LONDON—The venerable BBC Proms season launched last week promising plenty of new music to offset the familiar staples. This July 21 concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall was a typical example, with a first half given over to Tom … » Read

AIX-EN-PROVENCE—This year’s Aix Festival has attracted plenty of critical attention for its stagings of operatic works, both familiar ( Don Giovanni ) and less-so (Charpentier’s Louise and Cavalli’s La Calisto ). Alongside … » Read

AIX-EN-PROVENCE—While this year’s Aix Festival took place across all three of the city’s opera venues, it was the 77-year-old auditorium set in the courtyard of the Archbishop’s Palace that housed two of its three … » Read

Ancient Greek theater may not make the most obvious pairing with Black Pentecostalism, but The Gospel at Colonus has garnered an impressive track record. Ever since its initial run at BAM’s Next Wave Festival won the 1984 Obie Award for … » Read

AIX-EN-PROVENCE—Artistic Director Pierre Audi died on May 3 , just two weeks before rehearsals began for the current Aix en Provence Festival. On one level his work was over by that point, all executive logistics in place; on another, he … » Read

AMSTERDAM--Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov takes place in the Time of the Troubles (end of the 16 th beginning of the 17 th century). Its new production for the Dutch National Opera, staged by exiled Russian film, theater, and opera … » Read

LONDON—The ability to mount a production of Peter Grimes is a litmus test for the health of even the starriest institution. This July 6 performance at London’s Cadogan Hall proved that British Youth Opera (BYO), the U.K.’s … » Read

CHICAGO—The opera is four hours long, including two intermissions. The composer—Leonardo Vinci (no, not that Leonardo)—was famous in the early 1700s but virtually unknown today. The plot is beyond byzantine. Set in ancient … » Read

The June 28 concert Julius Eastman: A Power Greater Than started with a processional, of sorts. The seven trumpeters who performed the composer’s 1970 Trumpet, played its first movement from the aisles of Geffen Hall’s Wu Tsai … » Read

CHICAGO—In the summer of 2005, four young percussionists gave their first performance as a standalone quartet at Northwestern University, where they’d all studied.  Twenty years, a Grammy, and a couple lineup changes later, that … » Read