Discover the Tuba with Classic FM

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John Whitener with his cimbasso backstage at the Royal Albert Hall

Meet the cimbasso, the epic brass contraption heard in ‘Inception’ and ‘Call of Duty’

Hans Nickel and the WDR Symphony Orchestra

Jaw-droppingly nimble soloist plays virtuosic violin Czardas... on the tuba?

Videos

Seven students age 16-18 have been left without their musical instruments for 25 days

‘How is this okay?’ – outrage as seven music students’ brass instruments lost by Lufthansa

The UK experienced its highest ever temperatures on record

How do extreme temperatures affect our musical instruments?

COVID-19 patient serenades hospital staff in Utah with violin

Intubated COVID-19 patient plays violin for medical staff to say a musical ‘thank you’

News & Features

US orchestra study finds trumpet ‘riskiest’ instrument for spreading COVID-19

US orchestra study finds trumpet ‘riskiest’ instrument for spreading COVID-19

Coronavirus

Matt Marzano sustains a note for five minutes using circular breathing

‘Mind-blowing’ tuba player holds a five-minute note using circular breathing

Videos

Pictured: Sarah and Simon Jacobs

Newly-wed couple distraught after ‘sentimental’ tuba stolen from car

I refuse to count this

16 confessions of a brass player that will make you say ‘same’

Paganini tuba

Watch this guy play some virtuosic Paganini on TUBA and make it look easy

Paganini

dad text tuba

This dad accidentally texted using voice recognition while playing the TUBA

Game of Thrones low bass cover

23 low brass playing the Game of Thrones theme is monumentally epic

Discover other brass

Trumpet rental letter

Son finds touching note sent to his struggling mother ‘forgiving trumpet debt’

English trumpeter Alison Balsom plays in Cologne’s philharmonic hall

10 most spectacular pieces of trumpet music

Paul McCartney asked an English trumpeter to play a painfully high piccolo trumpet solo for ‘Penny Lane’

When Paul McCartney asked an English trumpeter to play the painfully high ‘Penny Lane’ piccolo trumpet solo

The top 10 best pieces of music by Haydn.

10 greatest pieces of classical music by Haydn

Haydn

Trumpeter creates mesmerising sound wave visualisation using fire

Trumpeter uses actual fire to create mesmerising soundwave visualisation

Videos

Sheku Kanneh-Mason plays Elgar Cello Concerto; Alison Balsom plays Haydn Trumpet Concerto; Anne-Sophie Mutter plays Williams Violin Concerto No.2

The 20 greatest concertos in classical music

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Trumpeter Matilda Lloyd performs a Puccini aria in a beautiful stairwell acoustic.

Trumpeter finds extraordinary church stairwell acoustic, plays opera’s greatest tune

Puccini

Bugler sounds the Last Post

What is The Last Post and why is it played on Remembrance Day?

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Alison Balsom is an award-winning trumpet soloist

‘To diminish music in education is a really big mistake’ – star trumpeter Alison Balsom

Alison Balsom

John Blanke, Trumpet

Meet John Blanke, Henry VIII’s highly favoured trumpeter and the face of Black Tudor England

Alison Balsom reveals her Top 5 Trumpet Concertos of all time

Star trumpeter Alison Balsom reveals the top five trumpet concertos of all time

Alison Balsom

A Ukrainian musician plays the National Anthem in a metro station being used as a bomb shelter

Ukrainian trumpeter’s solo national anthem echoes through underground shelter

Videos

The astounding moment a virtuoso played three trumpets at once

The moment an incredible Swedish brass virtuoso played three trumpets at once

Trumpeter Alison Balsom takes part in landmark Covid-19 study for musicians

Covid study with trumpeter Alison Balsom reveals brass-playing is safer than talking

Alison Balsom

This trumpeter’s ‘Star Wars’ rendition in a deserted stairwell will give you goosebumps

This trumpeter’s ‘Star Wars’ fanfare in a deserted stairwell will give you goosebumps

Trumpet plastic bottle mute

These trumpeters used plastic bottles as mutes, because… conductor said so

Latest on Classic FM

Hayato Sumino plays Bolero on two pianos.

Viral virtuoso Hayato Sumino plays Boléro on two pianos

Cellist serenades chickens with ‘L’heure exquise’ at 18th-century English farmhouse

Cellist serenades chickens with a French love song at 18th-century English farmhouse

Videos

Denzel Washington speaks to Dan Walker about his role as Macrinus in Gladiator II, plus his favourite classical music.

Gladiator II star Denzel Washington on classical music: ‘Bocelli’s my boy!’

Gladiator 2 soundtrack: who composed it and which themes feature?

Everything you need to know about the soundtrack to Gladiator II

Gregson-Williams

Yuja Wang plays a piano with three pedals – but what are they for?

Why does a piano have three pedals, and what do they do?

Einaudi surprised the crowd at St Pancras.

Einaudi surprises commuters with train station piano performance

Einaudi

From Elgar to Ivor Gurney – explore reflective pieces of classical music for Remembrance Day

15 reflective pieces of classical music for Remembrance Day

Here’s why Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is an unassailably epic work of genius

Here’s why Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is an unassailably epic work of genius

Rachmaninov

Chopin

A new piece by Chopin has been discovered after almost 200 years

Chopin

The best musicals on film.

12 best movie adaptions of musicals, ranked

Latest instrument features

Delirious dog sings unimaginably virtuosic vocal solo in a piano room

Delirious dog sings virtuosic vocal solo in a piano room

Thurzó Zoltán during his record breaking attempt.

Romanian pianist hits piano key 500 times in 30 seconds, breaking world record

Lucy Illingworth and her mother on stage at the King’s Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle in May 2023

Who is Lucy from The Piano? Meet the incredible blind and neurodivergent young pianist

Cat piano prodigy surprises owner with tuneful solo.

Owner catches her cat playing the piano, with surprising virtuosity…

Ben Palmer

Conductor reacts to himself conducting Grieg’s ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’!

Grieg

Best classical music

See more Best classical music

The 15 most famous tunes in classical music

The 15 most famous tunes in classical music

Best symphonies: Ludwig van Beethoven, Antonin Dvorak and Florence Price

The 15 greatest symphonies of all time

4 eras of classical music

The 4 eras of classical music: a quick guide

A young Marin Alsop, Sir Simon Rattle, and Seiji Ozawa conduct their respective orchestras.

The 25 greatest conductors of all time

Hildegard von Bingen, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Edward Elgar among the greatest composers in classical music history.

The 30 greatest classical music composers of all time

More instruments

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