Following the example set by piano builders Pleyel&Cie, rival manufacturers quickly established competing showrooms and concert halls to display and demonstrate their wares to the general public. Érard provided immediate competition in Paris, with the Steinway Hall opening in New

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart famously told Gottfried van Swieten, a diplomat, librarian and esteemed patron of music, “Bach is the father. We are the children!” Interestingly, Mozart did not have Johann Sebastian in mind, but referred to Carl Philipp Emanuel instead.

As Einstein noted, time is relative, and for music this is especially true. Tempo, the speed at which music is performed, is not something that is set in stone. Every Allegro movement doesn’t move at the same speed, but is

Our second destination in our world tour of the world’s great music colleges sees us stopping off in the USA, in the state of Philadelphia. The Curtis Institute of Music is renowned for its exceptional level of musical tuition, and

The Firebird that did not fly Anatoly Lyadov: The Enchanted Lake, Op. 62 Anatoly Lyadov: Kikimora, Op. 63 The Ballets Russes, widely regarded as the most influential ballet company of the 20th century, was the brainchild of the Russian impresario

‘Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.’ ‘To educate somebody, you should start from poems, emphasise on ceremonies, and finish with music.’ Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC) There have recently been a number of

I recently came across an extraordinary image. Many police services combine images of a suspect to create a general photo-fit image. But the federal police in Berlin recently combined a number of portraits of a man who died in the