SAN FRANCISCO—With the softly gleaming pedal-point chord that opened the San Francisco Symphony’s performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 on September 26, a sense that something special was in store began to take hold. The … » Read

Pene Pati revealed, toward the close of his Park Avenue Armory recital, that his program had consisted of songs that he and pianist Ronny Michael Greenberg had often performed together. In light of what we had just heard, his disclosure made … » Read

LOS ANGELES—Stage director Francesca Zambello’s wonderfully faithful-to-the-spirit-of-the-original production of West Side Story has been around since 2018—and it probably should be around forever. Using Joshua … » Read

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2025–2026 season began in rancor. When general manager Peter Gelb stepped on stage to introduce the September 21 opening night, some in the audience, protesting the Met’s morally dubious business … » Read

The reconstruction of Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims was one of the late 20th century’s most significant musicological achievements for opera goers. After four performances at Paris’s Théâtre Italian, with a cast … » Read

LONDON—One of the refreshing things about Antonio Pappano’s tenure at the London Symphony Orchestra is his willingness to upend the tired old formula of ‘‘Overture, Concerto, Symphony’’—that and an … » Read

When Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally’s opera Dead Man Walking had its world premiere at the San Francisco Opera in 2000, I took to the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle and pronounced it a “masterpiece.” I did it with the … » Read

CHICAGO—Not all that long ago, electronics were a lifeline for Conrad Tao. Feeling creatively stunted during the pandemic, the pianist and composer sought a way to emulate playing with others in isolation. That led him to electronic patches … » Read

Opera has never shied away from catastrophe, but two of this summer’s Salzburg production premieres reminded us that Armageddon can unfold not only on battlefields or burning cities but within a single consciousness. One Morning Turns into … » Read

As a prominent member of the post-1945 European avant-garde, Pierre Boulez was eager to argue in favor of the new over the old. Even mentor figures such as Olivier Messiaen, or pioneering antecedents like Arnold Schoenberg, had their relevancy … » Read