If you have ever taken formal piano lessons, there is a good chance that you will have played some of Johann Baptist Cramer’s celebrated set of 84 studies for the piano. Published in two sets of 42 each in 1804

With performances from Moscow to Newcastle, Dresden to Geneva, young British conductor and composer Duncan Ward has had a very busy year, given the current circumstances. As 2020 draws to a close, I catch up with him and hear his

Be stronger and more certain London-based baritone Benjamin Appl will perform in Hong Kong later this month; he talks to me about his journey from bank apprentice to world-renowned singer.

After eight years of study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, young pianist Mishka Rushdie-Momen is establishing herself on the international scene. She has been mentored by András Schiff and has given a number of recitals in his

Master of the Queen’s Music To commemorate the musical achievements of Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (1891-1975) a noted musicologist suggested, “Of the smaller stars that shone in the ample firmament of twentieth-century English music, the light that coruscated with

Imagine… John Winston (later Ono) Lennon was born on 9 October 1940, in Liverpool, England, to Julia (Stanley) and Alfred Lennon, a merchant seaman. When his parents separated, 4-year-old John ended up living with his Aunt Mimi. John showed some

Seeing with Fresh Eyes Charlie Siem is one of very few violinists to have undertaken solo tours to Norway and Holland, be the centrepiece of a dedicated Buzzfeed article, and have modelled for Vogue, Armani and Boss.

I can empathise with Roxanna Panufnik. She, too, is a morning person. ‘Anything difficult that I have to do I schedule for Monday morning; it’s when I’m at my complete and utter freshest!’ I catch her after a stint of