Awarded annually at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, the Inspiration prize recognises UK amateur music making

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

Claire Jackson is mightily impressed by Sharon Bezaly’s mastery of the rare alto flute

Organisations providing musical opportunities in prisons do much to preserve dignity and encourage rehabilitation, discovers Abigail Frymann Rouch

Delia Stevens from percussion and harmonica/melodeon duo Stevens & Pound writes about her relationship with music and the climate

Put bluntly, age and experience used to be venerated much more than they are now, writes Richard Morrison

We take a look at the arias, movements, songs and dances whose fame has outshone the larger works in which they first appeared