New York City Ballet principal Tiler Peck curated a medley of dances, featuring her own chops and tastes, at New York City Center (March 4-6). During the final performance, the distinctive smell of marijuana wafted through the sold-out house. … » Read

Putting on Handel in a house as big as the Metropolitan Opera is daunting. For musicians, there’s the challenge of projecting the intimate sound world of the baroque to the last row of a 4,000-seat auditorium. For directors, it’s the … » Read

LONDON--When Sheku Kanneh-Mason made his recording debut in 2018, the young British cellist chose to do it with Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto, suggesting an intriguing identification with the Soviet composer’s lyrical blend of … » Read

LONDON--Only a handful of living pianists could sell out London’s Festival Hall on a wet Tuesday night, but Maurizio Pollini is certainly one of them. His March 1, 80th birthday recital was not just an opportunity to witness the wisdom and … » Read

The Metropolitan Opera’s return from its February break almost feels like the start of a new season. Its new production of Verdi’s Don Carlos , introduced on Monday , was followed the next day (March 1) by the welcome return of the … » Read

Some opera directors try to lend old works new relevance by staging them in a contemporary setting. David McVicar’s bleakly faithful new production of Verdi’s Don Carlos , which opened at the Metropolitan Opera on Monday, took no such … » Read

MILAN--On the evening of February 24, Valery Gergiev conducted the highly successful opening night of a new Pique Dame at La Scala. At dawn the next day, Vladimir Putin launched a ruthless invasion of Ukraine. Gergiev has subsequently refused to … » Read

LONDON--Alarm bells rather than telephones rang when Barbara Hannigan declared in a video—on the London Symphony Orchestra website--that La Voix humaine (“The human voice”) “seems to be” the last conversation of a … » Read

SAN FRANCISCO—In a charmingly entertaining evening devoted to Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus , the San Francisco Symphony under its Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen offered a buoyant performance of the 1801 ballet score, … » Read

SAN FRANCISCO--To produce his hauntingly layered score for the chamber opera Sophia’s Forest , Lembit Beecher mingled a string quartet, percussion, and his own sound sculptures made of rotating wine glasses, a bicycle wheel, and other found … » Read