An email this morning from the musicians of the Lyric Opera Orchestra indicates they have gone on strike. It reads, in part: "[General Director]Anthony Freud and Lyric Management are demanding radical cuts that would decimate the Orchestra and … » Read

SALT LAKE CITY — The famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir will be singing the same tune but under a new name. The choir was renamed Friday to strip out the word Mormon in a move aimed at ending shorthand names for the religion that have been used … » Read

An application to use the instantly recognizable sails of the Sydney Opera House as a projection screen to advertise an upcoming horse race has set off a war of words stoked by a right-wing radio shock jock. On Oct. 6 Clover Moore, the lord mayor … » Read

The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) kicked off its centennial season on Oct. 4 with a celebration that owed more to the Beach Boys than to such hoary classical greats as Bach, Beethoven, or Brahms. Declaring that “art does not have … » Read

Within months Pittsburgh will join a select group of cities—Burlington, VT, Boston, Atlanta, and Portland, OR—with an orchestra composed of musicians suffering from mental illnesses. The Me2/Orchestra movement, the inspiration of … » Read

MILAN — A fire in Venice's rebuilt La Fenice opera house was swiftly brought under control Monday, 22 years after a blaze had destroyed the famous theater. It is expected to reopened tonight, with Il barbiere di Siviglia. Italian news … » Read

Since its premiere in 1935, the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess has been a surefire means of breaking down racial barriers in the opera house. The estate’s insistence on an all-black cast, as will be the case when the English National … » Read

A series of seven concerts later this month will mark the culmination of a multi-year partnership between the North Carolina Symphony and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). The concerts’ centerpiece will be Si Otsedoha ( … » Read

The demise of the original New York City Opera in the fall of 2013 is often blamed on a Series of Unfortunate Events in its final years, including the hiring of European impresario Gerard Mortier as general director by NYCO Board Chair Susan … » Read

Esa-Pekka Salonen is to helm a new, pre-professional conducting program at the Colburn School, its first. Funded by the Chicago-based Negaunee Foundation, it will be called the Negaunee Conducting Program and its participants—no more than … » Read