Reggae music has had a profound influence on many aspects of Western culture from fashion to popular music. Across the United Kingdom, the USA and Africa, Reggae secured a strong foothold in the ...

Unlike today, where composers can receive or pitch for commissions from individuals, companies, or foundations, the options for funding during the Baroque Era were considerably narrower. It’s worth ...

Igor Stravinsky, equally famous for composing some of the most extraordinary Russian ballets, offered considerable compliments towards Tchaikovsky’s ballets, especially Sleeping Beauty. Stravinsky ...

When the world of the moving picture arrived in the early part of the 20th century, it was a revolution. What is often referred to as the silent years from around 1910 to 1927 marked a turning point ...

In a recent article, I gave a broad account of the evolution of the violin with a particular focus on the work of the Cremona luthiers. At the head of this revolutionary group of innovators was the ...

During the Renaissance, culture, science, and philosophy experienced a rebirth. As the name for the period suggests, there was a strong move away from the old Medieval traditions towards a new ...

The influence of W.A. Mozart across all areas of culture has been colossal, from the Baby Mozart Project through to contemporary song. You can hardly pass through a day without encountering the music ...

If you take a short time to explore piano competitions online, you soon realize that the quantity of them is astonishing. They range from smaller, more local events through to internationally ...

With the distance of one hundred and ten years between us now and the premiere of Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring, it can be difficult to understand what the fuss was all about. Several things ...

Two exhibits from the collection stand out to me as particularly striking and provocative pieces of art. The first is called Blossom by Sanford Biggers and dates back to 2007. Here the piano appears ...

Nationalism can be considered to refer to music that embraces some traditional elements such as that of folk songs or typical dance forms. It can also include aspects of culture that specifically ...

The 19 th Century witnessed some of the most extreme musical developments in Western history. Everything appeared to be expanding. Orchestras commonly numbered a hundred performers, the duration of ...