“In 2020, making opera suddenly got harder,” flashes the opening subtitle. True, but while the U.S. is still making do with opera at the drive-in, over in Europe the artform is taking its first steps towards a new normal. For … » Read

MILAN -- One positive outcome of the pandemic’s restrictions has been the chance to hear new and unusual repertoire in Milan. Riccardo Chailly and the Filarmonica della Scala, relieved of pressure to fill seats (La Scala's audience has been … » Read

While the pandemic has made it tricky for orchestras to perform, it has been a little easier for chamber groups, hence the recent deluge of new recordings by small ensembles, many of them offering repertoire by living composers. Top billing goes … » Read

CHICAGO--Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, there is little point in dwelling on what the American classical music scene has lost. Like the Flying Dutchman’s doomed vessel, that ship has sailed. Yes, the artistic casualties have been … » Read

Even if you can’t see a lot of opera on stage right now, there are still plenty of chances to hear it on record with four intriguing contemporary American works among the best of the recent releases. Missy Mazzoli ’s track record as a … » Read

Julius Eastman died at 49, homeless and destitute, much of his music lost. Many of his compositions that do survive have been painstakingly reconstructed or transcribed from recordings since his death in 1990. Over the past few years … » Read

The Kennedy Center reintroduced live music in grand style on Sept. 26, when Renée Fleming and Vanessa Williams offered an eclectic, hour-long array of songs for a small, very select audience. The locale was the Opera House, dramatically … » Read

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s perennial ATM machine, the Hollywood Bowl, was forced to close its gates to the public this summer, blowing a gaping hole in the Phil’s budget and dealing a devastating hit to … » Read

On Sept. 19 the English National Opera (ENO) presented Europe’s first live, drive-in opera. A parking garage at London’s Alexandra Palace is the venue for an eight-day run of 12 performances of a 90-minute version of Puccini’s … » Read

DALLAS--In a world that might have been, 2000 music lovers would have cheerfully witnessed the opening concert of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s 2020-21 season in Meyerson Symphony Center on September 11. They would have seen Fabio Luisi, … » Read