On March 1 two Russian cruise missiles struck Freedom Square in the heart of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, damaging the opera house, concert hall, and government offices. “This is not a random mistaken salvo, but a conscious … » Read

Calling the Russian invasion of Ukraine “reprehensible and heartbreaking,” citing its namesake’s historic 1958 Tchaikovsky Competition win in Moscow, the Cliburn Competition will let its Russian contestants come to the U.S. to … » Read

As anticipated, Anna Netrebko will not be performing at the Metropolitan Opera for any of her upcoming scheduled performances: Puccini’s Tosca this April and May and Verdi's  Don Carlos next season. On Monday, Met General Manager Peter … » Read

Some opera directors try to lend old works new relevance by staging them in a contemporary setting. David McVicar’s bleakly faithful new production of Verdi’s Don Carlos , which opened at the Metropolitan Opera on Monday, took no such … » Read

The brouhaha has settled down and the three concerts—or at least the two I attended—by the Vienna Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall February 25-27 went off as smoothly as anyone could have wanted. In the hours before the first downbeat, … » Read

The near universal condemnation of Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is forcing some of the world’s great musicians to choose sides when only one side seems morally defensible. Conductor Vasily Petrenko [pictured], artistic … » Read

Dear Friends, My return to performing these last months has been very special. The 20 concerts with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Symphony were heartwarming. Making music with these great artists … » Read

MILAN--On the evening of February 24, Valery Gergiev conducted the highly successful opening night of a new Pique Dame at La Scala. At dawn the next day, Vladimir Putin launched a ruthless invasion of Ukraine. Gergiev has subsequently refused to … » Read

LONDON--Alarm bells rather than telephones rang when Barbara Hannigan declared in a video—on the London Symphony Orchestra website--that La Voix humaine (“The human voice”) “seems to be” the last conversation of a … » Read

SAN FRANCISCO—In a charmingly entertaining evening devoted to Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus , the San Francisco Symphony under its Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen offered a buoyant performance of the 1801 ballet score, … » Read