HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.—After six seasons, Marin Alsop, 69, steps down next month as the chief conductor of Ravinia, the Chicago Symphony’s summer home. But with titles across five countries and six orchestras, she’s keeping busy. … » Read

You seldom hear mid-work applause at New York Philharmonic or Carnegie Hall orchestral concerts. But at the July 24 David Geffen Hall performance by the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center—titled “Elegant Impressions,” with Eun … » Read

The second half of this year’s Festival d’Aix-en-Provence maintained the standards of the opening week, albeit with a healthy dose of directorial controversy and two significant last-minute substitutions. With nine performances, … » Read

If there were any doubts about the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence’s commitment to new work following the unexpected death in 2025 of General Director Pierre Audi they were laid to rest this year. Francesco Filidei’s Accabadora , … » Read

The following completes the coverage of the 2026 Glimmerglass productions scheduled for the mainstage. See also Part I, including a photo of Oklahoma! adapted to a high school auditorium. Madama Butterfly Francesca Zambello’s 2014 … » Read

LONDON—Richard Strauss was a composer of polar extremes who embraced the yin of tragedy as readily as the yang of comedy. His orchestral favorites alone bear witness to this: the playful Till Eulenspiegel pre-dated the profound … » Read

The Glimmerglass Festival has for some years followed a formula: three mainstage “adult” operas, one  Broadway musical, also on the main stage, and one children’s opera in a reduced setting. That was the pattern this year, … » Read

Two concerts, one each on July 10 and 11, enabled a listener to compare the sound of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the Hunter Pavilion; the former was deemed a "pre-opening night" for workers who had participated in the three-year project, … » Read

Teatro Nuovo followed its July 15 Don Giovanni performance with Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia the following night, again at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater. The company’s fine period-instrument orchestra was here led by … » Read

While the U.S. celebrated its semiquincentennial this month, Will Crutchfield’s Teatro Nuovo looked back not to 1776, but to a more recent milestone: the 1825–1826 season, when the traveling company led by tenor Manuel García … » Read