Opinion Archives an exclusive Classical Music e-Magazine Sat, 22 Nov 2025 13:38:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 “You Can’t Taste Technique!” https://interlude.hk/you-cant-taste-technique/ https://interlude.hk/you-cant-taste-technique/#respond Mon, 24 Nov 2025 16:04:50 +0000 https://interlude.hk/?p=142172 This quote is from an episode of Masterchef: The Professionals, a TV series to which I am addicted. It’s from a professional chef, a finalist in one season of the competition, and it struck a chord with me the moment

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]]> https://interlude.hk/you-cant-taste-technique/feed/ 0 Why Can’t Classical Music Look Ahead https://interlude.hk/why-cant-classical-music-look-ahead/ https://interlude.hk/why-cant-classical-music-look-ahead/#respond Tue, 30 Sep 2025 16:47:10 +0000 https://interlude.hk/?p=140414 There is no genre of music which puts so much emphasis on the past as much as Western classical music. In fact, there are very few artistic mediums which focus so much on the past than music. Perhaps painting. In

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]]> https://interlude.hk/why-cant-classical-music-look-ahead/feed/ 0 The Predictability of the 2025 Van Cliburn Competition https://interlude.hk/the-predictability-of-the-2025-van-cliburn-competition/ https://interlude.hk/the-predictability-of-the-2025-van-cliburn-competition/#respond Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:26:20 +0000 https://interlude.hk/?p=137787 After 2 weeks into the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, Belgium, one of the oldest and most prestigious competitions in classical music, another exciting competition – the Van Cliburn Piano Competition – began in full swing across the pond in

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]]> https://interlude.hk/the-predictability-of-the-2025-van-cliburn-competition/feed/ 0 The Unpredictability of the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Competition https://interlude.hk/the-unpredictability-of-the-2025-queen-elizabeth-competition/ https://interlude.hk/the-unpredictability-of-the-2025-queen-elizabeth-competition/#respond Sat, 21 Jun 2025 16:10:32 +0000 https://interlude.hk/?p=137672 The Queen Elisabeth Competition was founded in the year 1937 in Brussels, initially a competition for violinists. In 1938, pianists were included, followed by singers in 1988, and cellists in 2017. Since then, these instrumentalists would take turns competing in

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]]> https://interlude.hk/the-unpredictability-of-the-2025-queen-elizabeth-competition/feed/ 0 What Makes a Good Concert? https://interlude.hk/what-makes-a-good-concert/ https://interlude.hk/what-makes-a-good-concert/#respond Mon, 14 Apr 2025 16:35:33 +0000 https://interlude.hk/?p=136017 To me, a good concert experience = a good performance + organiser + audience + community. A good concert experience is the product of several key components: performance, organiser, audience, and community. Each element plays a pivotal role in shaping

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]]> https://interlude.hk/what-makes-a-good-concert/feed/ 0 The Musician’s ‘Non-Negotiables’ https://interlude.hk/the-musicians-non-negotiables/ https://interlude.hk/the-musicians-non-negotiables/#respond Sat, 07 Dec 2024 16:07:08 +0000 https://interlude.hk/?p=132865 This article is inspired by Episode 2 of Season 3 of ‘The Bear’, a drama series from Disney+ about a young chef, Carmy Berzatto, trained in the fine dining world, who comes home to Chicago to run his family sandwich

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]]> https://interlude.hk/the-musicians-non-negotiables/feed/ 0 The 12th Hamamatsu International Piano Competition Judgement https://interlude.hk/the-12th-hamamatsu-international-piano-competition-judgement/ https://interlude.hk/the-12th-hamamatsu-international-piano-competition-judgement/#respond Thu, 14 Nov 2024 17:43:03 +0000 https://interlude.hk/?p=132354 Between 1912 and 1948, art competitions were part of the Olympic Games. Initially, these competitions were grouped into five broad categories, including architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. In terms of music, subcategories encompassed mixed music, compositions for orchestra, solo

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]]> https://interlude.hk/the-12th-hamamatsu-international-piano-competition-judgement/feed/ 0 Has The Leeds Piano Competition Gone Woke? https://interlude.hk/has-the-leeds-piano-competition-gone-woke/ https://interlude.hk/has-the-leeds-piano-competition-gone-woke/#comments Wed, 25 Sep 2024 16:32:08 +0000 https://interlude.hk/?p=131194 In my previous article about the Leeds Piano Competition in 2021, I insinuated some evidence of an “old boys club”, as there were 5 men selected to advance to the finals out of 10 semi-finalists comprising 4 women and 6

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]]> https://interlude.hk/has-the-leeds-piano-competition-gone-woke/feed/ 3 Nurturing the Musical Brain https://interlude.hk/nurturing-the-musical-brain/ https://interlude.hk/nurturing-the-musical-brain/#respond Thu, 28 Mar 2024 16:25:45 +0000 https://interlude.hk/?p=127522 The musical — and to the extent, the artistic — brain needs to be continuously nurtured. Indeed, no other art form can have such an impact on the brain and how it perceives sounds. This nourishment and development should be

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]]> https://interlude.hk/nurturing-the-musical-brain/feed/ 0 Music for Life Skills https://interlude.hk/music-for-life-skills/ https://interlude.hk/music-for-life-skills/#respond Fri, 01 Mar 2024 16:08:37 +0000 https://interlude.hk/?p=127018 When I was studying music at school in the UK in the 1980s (I took music at O- and A-Level, in addition to studying the piano privately), I was often the butt of jokes that I had “taken the easy

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