The centenary of the end of the first world war has been marked with an outburst of cultural activity, notably Peter Jackson’s superb film They Shall Not Grow Old , which not only colorizes war footage but has used lip readers to enable … » Read

Noh theater has been fascinating the West since the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868 opened up Japan and its cultural institutions. Beckett, Yeats, and Peter Brook have all been drawn to Noh. Of its 2000 or so traditional tales, … » Read

BOSTON—The head of MIT’s Media Lab (and Musical America’s 2016 Composer of the Year) has a new opera—a labor of love, not a response to a commission. After a gestation period of some 20 years, Tod Machover’s … » Read

You have to wonder what they were putting in the water back in 1938. With the births of William Bolcom, John Corigliano, John Harbison, Frederic Rzewski, Joan Tower, and Charles Wuorinen, it was certainly a bumper year for American composers. … » Read

CHICAGO – Lidiya Yankovskaya’s rapid rise among U.S.-based conductors of her generation seems to be driven as much by her exceptional talent as her eagerness to take on ambitious, out-of-the-way artistic projects. One such undertaking … » Read

CULVER CITY, CA – “For two hundred years, the Europeans have been sending us their operas,” wrote John Cage. “Now I’m sending them back.” A wag or two might have amended that to read, “sending them … » Read

SEATTLE—Making its U.S. premiere at the center of Seattle Symphony’s most recent program, Pascal Dusapin’s At Swim-Two-Birds (heard on November 8) immediately stood out as one of the most significant commissions in music … » Read

NEW YORK—When a production has been out of the Metropolitan Opera’s repertory for nearly 20 years, it’s a good bet it may never be seen again. Yet last Thursday (Nov. 8) Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele , in Robert … » Read

Wu Man, pipa player extraordinaire and founding member of the Silk Road Ensemble, was named  Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America in 2013. Five years on, her Carnegie Hall mainstage appearance with the internationally acclaimed … » Read

On Nov. 2, just two days after Halloween, an audience of over 1,200 poured into the Moss Art Center on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, to watch the legendary Maria Callas, who died 41 years ago, perform her most famous arias over … » Read