Enjoying opera often calls for a viewer to suspend disbelief in the face of plot points that defy logic and portrayals shaped by offensive stereotypes and racist depictions of non-Western characters. Examples abound: white tenors donning … » Read

Carnegie Hall hosts hundreds of events annually, many of them featuring the world’s leading orchestras, instrumentalists, and vocalists. For a musician to perform at Carnegie Hall is often the pinnacle of their career. But there is another … » Read

Conductor Charles Hazlewood believes that nothing better epitomizes the most evolved form of democracy in human experience than an orchestra in play. And, he argues in The Guardian , “no other orchestra better epitomizes the value of … » Read

When determining the level of public funding for the arts in the U.K., policymakers often couple reductions in support with calls for greater reliance on professionals trained not as artists but as mangers. One result, Robert McDowell, founder … » Read

The upcoming weekend of June 3 and 4 was to mark the conclusion of the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra’s (SASO) 2021-22 season. Instead, the two evenings usually devoted to music will feature nothing but the darkened Tobin Center for the … » Read

Music has long been a means of expressing resistance to political and social oppression. Beethoven knew this, so did Verdi and many other composers. And so, too, does Ahmed Al Abaca, a 38-year-old Black, non-binary composer whose Ode to Liberty … » Read

Composer Tom Coult’s new opera Violet is a work whose animating theme of disappearing time proved emblematic of the pandemic that delayed its opening to this year’s Aldeburgh Festival in June. “I didn’t want an … » Read

The League of American Orchestras has announced the new Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commissions Program. With the foundation’s support, the League will partner with the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) to commission … » Read

On May 21 the National Opera of Ukraine resumed performing in Kyiv, despite the ongoing war with Russia. On offer was Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia , which received a 10-minute standing ovation at the final curtain. The theater, which … » Read

The Cleveland Orchestra (TCO) has announced its 105 th season, Franz Welser-Möst's 21st as music director. It extends from September 2022 to May 2023, with 20 artists making house debuts and 13 works new to TCO’s repertoire, including … » Read