With the end of its 50 th -anniversary season approaching in June, the Kronos Quartet—having morphed in the last half-century from zany, experimental string quartet to zany experimental pantheon of contemporary music—will undergo a 50 … » Read

Klaus Heyman, founder and head of Naxos, a vast distribution and recordings empire now based in Hong Kong, has personally acquired Chandos, one of the most distinguished classical music labels, with some 3,000 titles in its catalog. He has done … » Read

CHICAGO—At any experimental music function, taking the good with the not-so-good is a given. Experiments, by definition, sometimes fail. That made the end-to-end dazzle of this year’s Frequency Festival (Feb. 20 to 25), anchored at … » Read

Breaking the Silence , a U.K. concert tour by the Afghan Youth Orchestra, is on again after the British Home Office reversed an earlier decision refusing the group the necessary visas. The reprieve came just four days before the first … » Read

LONDON—When Simon Rattle recorded The Jazz Album back in 1987 it became clear that here was a British conductor with an affinity for American music and an instinct for Gershwin. Likewise, his lasting friendship with John Adams can be dated … » Read

On Feb. 26, Andrey Gugnin [pictured] won the third edition of the Classic Piano International in Dubai. The Russian-born, Netherlands based pianist, 36, took home one of classical music’s most munificent prizes—a cash award of … » Read

Composer Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice, which premiered in Los Angeles in 2020 and arrived at the Metropolitan Opera in November 2021 , is currently on the boards at Boston Lyric Opera in a new chamber version. The idea for a more intimate … » Read

Now ensconced in the far more financially sustainable world of German classical music as chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle is nevertheless still ready to go to battle with a British government he accuses … » Read

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) has selected British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason as its 2024 MAC Music Innovator, a year-long residency created to provide a high-visibility platform for Black classical musicians who demonstrate artistic … » Read

SAN FRANCISCO—Alexander Scriabin, to put it mildly, had a multi-track mind. His never-realized dreams for Mysterium called for a seven-day, appeal-to-all-senses piece to be staged in a cathedral built for the occasion in the Himalayan … » Read