Vital organist

As part of my research for meeting Seong-Jin Cho, I learned that Korean names tend to have specific meanings. But I also found several variants (in translation, naturally) of his own moniker. One of m

Picture the scene: you’re about to get up on stage to give a presentation or performance. Something feels off – you look down, and realise your shirt is missing; in fact, you have no clothes on at all

Kahchun Wong remembers vividly the moment it happened. ‘With an orchestra, you know it when it clicks, when there is a chemistry,’ he recalls. ‘I went to the first rehearsal without any expectation. I

THIS MONTH Alexandra Dariescu pianist Moldavian National Chamber Orchestra/Nicolae Tatarinov Organ Hall, Chișinău, Moldavian Republic (March 1995) I made my concerto debut when I was nine, which is re

On entering a room containing a piano, what pianist doesn’t turn white at the command, ‘You can play – let’s hear you!’ You thought you were visiting friends, not giving a performance, so of course yo

Kammerorchester Basel/Giovanni Antonini Alpha ALPHA1092 76:29 mins The most familiar of the symphonies here, if only because it has a nickname, is No. 55, whose ‘Schoolmaster’ title arises out of the