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
Christmas choral music: 11 transcendentally beautiful works for the festive season
What are the greatest songs and choral works written for the festive period?
Just why are choristers' voices so beautiful? Science has the answer
Why are choir boys and girls' singing voices so tuneful? Scientists explain just what makes choristers' voices so special and distinctive
History of carol singing: when did the much-loved Christmas tradition begin?
The history of carol singing may go back as far as the medieval era, and has appeared in literature for many years, but it was during Victorian times it became really popular
Why did the FBI keep a file on him? And more fascinating facts from Leonard Bernstein's eventful 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
Bach for beginners: 12 great recordings to unlock the Baroque master's magical music
Pianist George Lepauw introduces us to his essential Bach listening
The best classical music for winter
We select our favourite wintry classical music works to accompany your cold winter evenings
Best school hymns: ten tunes we loved to belt out at school assembly
Presenting ten of the best school hymns that everyone looked forward to – and belted at the top of their lungs
Best of Elgar: seven essential works by the great British composer
We choose the best pieces by the legendary figure of English music, Elgar
Best operas for beginners: seven operas newbies will love
Want to try opera but don't know where to start? Freya Parr shares the best operas for beginners to the form
Best piano concertos of all time: 12 incredible works for piano and orchestra
These are some of the greatest piano concertos - the finest works ever written for piano with orchestra
Hardest classical work to memorise: we asked top musicians to reveal the works that test their grey cells
From Beethoven to Glass, three performers choose the work that they've found hardest to commit to memory
The Lark Ascending: the story of Vaughan Williams's evocative masterpiece, and five great recordings
A guide to The Lark Ascending, Vaughan Williams's much-loved work for violin and orchestra
King Charles discusses his experience of playing the cello 'rather badly' in Beethoven's Fifth Symphony
The Prince of Wales joined the poet laureate Simon Armitage on his BBC Radio 4 podcast 'The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed'
Charles and Diana wedding music: what music was performed at the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana?
Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in a ceremony at St Paul's Cathedral in 1981, accompanied by three choirs, three orchestras and a fanfare ensemble
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
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
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
Best of Mahler: 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