We investigate why classical music and the high arts are so inhospitable to people from the working-class in Australia – a country that considers itself a classless society where everyone has “a fair go”.

Chris Lian-Lloyd explores what classical music live streaming can learn from sports coverage.

Many are afraid of dying, but for these two composers, that was only the half of it.

In his new book, retired British surgeon Jonathan Noble investigates the myths and misdiagnoses that plague the great composers. He tells us about the historians and critics who got it wrong, and why some “kindly quacks” deserve to be let off the hook.

Curated clapping, and keeping mum between orchestral movements, was developed in the 20th century. But applause is most satisfying when it’s spontaneous – as artists know.

Or how the Austrian composer perfected the death stare a century before Julie Bishop.

From In Dulci Jubilo to Handel’s Messiah and beyond, Clive Paget dons the gay apparel to unwrap the story of the Christmas musical canon, tracing it across two millennia and numerous countries.

A wade through the tsunami of seasonal releases to recommend the best of the fest.

Do a widow, an aria and a prostitute link the composer of La Juive with Marcel Proust?

Taking into account style and accuracy, a student at the University of Edinburgh rated the violin emoji from Microsoft to Twitter.

Could classical music pick up some runs from cricket? Pianist Chris Lloyd takes to the crease to suggest that concerts might expand their boundaries and score better if they looked to sport.

Ferdinand Hiller did history a favour when he brought a pair of scissors along to view a corpse.