Music is not only a matter of knowledge and competence but also of taste and fashion. After fantastic albums such as When I Look...

Founded in 1926 as the Latvian Radio Centre Orchestra, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO) is one of the greatest...

I’ve only heard the conductor Kirill Petrenko live once. It was August 24, 2019. He was conducting the Berliner...

Instant time travel? Yes, that’s possible! Listen to Georg Friedrich Händel’s (aka Handel) Agrippina and, with the...

For me, the best classical music recording of the past two years is Daniil Trifonov’s Destination Rachmaninov — ...

The career of my favorite (classical music) singer Philippe Jaroussky is already spanning twenty years. The French countertenor...

In 2003, I first heard Christian Thielemann live conducting Wagner during his term as Generalmusikdirektor at Deutsche Oper...

On July 6, 2019 the now famous Rag ‘n’ Bone Man was back at the Montreux Jazz Festival (MJF) where, in 2016, his...

Since his first days as a conductor, Sir Simon Rattle has been a Sibelius fan. In December 2014 and February 2015, celebrating...

The British cellist Jacqueline “Jackie” du Pré (* Oxford, January 26, 1945; † London, October 19, 1987) remains in the hearts of classical music lovers around the globe, not just...

After a long fight with prostate cancer since 2008, the 78-year-old South African jazz, fusion and pop trumpeter, singer and composer Hugh Masekela died in Johannesburg on January 23,...

Pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja chose the title “intuitive pilgrimage” to describe her 70th anniversary box-set. It consists of...

Her warm, sometimes emotional and virtuoso sound, together with her unpretentious attitude, have won Sol Gabetta admirers around the globe. Biography of the cellist Sol Gabetta In the...

The early life of William Smokey Robinson The Motown record label owes its success to many people. The first to come to my mind are founder Berry Gordy and singer, songwriter, record...

Nicola Benedetti was born on July 19, 1987. She grew up in the small Scottish town West Kilbride. She has a brother and a sister. Both her parents are Italian born, but moved to Scotland as...

Together with the Latvian Elīna Garanča, the Italian Cecilia Bartoli is one of the world’s leading mezzo-sopranos. Cecilia was born in Rome on June 6, 1966. Both her parents,...

Biography of Kristine Opolais For this biography, in December 2006, I interviewed the Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais at...

Updates: December 25 and 28, 2006: The hardest working man in showbiz made a last visit to the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. The body...

Biography based on an interview of Andrejs Zagars in Riga on May 18, 2006 The biography of Andrejs Zagars, the general director of the Latvian National Opera (LNO) in Riga, is the kind of...

Biography based on an exclusive interview with Andris Nelsons in Riga in June 2006 Andris Nelsons was born in Riga in 1978. Both his parents are musicians. His father is a cellist, the...