The operas of composer Huang Ruo and librettist David Henry Hwang often carry their share of polemics. Their 2018 work An American Soldier is an outraged response to the racist hazing, and eventual suicide, of the Chinese-American G.I. Danny … » Read

First impressions matter, so a lot was riding on the inaugural concert on Oct. 2 by Harmonium of Texas, the new orchestra founded by Jeffrey Kahane in San Antonio. For the past five years, since the demise of the San Antonio Symphony in 2022 , … » Read

At the beginning of the 2027-28 season, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Orchestre de Paris will welcome the inaugural class of young conductors selected for the Salonen International Conducting Fellowship. Two to four of them, chosen by … » Read

Maia Cabeza , first violinist for the Doric Quartet for the past two years, has announced her departure from the group in order to devote her energy “to other exciting facets of my varied life as a musician.” Her departure comes … » Read

Houston Symphony has four new musicians as of the current season, all of them alumni of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. In fact, the orchestra reports that over half of its members are Shepherd grads and/or faculty; one of its … » Read

LONDON—Wagner’s final opera used to be presented as a life-enriching spiritual experience, its musical sensuality in thrall to a religious message preaching forgiveness and redemption. In recent decades, however, directors have been … » Read

In September The Dallas Opera (TDO) strengthened the ranks of its senior management team with the appointments of two new directors and one new adviser. Nicholas Ivor Martin [left], who previously consulted on labor relations with TDO, joins the … » Read

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) has announced the addition of two new members as well as the departure of three veteran musicians. In September Jason Yoder [pictured] was named principal percussion. Since 2023 the Pittsburgh native had … » Read

The ongoing controversy surrounding the abrupt announcement last March that the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) would not renew Andris Nelsons’ contract as music director when it ended in the summer of 2027 has generated an avalanche of … » Read

Mark Swed, for three decades the classical music critic for the Los Angeles Times , has retired. His tenure, noted the newspaper’s deputy A1 editor John Penner at a farewell luncheon, “coincided with this city’s Golden Age of … » Read