The Aix Easter Festival didn’t need to build its pedigree; it had one from the word go, thanks to a little black book in the back pocket of its artistic director, Renaud Capuçon. Not only does the violin virtuoso know everyone … » Read

With major roles in the U.S. and Australia, Chinese-American conductor Xian Zhang is in demand. Now in her sixth season as music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, she has long-term relationships with both the New York Philharmonic … » Read

LOS ANGELES – The ever-inventive Los Angeles Philharmonic is full of novel ideas this spring, the latest being a festival that goes by the name, “Gen X: Voices of a Generation.” Or so they say. According to a short introductory … » Read

Last year, Boston Baroque announced a five-program, digital-only season for 2021-2022, a bold decision buoyed by its experience of streaming during the pandemic, which saw it picking up viewers and subscribers across five continents. In … » Read

On April 23rd, the Metropolitan Opera staged a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor , the Donizetti masterpiece (one of them). Marilyn Horne, the great mezzo-soprano, once complained that reviewers spent most of their reviews on productions, not … » Read

Replacements, in these fragile times, are a fact of festival life. Artistic directors need a Plan B in case illness strikes—and so it was this month in Aix-en-Provence, France. The Easter Festival 2022, April 8-24, welcomed back a live … » Read

LONDON—With its mixture of medieval history and fairytale magic, Lohengrin inhabits that awkward territory between the fabled pageantry of Wagner’s early works and the philosophic mysticism of Tristan und Isolde . Musically there is … » Read

LOS ANGELES – The ever-innovative Los Angeles Philharmonic reaches out everywhere, this time to a new and perhaps unlikely audience – the Deaf. And its aim was true, for members of that community turned out in considerable … » Read

Theodore Braun’s new film ¡Viva Maestro! documents the conductor Gustavo Dudamel as he prepares Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra for a 2017 international tour through to 2018, when he conducts … » Read

As the United States relationship with China grows increasingly strained, it is important to be reminded of a time 50 years ago when Beethoven helped break down cultural barriers between the two nations. As Beethoven in Beijing , a 90-minute … » Read