Happy Birthday, Frederic Chopin! Celebrate with His Romantic Nocturnes

According to baptismal records, Frederic Chopin's birth was actually on February 22, 1810, but like the rebel he is, he chose March 1 to celebrate his birthday.... Read More...

Violinist Francesca Dego on Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s ‘Ballade’

By Francesca Dego This year marks the 50th anniversary of Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s death. I first fell in love with this composer when I pe... Read More...

Violinist Henryk Szeryng Was Both an Accomplished Violinist & Diplomat

By Brian Wise In a century that produced its share of violin firebrands, the Polish-born Henryk Szeryng (1918–88) was the aristocrat of the instrument, favorin... Read More...

Review: Chicago Symphony Brings Light to a Bleak Bay Area

By Cristina Schreil The San Francisco Bay Area, in desperate need of respite from the wind, received a gentle gust of relief from the Windy City. It was a ten... Read More...

4 Keys to Picking the Right Tempo Through Logical Intuition

By Miranda Wilson Today’s performers have grown up in an age of ultra-specific performance instructions, whether in contemporary concert music or film scores t... Read More...

The Seasons of Gidon Kremer: In the Case of This Formidable Violin Superstar, One Learns to Expect the Unexpected

By Inge Kjemtrup Of all the world-renowned violinists born in the decade after World War II—an exclusive club that includes Pinchas Zukerman, Pierre Amoyal, an... Read More...

Review: Seattle Symphony’s Shostakovich Concerto Festival

Music for Troubled Times By Thomas May The Seattle Symphony just offered a rare chance to hear all six of Dmitri Shostakovich's solo instrumental concerto... Read More...

Rostropovich’s ‘Duport’ Strad Was the Beneficiary of New Ideas, Clients, and Materials

By Andrew Dipper In 1711, the year that Antonio Stradivari built the “Duport” cello, Cremona had suffered 11 years of the effects of the War of the Spanish Suc... Read More...

Five Players on the Magical Voices of Their Guadagnini Instruments

Compiled by Stephanie Powell Violinist Simone Porter The Guad: 1745 G.B. Guadagnini violin, Parma. I have had the privilege to play it for about two and a... Read More...

10 Picks from the Piatigorsky Cello Festival

  By Laurence Vittes Walt Disney Concert Hall If you want to understand what the great cellist Gregor Piatigorsky was like as a man and a cellist... Read More...