Atom Egoyan’s 2008 film Adoration seems a dubious prospect for operatic adaptation. It centers on Simon, an orphaned high-school student, who becomes convinced that his late father was a Palestinian terrorist. The film tells much of its … » Read

NEW YORK—Hilary Hahn is an artist much in demand and reaping the rewards of her artistry. As reported last week, the violinist was awarded the $100,000 Avery Fisher Prize onstage at Friday, January 12th’s concert at David Geffen Hall. … » Read

Angel Island explores a mostly forgotten but nonetheless horrific chapter of American history. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred Chinese immigrants from entering the U.S. and stayed largely in effect until the 1960s. To enter the U.S., … » Read

LONDON—The final leg of Covent Garden’s 2023/24 season got underway January 13 with Christof Loy’s pandemic-delayed new production of Richard Strauss’s Elektra . With outgoing Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano at the helm … » Read

LONDON—The London Symphony Orchestra’s Janácek-in-concert series launched pre-pandemic with The Cunning Little Vixen , masterfully captured on the orchestra’s in-house label LSO Live. Last year’s incandescent … » Read

Following continues the chamber-music recordings roundup posted earlier this week .  Born in Canada, Vivian Fung studied at the Juilliard School and currently lives in California. In her latest recording, Insects & Machines , her finely … » Read

Many American composers are receiving commissions from chamber ensembles, both homegrown and otherwise. Take, for example, Music in Circles , the debut album of hear now berlin , a German-based sextet, founded in 2018 by American flutist Kelly … » Read

In accordance with recent tradition, the Metropolitan Opera instituted a new production on New Year’s Eve (December 31). Its unremarkable choice of Bizet’s Carmen this time may have been motivated more by the present trend to … » Read

Among high-profile music (as opposed to film) critics, opinions of Bradley Cooper’s Maestro are mostly positive, or “pretty good” as Mark Swed writes in the Los Angeles Times . Cooper’s commitment to getting the story … » Read

CHICAGO—Like bringing up politics at a family dinner, tinkering with a classic-among-classics like Handel’s Messiah is guaranteed to crack some unbridgeable divides. Hark, then, ye skeptics, to Sir Andrew Davis’s twist on the … » Read