On Feb. 28 a leader in Maryland’s legislature threw a life buoy to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in the form of a proposed $3.2 million appropriation. Maggie McIntosh [pictured], a Baltimore Democrat and chair of the House … » Read

Was it deliberate provocation or a tongue-in-cheek prank? There is little agreement about why the St. Petersburg Concert Choir elected to celebrate Defender of the Fatherland Day on Feb. 23 with a performance of a song about the total nuclear … » Read

A negative review by a New York Times theater critic can be the kiss of death for a production hoping to make it to Broadway. But Be More Chill , by composer and lyricist Joe Iconis, is proving to be a hardy survivor, thanks mainly to social … » Read

The financially strapped Baltimore Symphony is getting some moral support from its City Council, which on Monday passed a resolution to ask the State to restore BSO funding to “pre-recession” levels. It noted that a “growing and … » Read

Bondo Nyembwe, executive director of Academia Cesar Chavez, has set out to prove the power of music education to change the lives of his students. Three years ago, when he arrived at this dual-language charter school located in a largely Hispanic … » Read

Canadian Olympic gold medalist Samantha Quek learned a lesson at the opera the hard way. While attending a performance of Donizetti’s Lucia Di Lammermoor at the Vienna State Opera on February 18, she was asked to leave the hall after she … » Read

The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2019-20 season announcement had barely made the rounds on the Web last week before social media was trumpeting another of its high-profile projects: performing at Sunday’s Academy Awards, as … » Read

As the prospect of a “no-deal” Brexit from the European Union (E.U.) grows ever more likely, U.K. arts organizations have been warned that they may lose access to the E.U.’s largest cultural funding program. March 2019 is likely … » Read

Directing Opera Australia’s annual Handa Opera outdoors, against the backdrop of Sydney Harbor, poses special challenges and opportunities. In a recent interview, Francesca Zambello, director of the Glimmerglass Festival and the Washington … » Read

MILAN—At a press conference this week, La Scala announced that it was ramping up its international touring in 2019-20, with 60 performances scheduled in eight nations. Planned are company debuts in India and Saudi Arabia ( La traviata … » Read