Listening to this recording of Scipione, you might well judge it one of Handel’s strongest scores: aria after aria bristles with vitality and personality, and Act 2 ends with one of the most brilliant ...

Donald Macleod explores Couperin's work in the royal court at Versailles, where Louis XIV personally auditioned him for the post of Organist of the Court Chapel. Couperin's keyboard skills soon ...

"When you buy an instrument like this, you don't just buy a standard-issue model," says Matthew Dirst, organist at St. Philip Presbyterian Church and director of Ars Lyrica concerts. "When you buy ...

It won't go in Guinness World Records like the 6,346 guitarists who played "Hey Joe" in Wroclaw, Poland, but seeing a harpsichordist perform some Jimi Hendrix in Topeka should still be an amazing feat ...

Spend an evening in the company of Kenneth Gilbert. You will discover through his playing a man of substance and charm whose command of the harpsichord repertory is in every way consummate. He has ...

After a childhood spent practicing an instrument, composers, no matter how rebellious, remain bound to the past. John Cage’s attraction to Mozart was lifelong. Stravinsky adored Tchaikovsky, ...

Along with nostalgia and joy, melancholy is an emotion that a lot of people might associate with classical music. Andreas Staier, the eminent harpsichord player, plumbed its depths at the Library of ...

This is the fourth in a series of posts about appreciating classical music. Catch up on the first three parts of the series here, here and here. Though its name sounds archaic, the harpsichord is a ...

Francois Couperin, or "Couperin le Grand." Francois Couperin, also known as "Couperin le Grand." One key French composer will be well represented on the program even though he didn’t directly write ...

Olivier Baumont joins Donald Macleod to explore the achievements and keyboard mastery of François Couperin or François le Grand, as he has come to be known. As a leading figure in the French baroque ...