One of the pleasures of the first lockdown was the inaugural series of Aaron Cohen’s “Embrace Everything—The World of Gustav Mahler,” a podcast that stood out from the crowd, both in its bold approach to the vastness of … » Read

Triumph and tragedy, hubris and humility, the forbidding expanse of the Himalayas and the yawning darkness of troubled souls. Everest , a 2015 opera by composer Jody Talbot and librettist Gene Scheer, encompasses all this and more and does so in … » Read

It’s quite an undertaking for a country house opera company to develop and present the world premiere of a substantial new work. Kudos is therefore due to the privately funded Grange Park Opera, whose purpose-built opera house hosts a … » Read

LONDON -- Founded in 2015 by double bass player Chi-chi Nwanoku, Chineke! Orchestra is Europe's first majority-Black and ethnically diverse orchestra and is part of the Chineke! Foundation, which supports, inspires, and encourages Black and … » Read

CHICAGO—Midway through the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s concert July 10 at the Ravinia Festival, the skies opened, thoroughly drenching the crowd on the lawn. Earlier in the week, a second or two after the final note of the Grant Park … » Read

AIX-EN-PROVENCE— Whether by accident or design, July at the Aix-en-Provence Festival is Australia Month. The ever-busy Antipodean Barrie Kosky opened the month with Verdi’s Falstaff and will soon follow that at the festival’s … » Read

SAN FRANCISCO--The audience at Davies Hall may have been masked, but its response to the San Francisco Symphony certainly wasn’t muffled. “Bravo!” someone cried out, to genial laughter, after the ensemble tuned up for the … » Read

LENOX, MA--Last weekend, the Boston Symphony Orchestra returned to its summer home at Tanglewood after an 18-month hiatus. The first, unofficial, opening night, on July 9, featured the Brooklyn-based Knights, with Artistic Director Eric Jacobsen … » Read

Desert In is certainly something different. Comprised of eight 15- to 20-minute episodes, it’s an operatic experiment for the screen born of the pandemic and created at a time when streamable content was all audiences could hope for. And … » Read

NEW YORK (AP) — “Now I will conduct a short excerpt from Ravel’s Bolero , the Metropolitan Opera’s future music director announces proudly. It’s Yannick Nézet-Séguin, but he’s not the figure … » Read