Toledo Opera has named not one but two artistic directors to succeed James Meena, who left as general director and principal conductor last year to take the same post with Opera Carolina, in Charlotte, NC. Toledo’s James Norman, employed by … » Read

CHICAGO—Opera is probably the most gender-fluid performing art. Yes, Sarah Bernhardt played Hamlet in 1899, and a few years ago Glenda Jackson tackled King Lear. Male swans fill the stage in choreographer Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake . … » Read

Robert Schumann’s death in a German asylum in 1856 was neither the first nor last incidence of psychiatric illness in his family. His father likely had a nervous breakdown, his mother suffered from depression, and his sister Emilie … » Read

As previously reported , the San Antonio Symphony’s historic financial issues show no signs of abating; the musicians have been performing live since last February (this is Texas, after all) under contract terms renegotiated for 2020-21 … » Read

A labor standoff between the Music Center at Strathmore and the union representing its ticket sellers has led the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) to move concerts scheduled on Sept. 25 and Oct. 2 from the suburban Washington venue to the … » Read

Debra Lew Harder, a classical music host and producer for Temple University’s WRTI-FM in Philadelphia, as well as a concert pianist and a medical doctor, is to be the new host of the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, starting when the … » Read

CHICAGO—After 18 months of no live performances Friday night’s opening of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2021-22 season would have been a gala event in its own right. But Verdi’s Macbeth held even more resonance. It was the … » Read

LONDON -- Oliver Mears succeeded Kasper Holten as the Royal Opera’s director of opera in 2017, but advance scheduling and the pandemic has delayed his mainstage directorial debut with the company until now. With Covent Garden reopening to … » Read

For more than four decades, most music in Iran has been banned because, according to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, it caused people to be “inactive and frivolous.” Based on interpretations of religious texts by the Ministry of Islamic … » Read

On Sept. 18 the Kimmel Center’s “Arts Launch 2021” brought together about 50 arts groups to remind Philadelphians that the city’s cultural life is coming back to life after the pandemic. Some 5,800 visitors attended the … » Read