MILAN (AP) — The violins, violas, and cellos played by the Orchestra of the Sea in its debut performance at Milan’s famed Teatro alla Scala carry with them tales of desperation and redemption. The wood that was bent, chiseled, and … » Read

Musicians intent on receiving all the royalty payments they’re due often face obstacles when trying to determine exactly how much they are owed. Streaming companies, notorious for their meager payouts to all but a few stars, have made the … » Read

Opera Philadelphia’s 2024-25 season reflects the company’s greatly reduced circumstances, as first disclosed in August with a 20 percent budget cut to $11 million and with General Director David B. Devan’s consequent decision to … » Read

Tianjin Juilliard and the McDuffie Center for Strings have announced the appointment of cellist Sihao He [pictured] to the faculty of the former, where the Shanghai Quartet is in residence. He, currently a teacher at the McDuffie Center in Macon, … » Read

The pursuit of racial and gender equity in the classical music world has taken on special urgency in the past decade. Concert programs that feature compositions by women, Blacks, and people of color are now de rigueur for most ensembles, and … » Read

Among the concerns that accompany the growing sophistication of artificial intelligence is the possibility among composers (along with songwriters, performers, and artists of any stripe) that it might replace them. In late 2023, the Symphony … » Read

A recent opinion piece by pianist and composer Ethan Iverson argued that Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue , currently marking its centennial, is “corny and Caucasian,” a “cheesecake” that has “clogged the arteries … » Read

Opera, the most expensive of the performing arts, has suffered mightily since the pandemic. The failure of audiences to return to pre-pandemic numbers has combined with a dramatic rise in production costs. In less than a year, English National … » Read

LONDON—Oksana Lyniv [pictured] is a notable breaker of glass ceilings. In 2021 she was the first woman to conduct at Bayreuth, opening the festival with a feisty account of The Flying Dutchman . The following year she became the first … » Read

Yesterday, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, in partnership with the National Civil Rights Museum, offered the world premiere of the Harriet Tubman Oratorio by Earnestine Rodgers Robinson [pictured]. Robinson’s works have been performed in … » Read