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

The three films of the Christmas season. Well, three films.

The 10 best Christmas film scores

Holly and the Ivy.

What are the lyrics to ‘The Holly and Ivy’, and what is it about?

Christmas

Two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree...

Which are ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ and what are the lyrics to the Christmas carol?

Christmas

What are the lyrics to ‘O Come O Come Emmanuel’?

What are the lyrics to ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’, and what is the Christmas carol really about?

Christmas

Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason forced to cancel sold-out concert after Air Canada deny boarding with cello

Kanneh-Mason duo forced to cancel sold-out concert after Air Canada deny boarding with cello

Sheku Kanneh-Mason

Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma performs Bach’s beautiful prelude in newly renovated Notre Dame cathedral

Yo-Yo Ma

Lang Lang in Notre Dame reopening concert.

Lang Lang plays stunning Saint-Saëns in newly-reopened Notre Dame

Moana soundtrack

Moana 2 soundtrack: what are the songs and who are songwriters Barlow and Bear?

Guest conductor, Tim Schultheis, truly came to sleigh at this orchestral concert...

Audience member conducts ‘Sleigh Ride’, stealing the show in joyful moment

Videos

Choristers from Salisbury Cathedral Choir have their final practice ahead of Christmas Eve

20 famous Christmas carol lyrics

Christmas

Latest instrument features

Jacqueline du Pre, who brought the Concerto to prominence in her breakthrough recording with John Barbirolli and the LSO in 1965.

What’s the history of Elgar’s Cello Concerto – the work with a disastrous premiere?

Elgar

‘I’m Bach’ – TwoSet Violin officially announce return in teaser video

‘I’m Bach’ – TwoSet Violin officially announce new name in music video

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

Why do pianos have three pedals, and what do they do?

Ophélie Gaillard’s 300-year-old cello has been stolen for a second time

French cellist reunited with rare €1.3 million cello following home burglary

Ilona Schmiel, leader of the Tonhalle Orchestra, Zurich.

Why do orchestras have ‘leaders’ and what do they do?

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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

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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

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