LONDON—When reviewing live music it helps to witness a performance from a good seat. This, dear reader, is not because journalists somehow deserve the best, but because you do. A critic's primary task is to serve as your eyes and ears: to … » Read

In past seasons, Spoleto Festival USA has mounted a mix of new and old operas, many of them critically praised and several new ones performed around the country. The 2024 edition of the festival offered only one premiere— Ruinous Gods by … » Read

Last week, Talea Ensemble celebrated 15 seasons with two programs at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew on the Upper West Side. Among a number of estimable new music ensembles in the city, Talea is one of the best. It has also commissioned a … » Read

LONDON—Of the English country garden festivals that have proliferated in recent years, only one has given Glyndebourne a run for its money. Garsington Opera boasts an award-winning Perspex pavilion that nestles in the verdant surroundings … » Read

With a program on Thursday evening (May 30) consisting of three concertos from three different centuries, the New York Philharmonic reached the midpoint of its final concerts under Music Director Jaap van Zweden, who steps down at the end of the … » Read

Anyone who thinks classical music concerts are stuffy homages to outdated traditions has never seen (and heard) Yuja Wang perform. The 37-year-old superstar has established herself, writes Alex Ross in The New Yorker , as a player who … » Read

“I have to say, you guys are very brave, showing up to hear a piece that hasn’t been heard in 127 years,” clarinetist Graeme Steele Johnson cheerily greeted an audience in Gilder Lehrman Hall at the Morgan Library & Museum … » Read

CHICAGO— Before It All Goes Dark , the newest opera by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, commissioned by the Music of Remembrance organization, is short. A one-act piece, it’s barely 40 minutes long. The musical forces … » Read

Environmental themes run through much of director Peter Sellars’s work. In his 2019 Salzburg Idomeneo , the god Neptune sought revenge on the human race for spoiling the oceans. His libretto for John Adams’s 2005 Doctor Atomic … » Read

LOS ANGELES—What to do with Puccini’s Turandot ?  Among the most popular operas on the boards—thanks in particular to “Nessun dorma”—it is also one of the most difficult to stage convincingly. It has … » Read