LONDON—British composer Thomas Adès has built a reputation in recent years as a savvy programmer and an insightful conductor. This October 19 Barbican Centre concert with the London Symphony Orchestra was a chance to hear his … » Read

LONDON—Scoring films is a 20th-century art, its form and function laid down in part by European emigrees, many of them Jewish, who sought sanctuary in the U.S. before, during, and after WWII. The man today who carries the torch once borne … » Read

NEW YORK (AP)—For a filmmaker once synonymous with slackerdom, Richard Linklater has proven to be one of the most prodigious and consistently excellent American filmmakers. A small but rich vein of the two dozen features he’s made … » Read

CHICAGO—Klaus Mäkelä doesn’t officially become the Chicago Symphony’s music director until fall 2027. On October 20 as “designate,” he opened the first set of three programs he will conduct this season at … » Read

LONDON—The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was born out the desire of a group of U.K. musicians to manage their own destiny while learning from the finest period instrument gurus both at home and abroad. This October 12 performance of … » Read

On Sunday October 12, mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, with pianist Kristian Bezuidenbout, offered the first solo vocal recital in the Frick Collection’s new 220-seat Stephen A. Schwarzman Auditorium, which opened in April, performing … » Read

This year marks the centenary of modernist master Pierre Boulez (1925–2016), music director of the New York Philharmonic from 1971 to 1977. In tribute, the orchestra offered a back-to-back pair of programs devoted to the composer/conductor. … » Read

LONDON—Northern Irish composer Conor Mitchell earned plaudits for his 2023 opera Abomination: A DUP Opera , a lacerating satire on homophobia, hate speech, and the people who perpetrate it all. His latest project is still in its early days, … » Read

LONDON—A decade or so back, UK productions of Handel’s operas were as rare as hens’ teeth. English National Opera scored a notable success with Xerxes ( Serse ) in a ravishing staging by Nicholas Hytner, plus well received … » Read

In the final scene of Bellini’s La sonnambula , as laid out in Felice Romani’s libretto, the Swiss maiden Amina sleepwalks precariously on the roof of the village millhouse, clutching a bouquet of faded flowers, a gift from her … » Read