THE MAGAZINE
Danae Venson, Composer and Graduate, The Juilliard School: “Words were failing to describe what I felt, so I began to teach myself how to write music.”
Danae Venson’s music begins where language fails—shaped by jazz, gospel, classical tradition, and the vivid colours of her synesthesia. In this conversation with TWoA, the Juilliard-trained composer reflects on her artistic beginnings, composing through trauma, and discovering a musical vocabulary entirely her own. Read on to discover how she’s shaping the music she always longed to hear.
The Killer History Can’t Escape: How a 300-year-old Outlaw Became an Internet Meme
History doesn’t always retire its characters. Sometimes it just changes their stage. This piece follows a 300-year-old outlaw as he slips from London’s theatres to Berlin’s cabarets, Broadway’s brass, late-night advertising, and finally the strange churn of internet culture. Read this article to see how Macheath survived each era—and why his grin keeps returning.
Minimalist Music: The Joy of Repetition
Minimalist music sounds simple until you learn how to listen to it. In this article, TWoA looks at why composers like Steve Reich turned repetition into motion, texture, and quiet transformation—and how one piece, Music for 18 Musicians, can change the way you hear your own everyday routines.
What is the Music of the Spheres?
The idea that the universe is built on harmony isn’t just poetic—it’s ancient philosophy, from Boethius to Kepler. In this article, TWoA traces how “the music of the spheres” shaped astronomy, theology, and the way we still imagine order in the cosmos. Read on to discover why the universe, in theory, has always been singing.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Just Went Live: TwoSet Violin and the Magic of Livestreamed Classical Performances
TwoSet Violin’s livestreamed Tchaikovsky and Sibelius concertos look nothing like a traditional recital—but their chaotic, global, hyper-interactive audience comes surprisingly close to how people once listened to classical music. Discover how YouTube, live chat, and 50,000 viewers revive a forgotten history of noisy, communal, joy-driven performance.
A Brief Introduction to the Wonderful World of Classical Saxophone
The saxophone isn’t just jazz and pop culture. In this guide, TWoA traces the instrument’s overlooked classical history—from concerti and quartets to the pioneering players shaping the repertoire today.
Gilles Rico, Stage Director: “I Consider Myself First and Foremost a Storyteller.”
What really shapes an opera—is it simply the music, or also the eye that decides how a performance should be seen? Stage director Gilles Rico sits down with TWoA to explain how ideas, images, and instincts give a production its spine. Read on.
The Secret World of Musical Spies
What kind of person makes a good spy? Four hundred and fifty years ago, Europe’s spymasters had an unexpected answer: musicians. In this TWoA feature, uncover how composers and court performers slipped across borders, carried coded messages, and became unlikely agents in a world of secrecy.
Happy World Ice-Cream Day: Rachmaninoff’s Cherry Malted Milk Float
Rachmaninoff, stern onstage and sweet-toothed in private, adored one thing above all: a cherry malted milk float. For World Ice-Cream Day, TWoA dives into the dessert that softened a musical giant—and why this fizzy American treat meant more to him than anyone knew.
Are Orchestras in Need of an Update?
Is the symphony orchestra a doomed relic, or simply overdue for reinvention? As UK institutions confront funding cuts and shrinking audiences, ensembles like Aurora Orchestra and Manchester Collective are rewriting the rules of performance. With young listeners engaging with classical music in record numbers, the future may lie not in preserving tradition but in reshaping it.
Encrypting Secret Messages in Music: Mercury, or, the Secret and Swift Messenger
Before espionage had satellites and surveillance, it had something subtler: music. Step into the seventeenth century, where court musicians slipped secrets into their scores and John Wilkins sketched a cipher that transformed music into a covert script. Read on to find out their secrets.
Grounds for Rebellion: Bach’s Coffee Cantata
“If I can’t drink my bowl of coffee three times daily…” Bach’s Coffee Cantata begins as a lighthearted story about a girl and her devotion to caffeine—but beneath it runs a quiet feminist rebellion taking shape in 1730s Leipzig.
Lea Brückner, Violinist and Climate Activist: “You Can Drive Social Change Through Culture.”
Lea Brückner is a violinist, moderator and climate ambassador who has carved out a unique career for herself, combining her passion for music with her commitment to sustainability. TWoA talked to Lea about the role culture can play in the battle against climate change, and about the specific steps cultural organisations can take towards becoming more sustainable.
The Mathemagical Music of Michael Maier
If you’ve ever heard a piece of music and thought, “That’s magical!” you probably just meant that the music made you feel a sense of wonder. But what if sound actually had special powers? What if you could use music as a key for learning ancient secrets about the cosmos?
Death in Springtime: The Uncanny Power of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”
Perhaps you notice patterns within yourself that stir as the winter colours into spring or the summer burns into autumn. Russian avant-garde composer Igor Stravinsky captures this most masterfully in The Rite of Spring.
From Sicilian Fisherwomen to Pious Folk Hymns: Cathy Berberian’s “New Vocality” Style
Is this a comic strip or a music score? Find out.
Celestial Soundtracks: Hollywood and the Music of György Ligeti
Some pieces of twentieth century classical music sound as if they've come from another planet. György Ligeti's Atmosphères is one of those pieces. And if you think that avant-garde classical music and Hollywood don’t go together, think again: director Stanley Kubrick was so intrigued by Ligeti’s music that he used it in his 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Adapting to Loss of Limbs: The Stories of Two Musicians - Django Reinhardt and Paul Wittgenstein
Having strong and competent hands is important to being a musician. But what about those who are missing limbs? Here are two snapshots of influential musicians, Django Reinhardt and Paul Wittgenstein, who rose to prominence through adapting their technique to a physical disability.
Rhyuhn Green, 18, Pianist and Composer: Creating a Melting Pot in Classical Music
Rhyuhn Green is a young composer and pianist with a vision: classical music should become a melting pot of different cultures. The Juilliard student is a recipient of a prestigious Kovner fellowship and has just released his debut album, ph3onix3s. TWoA talked to the Philadelphia native about his musical journey, leadership in the classical arts, and, of course, his album.
Sleep, Dreams, Fantasies: Three Very Short Essays on Schumann’s Kinderszenen
While other composers wrote their pieces with quill and ink, Schumann composed using magic. His head was constantly filled with stories and daydreams, and every now and then, one of them would find their way onto a piece of paper – this is how he wrote his Kinderszenen.