LONDON—Alban Berg’s Wozzeck is one of the bleaker evenings in the opera house. A scathing exposé of a societal system that exploits those at the very bottom of the heap by treating them as barely paid menials, canon-fodder, or … » Read

U.S. cellist and composer Joshua Roman is a recipient of the 2026 Renée Fleming Neuroarts Investigator Award, a $25,000 grant to work with research partner Dr. Elizabeth Bast to investigate whether music can ameliorate the lingering … » Read

Timothée Chalamet’s terse dismissal that “no one cares about this anymore” when talking about opera and ballet this past March struck a nerve in many. Some chose to dismiss his putdown as evidence of the callowness of … » Read

Irony of ironies, Beatrice Venezi, named music director of La Fenice in October, despite protests of the house musicians and staff,  has been fired. "The La Fenice Theatre Foundation, through Superintendent Nicola Colabianchi, announces that … » Read

SAN FRANCISCO—I had a collection of short reviews from the past week lined up, in varying states of incompleteness, when the news of  Michael Tilson Thomas’s death on Wednesday night upended everything. It’s a huge, almost … » Read

Two string quartets with deep German roots have added new musicians to their foursomes. The Nerida Quartet has welcomed cellist Raphael Zinner and the Vision Quartet has announced Danish violinist Adam Koch as the ensemble’s new first … » Read

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) has renewed Rafael Payare’s contract as music director for five years following the conclusion of his current agreement in the spring of 2027.  OSM has also expanded Payare’s … » Read

Following the appointments of Bin Yu Sanford and Weicong Zhang in January , the Manhattan School of Music has added Polish pianist Michal Biel to its Vocal Arts and Collaborative Piano faculty. Biel is a noted soloist as well as partner to the … » Read

Michael Tilson Thomas, leading American conductor for over a half-century who headed orchestras in Buffalo, Miami, London, and San Francisco while also composing, died Wednesday. He was 81. Tilson Thomas had surgery for a brain tumor in 2021 and … » Read

Daniel Hart is to retire from the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra after two decades as president and executive director, a term characterized by the orchestra as “transformative.” He exits at the end of the year, at which point … » Read