Freya Parr
Digital Editor and Staff Writer, BBC Music Magazine
Freya Parr is BBC Music Magazine's digital editor and staff writer, editing and writing on all styles of music across both the website and print magazine. She has also written for titles including the Guardian, Circus Journal, Frankie and Suitcase Magazine, and runs The Noiseletter, a fortnightly arts and culture publication. Freya's main areas of interest and research lie in 20th-century and contemporary music. She's a regular sea shanty singer, folk obsessive and occasional flautist, pianist, organist and musical theatre director.
Recent articles by Freya Parr
Best wedding music: the ultimate classical music choices for your wedding ceremony
Whether you're getting married in a church or a registry office, everyone needs music. Here are some of the best bridal choruses and pieces of music to be played on the organ or during your ceremony or service
Narcissist, adulterer, social climber, frustrated genius... Who was Alma Mahler?
Thwarted as a composer, was Gustav Mahler's wife, Alma Mahler, really a ‘boundless narcissist’? Perhaps a troubled soul lurked beneath...
Chineke!: meet the UK orchestra exposing classical music's diversity problem
Chi-chi Nwanoku's trailblazing orchestra has kickstarted the careers of artists including Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and is providing a platform for brilliant musicians from the black, Asian and ethnically diverse community who aren't getting the performance opportunities they deserve elsewhere
Struggling to sleep? These 11 dreamlike, ethereal works will help you get the rest you need
We guide you through the pieces of music that will help relax the mind, calm the nerves and send you off to sleep
Best of Holst: six essential works
There's so much more to Holst than the Planets, majestic though that work undoubtedly is. Here are more works to continue your Holst journey
A Beethoven timeline: 20 key dates from the life of one of music's most iconic figures
A very quick guide to some of the most important moments in Beethoven's life
Here are seven great novels about composers... and three to avoid
The BBC Music Magazine team reviews some great (and some not so great) works of fiction featuring Mozart, Beethoven, Hildegard and others
What's the hardest classical piece to memorise? Three top musicians name the works that tax their brains
From Beethoven to Glass, three performers choose the work that they've found hardest to commit to memory
The cellist, the cameraman, the Prommer and the snapper: meet the people who put the magic into the BBC Proms
Freya Parr heads to the Royal Albert Hall to meet some of the many unsung heroes who make the Proms such an unrivalled success
Jessye Norman: the game-changing singer and diversity champion who performed for two presidents
She sang for two presidents and picked up four Grammys, and made huge strides for black singers in a largely white industry. Meet the iconic, game-changing American soprano, Jessye Norman
Happy Birthday, Gustav Mahler! Here are six essential works by the great late Romantic
We name the very best pieces of music written by the symphony's great synthesist Mahler
These are ten of the greatest works written for cello - and the landmark recordings you must hear
We've thought long and hard and come up with ten of our favourite pieces of classical music for the cello. Oh, and we've also selected the must-have recordings to add to your collection
New balls please: six great tennis-playing composers
Rebecca Franks looks at the composers who enjoyed a bit of serve and volley
West Side Story, an FBI warning, Beethoven by the Wall: Leonard Bernstein's eventful and inspiring life
From West Side Story to the Berlin Wall, here is a short guide to the main events in the remarkable life of Leonard Bernstein
Byrdle and Wordle: here are all the classical music words you need to ace your favourite word games
Stuck for five or six-letter words for your daily fix of Byrdle or Wordle? We're here to help – bringing you all the best classical music-inspired words to try out
What is a violin? A guide to the most popular stringed instrument
Our technical guide to the violin: what it is and how it works
Ben and Imo: a guide to the Royal Shakespeare Company play about Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst
'Ben and Imo' began life as a play for BBC Radio 3, but has been reworked for its stage debut with the RSC, outlining the creative relationship between the two composers
Where do you start with Schubert? Five great works to kick off your Schubert journey
We choose the best pieces by the legendary musical prodigy, Schubert
Beethoven's Symphony No. 2: a sunny work peppered with brutal sforzandos
We dive into Beethoven's playful, exuberant Second Symphony
The Kanneh-Masons: meet Britain's most talented musical family
Sheku Kanneh-Mason caught the world's attention when he performed at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, but his siblings are just as talented...
Clive Myrie: a brief guide to the BBC Proms and BBC General Election presenter
Everything you need to know about the Mastermind presenter and new star of the BBC Proms presenting line-up, Clive Myrie
Ondes Martenot: a guide to this early, eerie electronic musical instrument
We explain the workings of the unusual instrument, the Ondes Martenot, that takes centre stage in Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony
Circle of fifths: your key to understanding musical harmony
If you struggle with music theory, the circle of fifths can seem a confusing concept with its roots firmly in mathematics. Fear not, we discuss what this diagram shows and its use in music
Best sea shanties: six of the best seafarer's songs
There's nothing like singing along to a good old sea shanty. Here are six of the greatest sea shanty songs to sing by the sea, in the pub or at any of the UK's brilliant sea shanty festivals