Music Education
Some time ago, while discussing this article by Graham Wade in Classical Guitar Magazine, Veda Aggarwal (Director of the Indian Guitar Federation) asked me to reflect upon my experience of playing in India over the last few years, and in particular, those aspects surrounding performance production that are unique to
Features
In our infancy we are told fairy tales, and these stories retain a great power over us throughout our lives. In many ways the tenets of fairy tales and folk legends are the characteristics of all great music, because all great pieces are fundamentally stories. Calvino writes that in folk
Music Education
Everything used to be simpler before. Classical musicians composed classical music, pop musicians pop and jazz musicians were the exotic birds. But now these boundaries are becoming increasingly obsolete. Artists ranging from Mouse on Mars to Hauschka are going ways that have long remained untrodden. There is plenty happening in
Reviews
Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhaus Orchestra’s concert of Wagner (Overture to Tannhauser and Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde) and Bruckner (3rd Symphony) at the Gewandhaus, Leipzig, provided as much food for thought as it did of emotion. The emotional intensity of their performance of the Wagner was
Music Education
One of the first hurdles a young musician meets as he or she pursues advanced training is the fact that there are never enough practice rooms.Music students and graduates, how many hours do you think you’ve spend sitting in practice room hallways, thumbing through your scores, eagerly looking
Interviews
Please share your background with us. My name is Alpesh Chauhan and I am a conductor. My parents were born in East Africa (father in Tanzania and mother in Kenya) of Indian descent (Gujarati). I was born in Birmingham (UK) and grew up there, learning the cello from the age
News
The Madras Musical Association is headed to Vienna this month. We wish them the very best for their concert tour. Here’s what they had to say – “The Madras Musical Association choir, with 123 years of promotion of Western classical music in India, has had the opportunity to sing by
Features
It is quite clear that – at least at certain levels – we live in a globalised world. New technologies developed over the last years in the fields of transportation and digital communication are allowing us now to travel and access knowledge with remarkable ease and speed. Among other advantages, the access
Reviews
The Capital City Minstrels, a 22 year old Delhi based choir, have been crooning to audiences across cities and countries for quite some time. They have had a variety of choir conductors. Without a doubt, they have emerged as a ‘versatile and dynamic choir’ as expressed in their press note.
Travel Diaries
I moved to Paris after completing my Master’s Degree in Piano Performance in the States. Living and studying there for three years was one of the most significant events of my life. Going back each year to perform is always a highlight — revisiting old neighbourhoods, catching up with dear
Meet the Maestro
Nikhil Sardana: Where did you grow up and pursue your music studies? What led you to choosing a career in conducting? Alexander Briger: I was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. I started playing the violin at a very young age and became serious about this instrument by the age
Reviews
It is unusual for an operatic production to be equally riveting at a visual and an aural level: typically one wins out, and one makes do with the lesser other. This phenomenon was taken to an extreme in the current production of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde at the Theatre