A new documentary by Belgian director Thierry Loreau, music director of his country's public service broadcaster RTBF, examines why young Korean musicians are increasingly taking the competition world by storm.  The last two Cliburn Gold … » Read

When the headline in Italy’s leading daily translates as “Placido Domingo, flop at the Verona Arena: the orchestra refuses to stand up for the final applause ,” it's pretty clear that a certain aging tenor turned self-imagined … » Read

Attendance at the 2022 Salzburg Festival would have been record-setting but for four program cancellations for public health reasons. With 96 percent of all seats occupied and a revenue jump of 16 percent over the previous year, only the last … » Read

Anna the opera star is back onstage in certain cities—Verona, Paris, Vienna, and Cologne among them--but not without protest in the streets. Having supported Putin’s 2012 presidential election and made no effort to distance herself … » Read

During the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s current nine-city European tour, French pianist Hélène Grimaud joined the ensemble to perform music by Ravel at a concert in Hamburg’s famous Elbphilharmonie. The following day … » Read

One of the major events of the international opera season has undergone a significant disruption, with Daniel Barenboim, now 79, having to pull out from the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden’s new Ring for health reasons. He has been … » Read

Pianist Gabriela Montero follows her own creative muse, with a flourishing career as both classical virtuoso and talented improviser. Her contrapuntally rich fantasies on themes (often suggested by audience members) have been captured on her 2006 … » Read

On Aug. 27 Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) conducted the penultimate concert of the summer season at Tanglewood with a performance one critic characterized as “another milestone in the institution’s rich history.” In March MTT had … » Read

The harp, an instrument long associated with female musicians and a standard classical repertoire, is undergoing a transformation as gender roles are redefined and new works are introduced. In a conversation for Van Magazine , Parker Ramsay … » Read

Bas Sheve ( Bathsheba ), one of the few pre-Holocaust Yiddish operas performed in Europe, enjoyed an unprepossessing, low budget premiere in Warsaw in May of 1924. Its composer Henech Kon provided a piano accompaniment and also sang the bass … » Read