At first glance, she was elderly and delicate – a woman in her 90s with a declining memory. But then she sat down at the piano to play. “Everybody in the room was totally startled,” says Eleanor Selfridge-Field, who researches music and symbols...

Photographer: Chris Payne. Out near Laguardia Airport, in Queens, is the Steinway piano factory. It smells like sawdust and lacquer. Some 1,500 pianos leave this factory every year. And Wally Boot plays every single one. “I've been here for 52 years,”...

Gowing up, Lisha Lecari studied piano, listened nonstop to Aretha Franklin, the Beatles, and Bach, played guitar, and attended rock concerts. “During my last year of high school I got hooked on studying music in depth, not just listening to it, discovered...

by Anastasia Tsioulcas Last summer, we published a week-long series called "The Young Person's Guide to Making Music" in collaboration with our colleagues at the radio program From The Top. The idea was to provide guidance and suggestions for parents...

by Anastasia Tsioulcas The relationship between a teacher and a student can be transformative. It's a particularly important relationship in classical music. A teacher is part mentor, part manager — even a parental figure. Recently, I had the unique...