Composers Archive

Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his enduring belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, collaborating with communities and institutions to explore …

Heitor Villa-Lobos’s father was a librarian and an amateur musician. Under the influence of his father’s weekly musical get-togethers, the boy became interested in music. He learned to play cello at age six and was …

Cesar Franck dedicated his violin Sonata as a wedding present to Eugène Ysaÿe, a young Belgian who was in the process of establishing himself as one of the premier violinists in the world. The opening …

Emmanuel Pahud received his first flute lessons as a six-year-old in Rome. Later he studied in Brussels, then in Paris with Michel Debost as well as in Basle, Switzerland with Aurèle Nicolet. He gained orchestral …

Schubert’s three piano sonatas, D 958, 959 and 960, were written in the last years of the composer’s life and are today considered some of the most important works in the piano repertoire. Their individual, …