Brant Taylor walked onto the stage of the Ravinia Festival’s Hunter Pavilion to rehearse for the first time since a $70 million gut renovation and noticed a huge difference. “I found that in the previous iteration of the shell, I was … » Read

Japanese violinist Mana Yanai, age 10, won Il Piccolo Violino Magico International Competition for Young Violinists on July 5 in San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy. She receives a scholarship worth €7,000 and a Fabio Piagentini violin worth … » Read

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s (SFCM) appointment of three internationally recognized artists to its faculty represents a strategic investment in bridging the gap between academic rigor and the pinnacle of professional … » Read

Following report continues  Leipzig Bach Festival coverage, from July 9. With all the change St. Thomas Church (Thomaskirche) has seen since Bach worked (and was buried) there, I was curious to know what it was like to perform there. … » Read

In June, the Leipzig Bach Festival held a “Top 50 Bach Cantata Countdown”: 12 concerts—two per day, with four, and sometimes five cantatas each—counting down to No. 1. This curated craziness, June 11-21, was the brainchild … » Read

The Metropolitan Museum commemorated July 4 with David Lang’s 2014 choral work The National Anthems . The five-movement, 24-minute piece was performed three times (for free) during the afternoon by the Clarion Choir and the Catalyst … » Read

A $1.75 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has breathed new life into the effort to restore and preserve the National Opera House, a 1890s-era Queen Anne-style manor in the Homewood section of Pittsburgh. In 1941, Mary Cardwell … » Read

In all likelihood, tickets to the San Francisco Symphony’s October 2 tribute to Michael Tilson Thomas are going fast, not so much for the starry guest roster as for the sheer “have to be there” impulse it generates among the … » Read

Tito Muñoz, who has been serving as interim music director of the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) Orchestra, will assume the post permanently in the fall, with the title of director and principal conductor and visiting professor of … » Read

One of the many casualties of the war in Gaza has been the branch of Palestine’s Edward Said National Conservatory of Music. Founded in 1993, it once had well-equipped offices in Gaza City, three pianos and storerooms full of instruments … » Read