KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A month after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the music is starting to go quiet. The last time that the militant group ruled the country, in the late 1990s, it outright banned music. So far this time, the … » Read

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded the League of American Orchestras’ Catalyst Fund $2.1mn to advance efforts to develop and strengthen equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) practices in American orchestras. The grant comes on the … » Read

Jaap van Zweden isn’t the only music director for whom the pandemic has caused a change in priorities and lifestyle preferences. As Van Zweden exits the New York Philharmonic at the close of 2023 and the Hong Kong Phil one year later, … » Read

The University of Southern Maine has received a $10 million donation—its largest ever—to build a home for its school of music on its Portland campus. The gift, from local philanthropist D. Suzi Osher, combined with an earlier one of … » Read

Nigel Kennedy has walked away from a concert at Royal Albert Hall, citing Classical FM’s decision to prevent him from performing a tribute to Jimi Hendrix. “This is musical segregation,” the 64-year-old violinist told The … » Read

The Grand Canal in Venice has been the waterway for myriad vessels for well over a millennium. But Sept. 17 was the first time that a gigantic violin carrying a string quartet playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons made the journey. Noah’s … » Read

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