On what would have been the 71th birthday of Jacqueline du Pré, the words of János Starker sound a provocative warning Jacqueline du Pré...

As Nigel Kennedy goes on Radio 4's Mastertapes programme to be rude about Baroque performance practice, here's a blog I wrote in 2011 on...

To mark the UK's National Poetry Day, 8th October, here's George Eliot's great poem about violin making and the obsession with which...

The breadth and success of David Byrne’s recent curatorship of Southbank Centre’s Meltdown Festival demonstrate how the curiosity and...

A recent performance of the whole of Homer’s epic Iliad offered an opportunity to observe actors close up and to understand what their...

Perfectionism in music is a modern scourge, and Peter Cropper, who died in May, demonstrated that it is a distracting priority for...

As some of the world's finest violin makers gather in the small university town of Oberlin, Ohio, to share their knowledge at the annual...

The best musicians have special powers of listening, as pianist András Schiff demonstrated in a masterclass last week How can you tell if...

W.B. Yeats was born 150 years ago, on 13 June, 1865. Here's his poem The Fiddler of Dooney, written in 1889, when he was 24, celebrating...

The Elbow Music social media campaign puts modern instruments in the spotlight My recent article about Frank Peter Zimmermann’s dilemma...

The great British writer Thomas Hardy was born on 2 June, 1840. His father was a fiddler in the village band and he himself also played....

How much can an adult amateur expect to develop as a musician in a short space of time? Quite a lot, it turns out, given the right...

The great violinist, former leader of the Lindsay Quartet, and one of the unique and most charismatic voices in chamber music, died on...

Jury places audience favourite in fifth place at Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition in Belgium Music competitions get a lot of bad press...

Observing masterclasses can be a brilliant way to learn and find inspiration, and yet students rarely turn up to watch. They may be too...

Facebook just kindly reminded me that two years ago today I was in Sarasota, Florida, enjoying the La Musica Festival, and tasting wine –...

I have an article in today's Financial Times about music philanthropy, for which I spoke to some of the legion of generous souls who help...

As two top violinists are forced to give back the classic instruments they've been borrowing, should more performers consider modern...

How often do you leave a concert feeling as if you've experienced something special? As often as you'd like? If not, why not? My latest...

A weekend in Madrid provided the perfect opportunity to view some unusual Stradivarius instruments There is a lot to do in Madrid –...