CHICAGO—Somewhere, Pierre Boulez is turning in his grave. The Chicago Symphony enjoyed a long association with the conductor–composer, culminating in an appointment as conductor emeritus from 2006 to 2010. But in what would have … » Read

LONDON—Where to begin with Festen , the explosive new opera by Mark-Anthony Turnage? At the end, perhaps, when a dazed first-night audience staggered to its collective feet to applaud a tour de force? Or the moment in the 100-minute evening … » Read

LONDON—First staged in 1977, just four years after Death in Venice , Thea Musgrave’s Mary, Queen of Scots has had to wait 48 years for its London premiere. A commission from Scottish Opera, the original Edinburgh production was … » Read

LONDON—With the country’s premiere opera company officially changing its name to the Royal Ballet and Opera, a cross-artform collaboration seems apposite. This double bill, dubbed Phaedra + Minotaur and seen February 7 in their … » Read

At the curtain call for Heartbeat Opera’s February 6 Salome , Executive Director Christian De Gré Cardénas made a pitch for donations while assuring that the company continued to be in good financial health. In the context of … » Read

LONDON—Antonio Pappano has focused his opening season as chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra on British music, but this February 6 concert at the Barbican Centre paid equal homage to works from across the Atlantic, an apt … » Read

SAN FRANISCO—In January of 2024, San Francisco Symphony management announced a cost-cutting pullback from its popular SoundBox series. One previously scheduled concert was scrapped. Going forward, these late-night curated cabaret-style … » Read

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The reputation of Vanessa has gone through some rocky times. The Samuel Barber/Gian Carlo Menotti opera, the first new work of Rudolf Bing’s Metropolitan Opera intendancy, was generally lauded at its 1958 world … » Read

BOSTON—Imagine an opera with a gorgeous score by Wagner, Mahler, Puccini, Zemlinsky, Richard and Johann Strauss, and Erich Korngold, whose sweeping romantic soundtracks for The Adventures of Robin Hood and Anthony Adverse (among many … » Read

CHICAGO—As recently as a decade ago, Michelle Cann, like many classical music lovers, didn’t know who Florence Price was. A friend set her straight in 2016, sending along Price’s Fantasies nègres . As Cann told a rapt … » Read