Opera lovers heading to Europe next season will have an embarrassment of riches. The following, new productions or European premieres outlined in a recent Times article, is a sampling. The Ring Royal Opera House launches Antonio Pappano’s … » Read

The Washington National Opera’s (WNO) upcoming premiere of Grounded , an opera exploring the psychological toll of drone warfare, has come under fierce criticism because the military contractor General Dynamics was identified in promotional … » Read

Rumors of the death of the piano in the U.K. have apparently been greatly exaggerated. “It is a great time to be in the piano business,” reported one piano shop owner;  Matt Ash, membership and retail lead at the Music Industries … » Read

When Ivo van Hove first discussed his “very dark” vision of Mozart’s Don Giovanni with his cast at the Metropolitan Opera, the leading man had doubts. “He said, ‘But is there no hope?’” the Belgian … » Read

Tchaikovsky’s symphonic writing is some of the most beautiful in the classical canon. And a recent performance of his Symphony No. 5 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic suggests that it might also possess considerable erotic potency. On April … » Read

Kudos to the Cleveland Orchestra’s fundraisers. In March, the orchestra received $7 million from Jane Baker Nord, to create a special fund for educational concerts. Last week, the orchestra got $10 million from the Milton and Tamar Maltz … » Read

In 1973 Wayne Sanders, his roommate and fellow musician Benjamin Mathews, and Sister Mary Elise Sisson, a white nun, met in an Upper West Side apartment in Manhattan to organize Opera Ebony. Their goal was to provide Black performers the … » Read

Craft Recordings, which manages one of the world’s largest catalogs of master recordings and compositions as a subsidiary of  Concord Music , has launched a multi-year archival program to make recordings by Telarc International … » Read

Thomas Søndergård's inaugural season as the 11 th music director of the Minnesota Orchestra (MO) kicks off next September with two weeks of the new man on the podium. “It is an enormous luxury for me to take over an ensemble … » Read

Orchestral musicians have physically demanding jobs that often produce physical aches and pains that, if ignored, can lead to musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) that threaten their ability to perform. At a recent medical conference in France, Anne … » Read