Discover the Tuba with Classic FM

Donald Trump has declared tubas, trombones, trumpets, and French horns a national security threat.

Trump administration declares brass instruments a national security threat

Exclusive
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?

News & Features

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’

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

Rare iron age trumpet unearthed in Norfolk

Rare iron age battle trumpet unearthed in Norfolk

Orchestra formation

What are all the instruments in an orchestra?

A boy plays the trumpet at a No Kings protest in San Diego

‘Goosebumps’ as young boy plays Star-Spangled Banner on his trumpet at San Diego protest

Brass players delight passengers with impromptu ‘The Bare Necessities’ on aeroplane

Brass players delight passengers with impromptu ‘The Bare Necessities’ on aeroplane

Videos

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

Exclusive
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?

Exclusive
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

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Classic FM Live with Viking returns to the Royal Albert Hall in October 2026!

Get tickets to Classic FM Live with Viking at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2026!

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Actor Richard Armitage joins Classic FM to present new series ‘Curtain Call’

Classic FM Plus banner

Classic FM launches new ad-free radio service, Classic FM Plus

Howard Shore’s score to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ has been crowned No.1 in the Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame 2026.

‘The Lord of the Rings’ crowned UK’s favourite film score in 25th anniversary year

The 2025 winners of the Classic FM Music Teacher of the Year Awards, with hosts Dan Walker and Myleene Klass at Classic FM Live.

Classic FM Music Teacher of the Year Awards 2026: vote for the Lifetime Achievement Winner!

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210 tiny Mozart statuettes have gone missing from a display in Salzburg.

The magic loot - 210 tiny golden Mozarts vanish from Salzburg display

Mozart

Yuja Wang is the star of a new, upcoming documentary, ‘YUJA’.

Grammy Award-winning pianist Yuja Wang stars in new documentary, ‘YUJA’

Yuja Wang

Andrea Bocelli is giving his first-ever headline concert in Wales.

Andrea Bocelli announces first-ever headline concert in Wales

Win

A-level music has fallen to a new record low, as almost half of UK adults regret not continuing musical activity.

One in three adults regret giving up music, as A-level entries plummet

John Malkovich plays Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache in new biopic ‘The Yellow Tie’.

Watch John Malkovich as conductor Sergiu Celibidache in new biopic trailer

Latest instrument features

Pedro Pascal will play a professional cellist in new film ‘Behemoth!’

Pedro Pascal on playing cello: “The hardest thing I’ve ever learned to do”

Edinburgh International Festival will be phone-free in 2026, says festival director Nicola Benedetti.

‘Lights down, phones off’, says Edinburgh festival director Nicola Benedetti

Nicola Benedetti

Engineers have created a robotic hand that can learn and repeat music ‘by ear’.

Engineers invent piano-playing robotic hand that can learn music by ‘ear’

A handwritten manuscript book, belonging to a 22-year-old Mozart, has been discovered in Paris.

22-year-old Mozart’s handwritten notebook unearthed in ‘major discovery’

Mozart

Captain of France’s national football team, Kylian Mbappé, played flute in school.

Meet France’s flute-playing football captain, Kylian Mbappé

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The 15 most famous tunes in classical music

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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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