You can understand Lincoln in the Bardo ’s appeal as a subject for an opera. George Saunders’s 2017 novel takes the form of an oral history, the primary narrators being a crowd of ghosts. They haunt the cemetery outside the mausoleum … » Read

LONDON—Alongside the national and country house opera companies, the U.K. has a thriving amateur or semi-professional circuit, ranging from local Gilbert and Sullivan societies to more ambitious outfits with a healthy interest in eclectic … » Read

CHICAGO—A lot has happened to Giancarlo Guerrero since he last conducted the Chicago Symphony, in spring 2024. Later that year, the Nicaragua-born, Costa Rica-raised conductor was appointed music director of the Grant Park Music Festival, … » Read

LONDON—Japanese composer Dai Fujikura found double fortune this Fall when he was commissioned by Nomura Holdings to compose a short work for Sir Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra. Not only would his composition receive its … » Read

A certain indoor-outdoor dichotomy graces Olivier Messiaen's epic Des canyons aux étoiles... ( From the Canyons to the Stars... ). Commissioned by Alice Tully in tribute to the 1976 bicentennial, the composer cited the profound natural and … » Read

LOS ANGELES—The banners were out on the exterior facade of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion last Saturday, proclaiming the debut of the Venezuelan/Armenian conductor Domingo Hindoyan as the new music director of LA Opera. He has large shoes to … » Read

In a strange alignment of stars, the Orchestra of the Greek National Opera made its U.S. debut at Carnegie Hall on October 15, the same night Teatro Real’s orchestra appeared a few blocks north at David Geffen Hall. The similarities end … » Read

Austin Opera has ascended to a new level of opera-making. In September, it opened a new headquarters and performance space and launched it on October 1 with the world premiere of its first commission, Ofrenda , by Mexican-born composer Jorge Sosa … » Read

CHICAGO—This is a tough news cycle for any Don Giovanni . After a civil suit last month accused a group of fraternity brothers at Cornell University of gang rape, sexual violence is once again in the headlines. Just hours after Lyric Opera … » Read

CHICAGO—Klaus Mäkelä closed his three-week fall visit to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in spectacular fashion, giving the orchestra and its downtown home, Chicago Symphony Center, a kind of musical road test. The repertoire for … » Read