We all know what a piano looks like – large and square, if it’s an upright; or large and black, if it’s a concert grand. Yet, through the years, piano makers have done many explorations into the design of piano

If you listen to Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from the Nutcracker, you are acutely aware of a silvery, ethereal and otherworldly sound coming from the orchestra. That sound, similar to that of the glockenspiel—a percussion instrument composed

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” Voltaire was certainly right on the money about warfare and humanity. And he was also right about the

The War to end all Wars—as World War I was colloquially known—put a brutal stop to most cultural events on the European continent. Although some determined aficionados managed to ignore the devastation caused by this all-encompassing conflict, most theaters, opera

Apparently, it is rather common practice to take the most expensive cars straight from the factory to a tuning shop. These specialists outfits tweak engines to produce the raw horsepower of the space shuttle and attach all manner of exterior

The prestigious Conservatoire de Paris is the next stop on our Music College world tour. Alexandre Pansard-Ricordeau, the director of communications, talks to me about the strong links this conservatoire has with both the musical life of France, and further

Recently, a number of European countries have actively changed, or are contemplating to change, the words and or melodies of their national anthems. Designed to reflect the social and cultural climate of the 21st century, these attempted changes, as you

The history of musical instruments is full of ingenious ideas that for one reason or another did not enter the commercial mainstream. Take for example the pedal piano, a keyboard instrument featuring an additional pedalboard played with the feet. The