For flashes of Zen insight, George Balanchine’s collected sayings rival or surpass Yogi Berra’s. Did the founding choreographer of the New York City Ballet truly once propose that all ballets should be called Swan Lake because then … » Read

SAN FRANCISCO—The traditional 19 th -century view of the concerto, at least to a first approximation, pits the soloist against the orchestra in a battle of wills. Later generations, though, ginned up a variety of different dramatic … » Read

CHICHESTER, U.K.—Sixteen days after Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms got its world premiere in New York, on July 15, 1965, it reached the English cathedral city that had commissioned it. The Very Reverend Walter Hussey, Dean of … » Read

LONDON—The Bach Choir has a singularly distinguished lineage among Britain’s amateur choral societies. Founded in 1876 for the U.K. premiere of Bach’s Mass in B minor , it has had only nine music directors, including Sir Charles … » Read

John Adams’s works for the theater have typically shaded into oratorio. Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer proceed less as dramatic narratives than as vehicles for librettist Alice Goodman’s poetic musings; similarly, Doctor … » Read

LONDON—Founded in 2012, Zürich-based Il Pomo d’Oro has emerged as one of the leading period-instrument ensembles around. To judge by its healthy discography, it’s also something of a go-to for top-flight singers in the … » Read

It’s an Aix-en-Provence tradition for a major visiting ensemble to perform Bach’s sacred music on Easter Day. They usually opt for one of the great epics; however, this year Easter Festival welcomed regular visitors Les Talens … » Read

LONDON— The Excursions of Mr. Broucek has long been the sleeper among Janácek’s mature stage works, so it was heartening to see the London Symphony Orchestra include it as part of their ongoing series of the composer’s … » Read

The annual semi-staging of a Handel opera by conductor Harry Bicket and the London-based English Concert is a valued Carnegie Hall tradition dating from 2013. Giulio Cesare, on May 4, was the latest installment, one of the composer’s most … » Read

CHICAGO— Nearly 300 miles southwest of Chicago, in St. Louis, stands the only surviving house in which we know, beyond a doubt, Scott Joplin lived. The rest of the ragtime pioneer’s former homes have been razed; this one narrowly … » Read