‘nothing happens overnight but if you’re willing to put in the hours, you’ll get there’

Always wanted to unleash your inner musician? Writer Joel Snape thought he’d left it too late until he started playing around on the piano and found it was just the note he needed

Sun Triptych Maxim Rysanov, Dasol Kim, Roman Mints et al; BBC Concert Orchestra/ Dobrinka Tabakova ECM 4878558 64:61 mins This is the second ECM disc to feature the extremely accessible music of Bulga

You may hum a Christmas carol or two at this time of year, but singing coach Julie Bale says that many of us are hiding an inner Beyoncé that needs to come out! Here’s why…

Three women share their stories of festive singing

In 1976, the revolutionary singer-songwriter LAURA NYRO returned from self-imposed exile. But her comeback confounded expectations, shifting away from the impassioned intimacies of her early albums to embrace more radical perspectives. Fifty years on, Nyro’s collaborators revisit her striking second act. “She was a hip American from the Bronx,” one friend and producer tells Rob Hughes. “But her soul was old.”

Composer André Rieu, 76, reflects on his success and reveals the secret to 50 years of wedded bliss