Unless you’re keeping a close eye on a calendar of bizarre, fringe holidays, you probably aren’t aware that today is Uncommon Instrument Awareness Day. We here at 91Classical love a holiday, and we certainly aren’t going to miss celebrating one all about musical instruments. Join in the festivities and boost your awareness of unusual instruments […]

Each weekday on 91Classical we celebrate the end of the workday with a 5 o’clock waltz, and often our selection comes from a member of the Strauss family. Together, the composers in the family were largely responsible for the popularization of the waltz, which swept through Vienna’s ballrooms beginning in the late 18th century. They’re […]

Chances are, you’ve heard one. From the pages of J.S. Bach’s preludes and fugues, to circus big tops and churches on Sunday mornings, the pipe organ’s distinct timbre has served as the soundtrack to a wide variety of cultural activities and rituals.

The music of Charles Ives and Aaron Copland — born in Connecticut and New York, respectively — might be among what comes to mind when considering quintessentially “American” music. But as we celebrate Independence Day this year, here’s a look at American-inspired music from a different perspective: that of composers who weren’t born in the United States.

In the vein of 91Classical’s Classical Crossroads, our programming feature that explores the blurring of lines between Western classical and other traditions, here’s the third in our series of digital mixtapes. 

Queer composers have been creating music throughout history. Archaic Greek poet Sappho, for instance, was penning homoerotic song lyrics on the island of Lesbos as early as the 7th century BC. In many cases, though, the politics of culture and time may have prevented them from being completely open about their identities—and musicologists have for […]