I attended not his first but his second appearance at the Metropolitan Opera, on June 12, 1971, the debut of a 27-year-old conductor in  Tosca  that quickly attracted a buzz. It was a Saturday night during one of the seasons in June … » Read

In an appointment that aligns with many other classical music organizations’ in the last year, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) has named a chief diversity officer, a newly created position reporting directly to the CEO.   An … » Read

NEW YORK (AP) — Conductor James Levine, who ruled over the Metropolitan Opera for more than four decades before being eased aside when his health declined and then fired for sexual improprieties, has died. He was 77. Levine died March 9 in … » Read

"The Metropolitan Opera honors the memory of former Music Director James Levine, who held the musical reins of the company for four-and-a-half decades. Maestro Levine conducted more than 2,500 performances of 85 different operas at the Met, … » Read

“The Boston Symphony Orchestra extends its sincere condolences to the family of James Levine at the news of his passing. One of the most profoundly gifted musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries, James Levine led many extraordinary … » Read

Chien Wen-pin is general and artistic director of the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), Taiwan, one of several venues under the auspices of National Performing Arts Center, which also include Taipei’s National Theater and … » Read

French conductor Marc Soustrot , 71, is to succeed John Axelrod as music director of the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville. Soustrot, 71, is chief conductor of the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra in Denmark and stepped down in 2019 as chief conductor … » Read

Yo-Yo Ma is the world’s most brilliant (not to mention lauded) cellist, but he is also one of the great humanitarians of our time. On Saturday, after his second Covid-19 vaccine, while he waited the requisite 15-minutes to ensure no … » Read

The impact of the pandemic is frequently described in macrocosm by looking solely at the U.S. arts and cultural world. Thousands of venues are shuttered; tens of thousands of artists and performers are thrown out of work and face the loss of home … » Read

Lou Ottens, the Dutch engineer who invented the cassette tape and played a major role in the creation of its successor—the compact disc—died on March 6 at his home in The Netherlands. He was 94. Born in 1926, Ottens demonstrated an … » Read