You might never have heard of the composer Léo Delibes, but I bet you are familiar with at least one of his tunes. I am, of course, talking of the “Flower Duet” from his opera Lakmé. The opera has barely

Dictatorial societies are notorious for fostering environments of suspicion and fear. It is always chilling to read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s three-volume narrative The Gulag Archipelago. Solzhenitsyn relied on eyewitness testimony and primary research as well as his own experiences as a

Pierre Boulez (1925-2016) was never particularly interested in making friends! Rather, he became thoroughly absorbed in a mission to write music worthy of his time, and to fight cynicism and indifference wherever he found them. That he mercilessly dismantled the

“Minors of the Majors” invites you to discover compositions by the great classical composers that for one reason or another have not reached the musical mainstream. Please enjoy, and keep listening!

Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies have inspired many a composer to write glorious music. Much Ado About Nothing one of his finest comedies is full of uproarious laughs, gossip, love and deception but also delves into timeless subjects of shame, honor and

We have all heard or seen performances of the big piano concertos by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Grieg, Prokofiev and various others. Hordes of young lions and lionesses—technically perfect and getting increasingly younger—merrily thunder through the repertoire on their prospective ways

It is somewhat surprising that Prokofiev’s earliest effort in the symphonic genre also became one of his most popular and most frequently programmed works. Composed in 1916/17, Prokofiev subtitled his Symphony No. 1 “Classical.” That nickname was apparently chosen to

Sergei Prokofiev was one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant composers, and he definitely knew it. In fact, he was so confident in his musical abilities that he never attempted to conceal the more disagreeable aspects of his character or