novel Don Quixote or ‘The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of -
Alma Schindler June 16th, 2014 Muse, Femme Fatale, Composer Her admirers described Alma Schindler as pathologically cruel, anti-Semitic, exceedingly vain, prone to excessive drinking, and utterly obsessed by a sense of entitlement that the world owed her something in return for her brilliance and beauty. -
Dream Big! June 15th, 2014 When we are faced with important decisions in life it feels scary to take a leap and embrace change. When I was in my twenties, I didn’t anticipate that dreaming big and having lofty goals would result in my career -
Lyrical Sax
Alexander Glazunov: Concerto for Alto Saxophone June 14th, 2014The saxophone was a relative latecomer to the family of woodwind instruments. Developed in Paris by Adolphe Sax in the 1840’s, the instrument features a single reed mouthpiece like the clarinet, a conical brass body like the ophicleide—the bass member -
Music, art and literature and the Great War: Part I June 14th, 2014 2013 saw the celebrations of Verdi’s and Wagner’s bicentennials, the centennial of Benjamin Britten’s birth and of Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’. 2014 marks a more somber centennial — of the outbreak of the Great War following the assassination of Archduke -
Composers in the Slammer!
Ethel Smyth June 12th, 2014We all remember that Johann Sebastian Bach was jailed for overstaying his holiday, and that Beethoven, mistaken for a homeless vagrant, spent a couple of days in the slammer as well. Michael Tippet was arrested for conscientiously objecting to WW2, -
In touch with Bright Sheng June 11th, 2014 In four years’ time, the Intimacy of Creativity has grown from a university arts project to a widely sought after chance by emerging young composers to come to Hong Kong and get creative with renowned pianist, composer and founder of