Last November, I attended a concert at New York’s Weill Recital Hall by a quartet of which I knew little except that it had a French name that meant “Apollo, leader of the Muses” (the same as the final section of Stravinsky’s ballet, Apollo), and all the members were Polish. But the performances I heard of Haydn, Szymanowski, Josef Suk, and Janácek soon made it plain that the Apollon Musagète Quartett would not long remain little known....

A few years ago, I noticed Daniela Fally always seemed to singing wherever I went: Anna in Weill’s Die sieben Todsünden given by Neue Oper Wien in a tiny Jugendstil theater on the far edge of the city; singlehandedly saving a dreary new production of Die Zauberflöte at Volksoper Wien with her vivacity in the tiny role of Papagena;...

Until recently, Lin Daye had not been much of a presence on the competition circuit. The last time he reached the finals was in 2006, in a local competition in Shenzhen. He only placed fourth, but the city’s orchestra thought he was the best and unanimously approved him as their new resident conductor. “I lost the competition,” he says, smiling, “but I got the job.”...

In their debut concert in Cincinnati this fall, the players of the Ariel String Quartet surprised and delighted listeners when they took their seats without music or music stands, and performed Haydn’s Quartet in E flat Major, Op. 33, No. 2, The Joke, entirely from memory. It was a daring feat, exhilarating to hear and fun to watch....

Evan Rogister’s distinctive musical gifts, combined with a restless intellect, have made him one of the music world’s fastest-rising podium artists. In performances in Europe and the U.S. the young American conductor...

Tessa Lark turned 23 during the first round of the Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition in New York in June. Soon thereafter, on June 12, the Kentucky-born musician had real cause for celebration ...

If there was a single trait that helped baritone Yunpeng Wang sweep up three awards last month at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia Competition in Beijing—more than his smooth, flexible technique or his prowess in a variety of vocal styles—it was his ability to pick up the phone and respond at a moment’s notice ...

Anna Prohaska dashes into a café in the Prenzlauerberg area of Berlin wearing jeans and a leather jacket, her long, black hair tied back into a knot. Her unassuming demeanor would hardly betray that she has just returned from performing Handel Motets under Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Musikverein ...

Tenor David Lomeli: February 2011

NYCB Principal Dancer Robert Fairchild: January 2011