Denounced, then decorated, Dmitri Shostakovich lived under Stalin’s watchful eye, his career a razor’s edge between conformity and defiance. 120 years after his birth, five of his essential works offer…
Reading time estimated : 8min read
The Grammy-winning vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant takes us on a musical voyage through the United States to France, Puerto Rico, and beyond in her joyful, head-boppingly groovy performance…
Reading time estimated : 4min read
Denounced, then decorated, Dmitri Shostakovich lived under Stalin’s watchful eye, his career a razor’s edge between conformity and defiance. 120 years after his birth, five of his essential works offer…
Reading time estimated : 8min read
Far from the cliché of the pastoral British composer, Gustav Holst wrote much for voices: choral works and operas based on Sanskrit and ancient Greek texts, as well as settings…
Reading time estimated : 13min read
From the world’s leading opera houses to concert halls across the Baltic states, a new generation of musicians from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is making its mark on classical music.…
Reading time estimated : 10min read
She ordered his pianos, kept his accounts, and padded his doors against the noise of her own house. While Chopin composed upstairs at Nohant, George Sand was writing the great…
Reading time estimated : 21min read
Classical music has long offered an imaginative way to guide young listeners as they take their first steps into the world of the orchestra. Ahead of the new school year,…
Reading time estimated : 8min read
From phone calls to concerts halls, Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons are inescapable. Beat the summer heat with a deep dive into this Baroque…
Reading time estimated : 16min read
From Bach’s church contract to Mozart and Beethoven’s unstable incomes, classical music has long balanced genius with financial precarity. The freelance musician, it turns out, was born alongside the modern…
Reading time estimated : 8min read
At Versailles, music was more than entertainment. Under Louis XIV, it helped define French Baroque style while serving the court’s larger purpose: to glorify the monarch.
Reading time estimated : 9min read
What makes Wagner’s 16-hour saga so immersive, coherent, and psychologically satisfying? The Leitmotif… This web of recurring musical ideas gives The Ring its elemental force, narrative depth, and extraordinary emotional…
Reading time estimated : 5min read
September 28: This week in classical music
Reading time estimated : 3min read
September 14: This week in classical music
Reading time estimated : 4min read
September 7: This week in classical music
Reading time estimated : 3min read
At the Salzburg Festival, tradition and reinvention are inseparable. From Mozart and Richard Strauss to today’s star conductors, singers and directors, James Jolly explores why this singular gathering remains the…
Reading time estimated : 8min read
August 17: This week in classical music
Reading time estimated : 3min read
August 10: This week in classical music
Reading time estimated : 4min read
July 27: This week in classical music
Reading time estimated : 4min read
Fifty years after her death, Maria Callas remains one of the most influential and debated figures in opera. Soprano Soula Parassidis revisits the myths, rivalries and artistic choices that shaped the legend of La Divina.
Reading time estimated : 6min read
Fifty years after her death, Maria Callas remains one of the most influential and debated figures in opera. Soprano Soula Parassidis revisits the myths, rivalries and artistic choices…
Reading time estimated : 6min read
Steinway Artist Giorgi Gigashvili gave an enchanting recital at the 2026 Tsinandali Festival. We took the opportunity to ask him five questions about his musical influences, electronic music, and what…
Reading time estimated : 3min read
At the 2026 Tsinandali Festival, Marc-André Hamelin reflects on harmony, the power of pure sound, and the human touch in performance, while sharing his thoughts on composition, pianistic perfection, and…
Reading time estimated : 5min read
At Verbier, Gábor Takács-Nagy reflects on his fondest memories from the festival, his relationship with the orchestra from rehearsals to the stage, and the importance of conducting with…
Reading time estimated : 4min read
For Mao Fujita, music says what words cannot. At Verbier, he speaks about memory, form, practice, exhaustion and the importance of making space to concentrate fully on music.
Reading time estimated : 4min read
At Verbier, violinist Daniel Lozakovich reflects on the power of collaboration, the music that shaped him, and the sense of wonder that great teachers awaken. From Tchaikovsky and…
Reading time estimated : 7min read
From sunset in Verbier to the intimacy of Brahms, Timothy Chooi shares a personal view of performance, audience connection and the non-musical experiences that have shaped his artistic philosophy.
Reading time estimated : 3min read
The Grammy-winning vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant takes us on a musical voyage through the United States to France, Puerto Rico, and beyond in her joyful, head-boppingly groovy performance…
Reading time estimated : 4min read
From its iconic clarinet opening to its full-orchestra surges, Rhapsody in Blue remains a thrilling feat of musical imagination. Gustavo Dudamel and Yuja Wang bring Gershwin’s restless, exuberant vision to life with…
Reading time estimated : 5min read
Since it was recorded in 1959, “All Blues” from Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue has been reinterpreted countless times by jazz and funk musicians…
Reading time estimated : 5min read
Before summer fully arrives, Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 invites us into its dreamlike world—an intimate, nostalgic love letter to warm evenings, family, and memory.
Reading time estimated : 3min read
A must-see portrait of Natalia Osipova, an artist whose virtuosity and emotional intensity transcend ballet’s boundaries.
Reading time estimated : 3min read
Barrie Kosky reinvents Die Fledermaus in a vibrant, ironic staging where humor and spectacle meet a subtle undercurrent of melancholy, revealing new emotional depth beneath Strauss’s…
Reading time estimated : 2min read
Our social media team spends their days tracking trends in the classical music world. Here’s their curated list of the top accounts to follow if you live and…
Reading time estimated : 3min read
In anticipation of the Oscars this Sunday, take a look at this fantastic movie music program that just joined our catalogue, in which the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra…
Reading time estimated : 2min read
Through breathtaking improvisations and her vibrant Piano Concerto, the Venezuelan pianist-composer dazzles with a powerfully personal display of Latin-American pride and staggering virtuosity.
Reading time estimated : 5min read
