Who would have thought that the opening of a concert space in a subterranean crypt would be a significant development on the New York music scene? Death of Classical, the organization that presents often-challenging programs in what it describes … » Read

LONDON—Leonard Bernstein’s A Quiet Place has a reputation as a problem work. The sequel to his 1952 two-hander Trouble in Tahiti , it explores the repercussions of the turbulent marriage depicted in the earlier work. Badly received at … » Read

LONDON—Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw may be a masterpiece, but it’s a delicate one, especially with child abuse such a hot button issue today. The composer went about as far as anyone could in 1954 to foreground an … » Read

Two years remain before Gustavo Dudamel takes over as music director of the New York Philharmonic in 2026, and until then his podium appearances will be infrequent: for the current season, two weeks of subscription concerts plus a third for the … » Read

A visit by the London Philharmonic and its principal conductor Edward Gardner on Oct. 11 kicked off the 71 st season of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County with a program that featured Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. [The orchestra comes to … » Read

Matthias Pintscher’s 25-minute tone poem neharot is quite explicitly a piece of program music, one that is governed by its external referent. Written in 2020, the piece is a response to the COVID-19 pandemic; the composer has described it … » Read

CHICAGO—It was not orchestral music as usual last week in downtown Chicago. Yes, the Chicago Symphony was in residence at Symphony Center Thursday and Friday with repertoire including a Chopin piano concerto and Shostakovich’s Fifth … » Read

LONDON—Forget boy meets girl, boy loses girl. Try boy spots girl skinny dipping, girl turns boy into stag, boy gets torn to pieces by dogs. Just another day in Ancient Greece. Seriously though, Ovid’s tale of Diana and Acteon makes … » Read

CARDIFF—Just when it seems to be thriving, musical Wales is in crisis. Welsh National Opera (WNO) in particular may not even survive the season. Wales is still governed from London, which has devolved the day-to-day domestic administration … » Read

CHICAGO— Outside Chicago’s Harris Theater, an LED marquee announces what’s on that evening. On Oct. 1, it beamed a sultry portrait of bass-baritone Davóne Tines—sharply dressed, his shirt unbuttoned enough to reveal … » Read