“Music is text and rhythm, and sound last of all” 400 years ago, the Italian composer, singer, teacher and instrumentalist Giulio Romano Caccini (1551-1618) passed away in Florence. He wasn’t a particularly pleasant individual, and frequently guided by envy and

“Give me a laundry bill and I will set it to music” When Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) spontaneously decided to retire in 1829, he was universally considered the most popular opera composer in history. No other composer enjoyed his prestige, popular

On ‘The Integrity and Quality of Each Individual Moment’ Italian American tenor Leonardo Capalbo chats to me on his day off in Warsaw, in the middle of a production of La Traviata at the Teatr Wielki. His hotel room faces

Creator of modern music In 2017 we celebrate the 450th birthday of Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). He was the most important musician in late 16th and early 17th-century Italy, and the first great composer of opera. He developed powerful ways of

Pining for Rome 85 years ago, on 18 April 1936, Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) died from an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart in Rome. Respighi lived and worked during tumultuous political times, and his historicist interest in Italian

Music is the gate between the earthly and eternal world In 2016 we celebrate the 150th birthday of Ferruccio Dante Michelangiolo Benvenuto Busoni (1866-1924), one of the most talented and controversial piano virtuosos active during the second half of the

The Original Barber of Seville In 2016, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Giovanni Paisiello’s death (1740-1816). One of the most successful and influential opera composers of his time, he wrote music for 94 operas that cultivated a comic, simple,

The Paganini of the 18th CenturyThe violinist Pietro Antonio Locatelli (1695-1764) was widely known as the “Paganini of the eighteenth century.” As a performer Locatelli systematically explored the uncharted regions of the instrument, including left-hand extensions, double and triple stops,