T/classical-music

  1. In a Passionate Composer’s First Opera, Sex Flirts With Death Arts, June 19

    Rebecca Saunders has collaborated with the artist Ed Atkins to create “Lash,” a work that hovers around themes of illness and intimacy.

  2. 5 Highlights From the Pianist Alfred Brendel’s Sprawling Career Arts, June 18

    Brendel, who died on Tuesday at 94, concentrated on a small number of canonical composers, mainly Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert.

  3. The Best Classical Music of 2025, So Far Arts, June 18

    Our critics picked nine performances that included star turns, new opera productions and the unveiling of a concert hall at the Frick Collection.

  4. Alfred Brendel, Bravura Pianist Who Forged a Singular Path, Dies at 94 Arts, June 17

    With little formal training but full of ideas, he focused on the core classical composers, winning over audiences (though not every critic) worldwide.

  5. Does It Matter How a Cello Is Held? It’s a Centuries-Old Debate. Arts, June 17

    Historical response to the cello endpin, which anchors the instrument to the floor, has alternated between acceptance and pushback.

  6. An Experimental Music Collective Arrives at Lincoln Center Arts, June 16

    The American Modern Opera Company is taking over Lincoln Center for a five-week residency. It is both a milestone and a homecoming for these artists.

  7. A Train Station Taught Me What Education Is For Opinion, June 12

    From any angle, Michigan Central Station is a revelation.

  8. The Pint-Size Singers Hoping to Be Opera Stars Arts, June 11

    The Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus has long been an elite training ground for young singers. Getting in requires grit, personality and a soaring voice.

  9. The Most Open-Eared Festival in America Is Ojai Arts, June 10

    Birds joined in for the blissed-out sounds of concerts organized by the adventurous flutist Claire Chase at the Ojai Music Festival in California.

  10. The Classical Music Our Critics Can’t Stop Thinking About Arts, June 5

    Watch and listen to recent highlights, including a Shostakovich festival in Germany, the Cleveland Orchestra’s Strauss and Nina Stemme’s Isolde.

  11. They Led the 2000s Indie-Rock Boom. Now They’re Vying for Oscars. Arts, June 5

    As Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross continue to spotlight film music, members of Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, Interpol and Animal Collective have been joining the field.

  12. At 85, Annea Lockwood Isn’t Done Listening to the Earth Arts, June 4

    Lockwood, a composer who spins music from the sounds of the natural world, is sharing with and learning from a new generation of artists.

  13. Per Norgard, Daring Symphonic Composer, Dies at 92 Arts, June 3

    Considered the father of Danish contemporary music, he aspired to works in which “everything came out of a single note,” he said, “like the big bang.”

  14. Lakota Music Project Merges Two Traditions for One Common Cause Arts, June 3

    For almost 20 years, the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra has been collaborating with Native artists, aiming to address a history of racial tension.

  15. He Reinvigorated the Met Opera’s Chorus. Next Stop, Chicago. Arts, June 3

    The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has hired Donald Palumbo, 76, the former chorus master of the Metropolitan Opera, to lead its chorus.

  16. David Cope, Godfather of A.I. Music, Is Dead at 83 Technology, June 2

    His EMI algorithm, an early form of artificial intelligence that he developed in the 1980s, prompted searching questions about the limits of human creativity.

  17. Hear the Sound of a New Generation of South Korean Musicians Arts, June 2

    Unsuk Chin, the curator of the Seoul Festival in Los Angeles, shares music by some of her favorite young composers and performers.

  18. Guy Klucevsek, Multi-Genre Accordion Virtuoso, Is Dead at 78 Arts, June 1

    He elevated his instrument’s often-maligned reputation with deft musicianship, and by writing and commissioning a wide range of music.

  19. Vienna’s Musical Message to Aliens: One, Two, Three. One, Two, Three. Arts, June 1

    Voyager craft have carried galaxies of information to and from space since 1977. Earthlings in Vienna are finally correcting one cultural omission.

  20. These Fans Love ‘Pride & Prejudice’ a Billion Times Over Arts, June 1

    The soundtrack for Joe Wright’s film adaptation of the Austen novel has long been a hit. At a 20th-anniversary ball, people got to hear it live.

  21. Charles Wadsworth, Pianist and Champion of Chamber Music, Dies at 96 Arts, May 30

    As the founder, director and genial host of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, he helped drive the chamber music boom of the 1970s.

  22. Waiting for Gustavo Dudamel, the Philharmonic Is Doing Just Fine Arts, May 30

    Between music directors this season, the orchestra has been sounding fresh, engaged and more cohesive.

  23. They’re Exquisite. They’re Divine. They’re Incomprehensible. Why? Opinion, May 29

    Opera’s greatest composers wanted us to understand the words. English, please!

  24. 5 Classical Music Albums You Can Listen to Right Now Arts, May 29

    Brooklyn Rider’s exploration of the four elements, miniatures by Kurtag and the Anzû Quartet’s debut recording are among the highlights.

  25. What I Learned From Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, a Sublime Voice Arts, May 28

    The baritone Benjamin Appl remembers his teacher at 100, as one of the 20th century’s greatest singers and a complicated, conflicted man.

  26. Why Isn’t My Favorite Composer More Popular? Arts, May 27

    I love the operas of Leos Janacek. So do audiences — when they go to see them. But the works remain stubbornly on the outskirts of the repertory.

  27. Jaap van Zweden’s Brief, Fraught Time Atop the New York Philharmonic Arts & Leisure, May 28

    He arrived on a mission to reshape the ensemble as its music director. Now, as he departs, he’s still making sense of his pandemic-interrupted tenure.

  28. Audience Snapshot: Four Years After Shutdown, a Mixed Recovery Culture, March 12

    Covid brought live performance to a halt. Now the audience for pop concerts and sporting events has roared back, while attendance on Broadway and at some major museums is still down.

  29. It’s Never Too Late to Find a New Career (a Mile Above Your Old One) Projects and Initiatives, March 12

    Patrick Milando, an accomplished French horn player, now splits his time between the orchestra pit and the cockpit, where he teaches budding pilots like he himself once was.

  30. Channeling the Pain of Chinese Immigrants, in Music and Verse Arts & Leisure, January 7

    “Angel Island,” an oratorio by Huang Ruo, brings to life the stark poetry of the people who were detained on the California island in the early 1900s.

  31. Raising Our Glasses to a Pianist Who Loves Vodka Metro, October 13

    Gary Graffman, who is turning 95, is a man of many enthusiasms, including citrus infusions.

  32. Audiences Are Coming Back to Orchestras After ‘Scary’ Sales Last Fall Culture, May 23

    “It seemed like a switch flipped right before Thanksgiving,” the leader of the Chicago Symphony said.

  33. The Met’s Efforts to Increase Ticket Sales for Operas Letters, December 30

    Readers praise plans for more contemporary works. Also: Zelensky and American values; protecting the minority; remote work; the Groucho exception.

  34. Onstage, It’s Finally Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas Again Culture, December 21

    After one holiday season lost to the pandemic and another curtailed by Omicron, seasonal staples including “The Nutcracker,” “A Christmas Carol” and “Messiah” are back in force.

  35. After Covid, Playing Trumpet Taught Me How to Breathe Again Magazine, November 29

    The benefits of group (music) therapy.

  36. In New York, Masks Will Not Be Required at the Opera or Ballet Culture, October 17

    Many arts groups, worried about alienating older patrons, have maintained strict rules. Now “the time has come to move on,” one leader said.

  37. Live Performance Is Back. But Audiences Have Been Slow to Return. Culture, August 21

    Attendance lagged in the comeback season, as the challenges posed by the coronavirus persisted. Presenters hope it was just a blip.

  38. Theater at Geffen Hall to Be Named for Two Key Donors Culture, August 3

    The Wu Tsai Theater will honor a $50 million gift from Joseph Tsai, a founder of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, and Clara Wu Tsai, a philanthropist.

  39. San Antonio Symphony to Dissolve Amid Labor Dispute Culture, June 17

    The decision will make San Antonio the largest American city without a major orchestra.

  40. San Antonio Symphony to Dissolve Amid Labor Dispute Culture, June 17

    The decision will make San Antonio the largest American city without a major orchestra.

  41. Never Missing a Curtain This Season, the Met Opera Takes a Final Bow Culture, June 13

    As it ended a challenging pandemic return, the Met had one last marathon: a matinee, an evening performance, and then moving out as American Ballet Theater moved in.

  42. New York Philharmonic Agrees to Restore Pay for Musicians Culture, June 13

    After a stronger-than-expected season, the orchestra said it would reverse pay cuts imposed at the height of the pandemic.

  43. At the Met This Season, Opera Was Icing on the Cake Arts & Leisure, June 12

    Amid a labor battle, the continuing pandemic and war in Ukraine, it often felt as though the real drama was in simply putting on a show.