Articles
Ospedale della Pietà: the orphanage where Vivaldi turned abandoned girls into world-beating musicians
Harriet Constable, author of The Instrumentalist, explores Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà, the girls’ orphanage where Vivaldi taught and composed
Semyon Bychkov named music director of Opéra national de Paris
The conductor will take up the post for an initial four-year term from 2028
This kitten hears a violin for the first time – and her response is priceless
Watch Esther Abrami playing the violin to her kitten - and the frankly adorable response from the musical feline
null
undefined
Boos, hisses and rotten vegetables: opera’s worst behaved audiences
From boos to vegetables, opera stars have had to put up with all sorts being aimed in their direction over the centuries, as Alexandra Wilson explores
'How a traumatic memory lapse changed the way I play the piano' – Leif Ove Andsnes
Far too many wonderful carols have faded into obscurity
John Rutter, the king of Christmas, reveals his 7 favourite carols
British composer-conductor John Rutter shares the Christmas carols that mean the most to him
Composer Alex Ho and the Chinese diaspora in Britain
Composer Alex Ho is part of a growing community of musicians combining their British and Chinese heritage in fascinating ways, writes Richard Morgan
Complete our survey about charities for the chance to win a £50 Love2shop eGiftcard
Jingle Hell! The famous Christmas music guaranteed to ruin the holiday season
As the Christmas season approaches, the BBC Music Magazine team share the festive tunes that make our hearts sink
Your guide to the best audio gifts this Christmas 2025
Public voting opens for the RPS Inspiration Award 2026
Awarded annually at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, the Inspiration prize recognises UK amateur music making
Peer Gynt: a guide to Edvard Grieg's popular masterpiece
When asked to write music for Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt, Grieg thought he was facing an impossible challenge. But, as Terry Blain relates, the composer’s perseverance resulted in a masterpiece
of matchless character and colour
The best headphones to help you listen while you work
Music is helping prisoners turn away from crime. Here's how
Organisations providing musical opportunities in prisons do much to preserve dignity and encourage rehabilitation, discovers Abigail Frymann Rouch
What can musicians do to help tackle climate change?
Delia Stevens from percussion and harmonica/melodeon duo Stevens & Pound writes about her relationship with music and the climate
When is the right time for musicians to retire?
Put bluntly, age and experience used to be venerated much more than they are now, writes Richard Morrison
'The famous bit': 15 popular classical music moments… But can you identify them?
We take a look at the arias, movements, songs and dances whose fame has outshone the larger works in which they first appeared
7 neglected piano concertos that we all should know better
Pianist Clare Hammond selects unfairly overlooked piano concertos that deserve to be performed more often
Murder, brawling and threesomes: music's 15 worst-behaved composers, ranked
From Mozart to Peter Warlock, here are 15 composers who stepped out of line - socially, sexually, or just with too much motorbike-based nudity
Music has the power to save the planet. Here’s how
As he relives a memorable evening at the BBC Proms, Tom Service ponders how music might make us reconsider our relationship with the world around us
Meet Hildur Guðnadóttir – the star composer of Joker and Chernobyl
Cellist and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir has forged a career spanning classical, film and electronics – but she’s always been drawn to unsettling themes, as she tells Claire Jackson
The best value bookshelf speakers for £500 or less
