LONDON—A puzzled silence fell over the Royal Albert Hall after the premiere of Kafka’s Earplugs , a BBC commission by Irish composer Gerald Barry. But not for long: “That was rubbish!” shouted one man from the center … » Read

All albums are unique, but some have the power to draw the listener into a very special sound world, like this trio of deftly curated new releases on three of America’s most innovative independent record labels. Take Ennanga , the solo … » Read

NORTH ADAMS, MA—Venerable composer Joan Tower was pleased, if somewhat nonplussed, to find herself at the annual Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend at MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art). It would seem an unusual context for this … » Read

LONDON—What to do when the star is a no-show? This July 30 BBC Prom at London’s Royal Albert Hall was to have featured Daniil Trifonov playing Mason Bates’s Piano Concerto. Alas, the Russian pianist cancelled at perilously short … » Read

For many classical music lovers, the music of Arnold Schoenberg exemplifies the chasm that evolved between composer and listener during the first half of the 20 th century. Born into a lower middle-class Jewish family in Vienna in 1874, … » Read

Two queens; one throne; unfaithfulness; sacrilege. Such a combination can hardly miss on the opera stage. And in a rare revival of Saint- Saëns’s Henri VIII on July 23 at Bard College, it did not. The event was the school’s … » Read

EAST SUSSEX—Based on Ovid, Handel’s Semele was written to an English libretto and originally given in concert form. But with its magical landscapes and fantastical effects, it’s hard not to see it as an opera masquerading in … » Read

The final chapter of the Mostly Mozart Festival, a New York institution since its founding in 1966, began on Tuesday night (July 25) in David Geffen Hall with the world premiere of Dhikra (Remembrance) by the Iraqi-American trumpeter and composer … » Read

One measure of genius is the ability to accomplish great things absent the appearance of effort. “To many listeners,” posits Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim in The Atlantic , “Mozart’s music sounds so natural and self-evident … » Read

That the U.S. remains a vibrant musical melting pot is borne out in these three recent albums. The works are all written for classical symphony orchestra, yet each one is suffused with its composer’s cultural DNA. Avner Dorman was born in … » Read