The Isidore String Quartet, a new ensemble of Juilliard students under the tutelage of Joel Krosnick, among others, has won the Banff International String Quartet Competition. Sunday’s win concludes seven days at the Banff Centre for Arts … » Read

After a four-year period of gestation, Antony and Cleopatra will open on Sept. 10, launching the San Francisco Opera’s 100 th season. The product of a collaboration between director Elkhanah Pulitzer, composer John Adams, and dramaturge … » Read

As the unanimity that initially characterized mask and vaccine mandates for live performances has dissipated, arts presenters are facing choices bound to displease some audience members. While some won’t enter a theater without masking, … » Read

Norwegian conductor Grete Pedersen has been announced as the new artistic director and principal conductor of the Carmel Bach Festival, which prides itself on being “the longest-running summer music festival in California.” Somehow … » Read

The idea of creating a permanent opera company in San Francisco one hundred years ago might have seemed a fool’s errand. Although the art form could be found there as early as the 1840s during the gold rush, the city’s location on the … » Read

As orchestras prep for the coming season, quite a few are filling vacancies left from even before the pandemic, since auditions were impossible during that time. The Cincinnati Symphony has ten newcomers, eight of whom are coming into tenured … » Read

VIENNA (AFP) – Dutch opera director Lotte de Beer took over Thursday as artistic director of the Volksoper opera house in Vienna, the first woman to hold the post. De Beer, 41, won the International Opera Award in the Newcomer category in … » Read

The Philadelphia-born Marc Blitzstein has a legitimate claim to being one of America’s best unknown composers. The son of Russian immigrants, he studied composition at the Curtis Institute and at 21 was a musician accomplished enough to … » Read

Lauren Fagan is a singer whose vocal flexibility is matched by faultless diction and a seemingly effortless ability to put across the meaning behind the words. She’s an impressive stage animal too, as proven by her recent debut in Ethel … » Read

Music programming at Trinity Church Wall Street next fall abounds with variety, from liturgical to political, traditional to cutting edge. Things get underway September 15-17 with New York’s first full staging of Craig Hella Johnson’s … » Read