On Nature vs Nurture How do you manage to sustain a career as a harpsichordist and jazz pianist? For 23-year old Jean Rondeau it’s no problem. Equally at home on the concert stage in a chamber music recital of Rameau

“Memoirs of an Amnesiac” When eccentricity and classical music are used in the same sentence, Erik Satie (1866-1925) immediately comes to mind. Irreverent, disrespectful, contemptuous of tradition, forcefully direct and brutally honest, Satie famously wrote underneath his self-portrait, “I have

Sophie Dartigalongue personifies the fact that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. The bassoon often becomes the butt of many of the orchestra’s jokes, and the comical contrabassoon only sees a double serving of this teasing, but the

Baroque music arguably suffers the most when it comes to its perceived stuffiness. In the world of historical performance practice, many retreat into the dark corners of the library, poring over dusty treatises to debate the authority of the way

French cellist Edgar Moreau is already making waves on the solo circuit at the tender age of 20. He is currently completing his Masters studies at the internationally renowned Kronberg Academy in Germany, where a specialist programme is offered to

This month, our Artists of the Month are the Quatour Hermès, a young string quartet moving from strength to strength. I caught up quickly with Elise Liu, their second fiddle, ahead of their upcoming tour to China.

Murder in the Rue Careme-Prenant In the early morning of 23 October 1764, the violinist and composer Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764) was found lying dead in the vestibule of his house in a pool of blood from three vicious stab wounds

French harpsichordist and conductor Emmanuelle Haïm is one of today’s most celebrated interpreters of Baroque music. After a decade performing as a harpsichordist with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, she began her career as a conductor with the ensemble