After Kandinsky’s and Schoenberg ground-breaking endeavors, many artists in France, Italy and Russia started to follow different paths — all towards abstraction.

The World Orchestra for Peace is a band like no other. Apart from it being formed from the best orchestral musicians handpicked from around the world, it has a loud and clear message: to be a global ambassador for peace.

I am almost certain you have never heard of the Belgian inventor George Cloetens (1871-1949). In the category of quirky inventions, he is known for patenting a special dual-chamber syringe, and claiming a patent for printing advertisements on toilet paper!

If you come to Vienna as a tourist, you’ll have to visit Schönbrunn Palace. It’s unlikely that you will see all 1,441 rooms—most of them lavishly decorated—but the complex will certainly give you a sense of the splendor and lifestyle

“Must we not then renounce the object altogether,throw it to the winds and instead lay bare the purely abstract?”Vasily Kandinsky, 1911 In the early years of the 20th century the relationship between the arts and music was at its closest

We don’t think of instruments as having been “invented” – they just have been there forever. In some cases, though, instruments do have a definite hand guiding them and none more so than the Saxophone.

Recycling isn’t a new idea and one of the very odd ways in which instrument makers could benefit was in how they acquired their leather for making the pads for their woodwind instruments.

When I get back to Hong Kong next week, I am very much looking forward to a special lunch. An internationally renowned chef has opened his own restaurant! I can already tell you that the food will be beyond delicious