Bruce Crawford, whose leadership in many guises steered The Metropolitan Opera through the last quarter of the 20 th century, died on December 30. He was 97. Crawford entered the advertising business in 1956, and over the next 30 years rose to … » Read

In December, László Krasznahorkai became only the second Hungarian writer to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature; Imre Kertész was the first, in 2002. Although the 71-year-old author is critical of the right-wing Hungarian … » Read

Semyon Bychkov will succeed Gustavo Dudamel as music director of the Paris Opera starting in August 2028, the company’s General Director Alexander Neef said Tuesday. The 73-year-old Bychkov agreed to a four-year contract and will conduct … » Read

In October, l'Opéra Orchestre Normandie Rouen posted on YouTube its recent staging of  La traviata (Sept.30-Oct. 7) . The word-of-mouth that followed reached my inbox, so I investigated: The immediacy of Chelsea Lehnea’s … » Read

Stephen Schwartz, best known as the composer of Wicked , along with Pippin, Godspell, and portions of Bernstein’s Mass , which opened the Kennedy Center in 1971, has cancelled his appearance at the Washington National Opera gala in May. The … » Read

Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s path to the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Day concert started when he replaced a banned Russian conductor at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 2022 with the help of a pianist who traveled … » Read

Once DT slapped his name on the Kennedy Center, what had been a trickle of cancellations after his self-appointed board  voted him chairman last Februrary, turned into a flood. First, folk singer Kristy Lee announced she had canceled a … » Read

By a vote of 53 to 43 on Dec. 19, the U.S. Senate confirmed Mary Anne Carter as the 14 th chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). This will be her second time in the post, having served during the first Trump administration between … » Read

Gary Graffman, celebrated pianist, teacher, longtime Curtis Institute president, died December 27 at the age of 97. In a remarkable career launched when he won the Leventritt Award in 1949, the onetime prodigy won a scholarship to the Curtis … » Read

On Dec. 23, Sia Michel, culture editor for The New York Times since January 2023, announced that Adam Nagourney is the newspaper’s new classical music and dance correspondent. A 30-year veteran of the Times and one of its most versatile … » Read