Know Your Composer
Explore the brilliance of the Baroque period through the groundbreaking works of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Monteverdi, and Purcell. This article examines the era’s dramatic innovations, sacred masterpieces, operatic beginnings, and lasting influence on the evolution of Western classical music.
Features
From Harlem’s Apollo Theater to the world’s greatest concert stages, Ella Fitzgerald transformed jazz singing through unmatched vocal precision, groundbreaking scat improvisation, and interpretations of the Great American Songbook that continue to inspire musicians and listeners alike.
Music Education
From Mozart’s enchanting fantasy worlds to Verdi’s heartbreaking tragedies and Puccini’s emotional masterpieces, these ten operas offer an unforgettable introduction to the power, beauty, and timeless drama of one of classical music’s greatest art forms.
Music Education
Teachers do far more than impart technique. They shape how musicians listen, interpret, and situate themselves within tradition, ultimately influencing artistic identity through repertoire, values, and the delicate balance between guidance and independence.
Interviews
Roger Zahab reflects on ‘Magic & Desire’, collaboration with Gilda Lyons, and a lifetime in music, offering insights into intimacy, authorship, and how sound can shape human connection across time and shared artistic experience.
Travel Diaries
From Lucknow to Kochi, ABRSM’s 2026 India tour brought together teachers, students and parents through interactive workshops, meaningful conversations and shared musical experiences, strengthening communities and celebrating nearly 1,849 years of combined teaching expertise across the country.
Know Your Composer
French composer and pianist Louise Farrenc overcame institutional barriers to build a remarkable musical legacy. From her groundbreaking role at the Paris Conservatoire to her masterful symphonies and chamber works, Farrenc emerged as one of the 19th century’s most significant composers.
Piano-born yet guitar-haunted, Granados’s 'Danzas españolas' find new life in a complete duo transcription by Eugenio Della Chiara and Pietro Locatto. They discuss tradition, tuning, colour, and the intimacy of playing as one.
On the first death anniversary of tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, the members of Shakti reunite to honour his legacy. Through memories, music and a shared history of innovation, they recount the extraordinary journey that shaped Indo-jazz fusion.
Ukrainian organist Dariia Lytvishko discusses her debut NAXOS album Toccatas and Meditations, the enduring allure of the French organ tradition, and how she bridges history, emotion, and innovation to bring the instrument to new audiences worldwide.
Winner of the Leeds and Montréal competitions, pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko discusses his NAXOS debut of Soler’s sonatas, his formative influences, and the artistic journeys that continue to shape his rapidly ascending career.
Sign Up Now to Get Instant Updates on Our Latest Articles and Exclusive Newsletter Launches!
Maltese composer Euchar Gravina discusses ‘ARIA’, a pandemic-born collaboration with violinist Stefan Calleja and the London Symphony Orchestra, reflecting on listening, identity, and how intimacy and distance shape his evolving compositional voice.
For much of human history, societies have organized themselves around shared sonic experiences. Sacred chants, folk songs, military marches, opera arias, radio broadcasts, and symphonic concerts have all shaped collective memory through sound. Certain musical gestures become inseparable from emotion itself: the ominous opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, the
Silence in Western classical music is not absence but design. From Bach to Cage, pauses shape structure, heighten drama, and sharpen listening, revealing how meaning often emerges as much from what is withheld as from what is heard.
Paganini and Liszt transformed virtuosity into spectacle and innovation, redefining performance through astonishing technique. Their music expanded expressive possibilities, reshaped audience expectations, and established the performer-composer as a central figure in Romantic musical culture.
Before the phonograph, before the wireless, before the concert hall became a democratic institution, the four-hand piano arrangement was how music travelled. This was not a substitute for the original; it was the original's primary means of existence in the world.
The fastest route to mastery is, almost always, the slowest one. Yet despite this being one of the most consistently repeated pieces of advice in musical pedagogy, it remains one of the most consistently ignored.
A practical guide to setting up a PA system for live performances, covering essential equipment, signal flow, speaker placement, and sound checks, helping bands, DJs, and venues achieve clarity, balance, and reliable sound in any setting.
Epigenetics reveals how environment shapes ability and learning. Factors like stress, nutrition, and support influence gene expression, affecting confidence, focus, and progress. Nurturing environments help young musicians develop skills, resilience, and lasting engagement with music.
The University of Oxford launches the Schwarzman Centre, a major new home for the humanities. Bringing together performance, research and public engagement, it opens with an ambitious programme spanning art, technology and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Asha Bhosle’s collaboration with the Kronos Quartet brought Bollywood and contemporary classical worlds together. This personal reflection revisits that landmark project and a memorable Barbican concert that captured her voice, charisma and lasting cultural impact.
Classical music education is often questioned in a fast moving digital age. Yet its value lies in discipline, listening and intellectual growth. Its relevance depends not on preservation, but on how it adapts today.
Practice in classical music is often shaped by tradition rather than evidence. By questioning common myths and adopting more deliberate, focused strategies, musicians can improve more efficiently while developing deeper musical understanding and long-term artistic confidence.