SEATTLE—As Ludovic Morlot’s final season at the helm of the Seattle Symphony gets closer to the final stretch, his legacy of nurturing new music is coming into sharper relief. The SSO’s last two programs in … » Read

Let’s start with a little perspective. Leon Fleisher was born in San Francisco in 1928. He was playing piano before Hitler became Chancellor of Germany; he made his 1944 New York Philharmonic debut in the closing years of World War II under … » Read

LONDON—With careless synchronicity, no fewer than three UK opera companies are presenting Kátya Kabanová in the current season. I was under the impression that company bosses coordinated their plans, but apparently not. … » Read

WQXR host Terrance McKnight [named one of Musical America’s 2019 Top Professionals ] launched his “Only at Merkin” series on February 2, with a 75 th -birthday tribute to pianist and intrepid interpreter Ursula Oppens. Billed as … » Read

These days, it’s an ever-increasing challenge to be noticed, and young singers are no exception. It has to be said, however, that young Polish countertenor, Jakub Jósef Orlinski has more than a few advantages to make him stand out … » Read

PARIS—What does Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov have against the French? First Bizet, now Berlioz… Gallic composers inspire him to put their leading characters into analysis. A year on from his hotel-lobby Carmen in … » Read

A program of non-blockbuster 19th-century piano quartets by Suk, Brahms, and Dvorák doesn’t sound like anything to write home about, really. Maybe not much to keep listeners awake, either. But the audience at Sunday’s concert … » Read

Julia Wolfe is no stranger to the history of industrial relations and its tragedies. Her Steel Hammer (2009) for three sopranos and chamber orchestra examined the often fractious relationship between man and machine through the tale of African … » Read

NEW YORK - The Metropolitan Opera hasn’t presented Debussy’s sole completed opera, Pelléas et Mélisande (1895), since Sir Simon Rattle conducted it in 2010. The company’s new music director, Yannick … » Read

LONDON—The Royal Opera was at pains to release advance information about its production of The Queen of Spades so no one could say they hadn’t been warned. This was to be a reinterpretation rather than a recreation, with director … » Read