Now in his 100th birthday year, György Ligeti (1923– 2006) is a highly regarded, if not always fully understood, composer. An anniversary exploration of his work is well-deserved and welcome; the intricacies of his music reward deep … » Read

LONDON—Premiered in 1751, Jephtha can stake a decent claim to being Handel’s greatest oratorio, the culmination of a 40-year career in music drama. All that hinders its translation to the stage are the weighty choruses that hold up an … » Read

LONDON—With the chilly evenings drawing in, this November 6 concert at Wigmore Hall was appropriately winter-themed. Not only that, a savvy blend of 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century music proved an opportunity for a roster of composers from … » Read

The existence of slavery in the U.S. for almost 250 years remains a fraught presence in our national psyche, so the October 2019 news that the 2020 Spoleto Festival USA would present Omar , a new opera based on the autobiography of Omar Ibn Said … » Read

Stephen Sondheim developed a healthy attitude toward failure near the end of his life: “In ten years they’ll revive it in London and it will be hailed as a masterpiece.” So he told Nathan Lane when their rewrite of The Frogs was … » Read

LONDON--This “opera project” by Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic has crisscrossed Europe since its first appearance in Munich three years ago. The incarnation that reached London on November 3, courtesy of English National … » Read

“As a musician, you know, you’d like to find the kind of music that is so powerful it can stop a bomb from falling, or stop bullets from killing people,” a youthful David Harrington says in an old TV interview excerpted by … » Read

NAPLES, Italy—Rossini’s tragic opera Maometto Secondo was largely forgotten following its Neapolitan premiere in 1820, although other European cities took it up and, as revised and renamed Le Siège de Corinthe , it became … » Read

Anthony Davis’s X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X seems to grow increasingly relevant with age. And while there’s no question that this is the right time for it, the Metropolitan Opera is arguably the wrong place. Oft-revised from … » Read

LONDON—You must admit, Ian Page and The Mozartists have grand plans. Not only do they intend to record all of Mozart’s operas, but they have a complementary project investigating the 18th-century Sturm und Drang movement (an excellent … » Read