‘I prefer to play music, not to make music’
ARCHIVE On what would have been the 100th birthday of the legendary cellist János Starker, I revisit the interviews he gave me – and some...
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- May 1, 2023
A very British tradition
Newark School of Violin Making has an alumni list that reads like a Who’s Who of the violin world. As it celebrates its 50th anniversary,...
- Apr 6, 2023
I ❤️ Beethoven
For the first stop of my Interrail trip, I make a beeline for Beethoven’s home city of Bonn and find him around every corner I love...
- Sep 24, 2020
Chaplin’s The Immigrant
Charlie Chaplin‘s 1917 film about the journey to Ellis Island is as funny and moving today as it must have been to the audiences who saw...
- Aug 13, 2020
Interview with Josephine Knight
In this interview, originally commissioned by the Royal Academy of Music, Josephine Knight, Alfredo Piatti Chair and Professor of Cello...
- Apr 8, 2019
Life in Teaching: Stefan Popov
Stefan Popov has been professor of cello at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama for 40 years, and before that taught at Boston...
- Aug 22, 2018
Mission possible
A summer festival in Silicon Valley initiates young players into the joys and challenges of chamber music and then sends them out into...
- Oct 8, 2015
The Freewheelin’ Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma turns 60 on 7 October, 2015, and to celebrate one of the world's best-loved classical music heroes, here is an interview I did...
- Sep 4, 2015
Thomas Demenga: ‘Sometimes I think we’re producing too many musicians at conservatoires’
The Swiss cellist Thomas Demenga discusses the fierce competition in today’s music world, how students should spend less time online and...
- Jan 14, 2015
9 ways to succeed in music
Today's classical music business may be competitive and tough, but there are also more opportunities than ever. Success lies in knowing...
- Nov 12, 2014
The unbearable lightness of being Gary Hoffman
Gary Hoffman is one of the music world’s best-kept secrets, a fine and uncompromising cellist whose rare appearances mesmerise. For him,...
- Oct 30, 2014
Written by Mrs Bach?
A new documentary suggests that Mrs Bach was behind the greatest works by her husband Johann Sebastian. But does it ring true? You know...
- Oct 21, 2014
Why togetherness is over-rated
At his masterclass on Monday, Jean-Guihen Queyras challenged the notion that playing chamber music is all about playing exactly together...
- Oct 20, 2014
Mischa Maisky: ‘Bach is turning in his grave’
Mischa Maisky challenged the traditional notion of authenticity in his masterclass at the Amsterdam Cello Biënnale If any classical...
- Aug 22, 2014
The real secret of Stradivarius?
I had a lovely morning yesterday talking to cellist Natalie Clein for two forthcoming articles – about her new Saint-Saëns disc, for...
- Aug 5, 2014
Charlie Chaplin and his violin obsession
The great screen comedian was an accomplished amateur violinist who composed many of the scores to his films At the height of his...
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