Composer/arranger/conductor Stephen J. Lawrence, who wrote over 300 songs and scores for Sesame Street , died on December 30 in Belleville, N.J. He was 82. No cause of death was reported. For his 30 years of work for Sesame Street he was awarded … » Read

Dominick Chenes made quite a splash earlier this year when he jumped in at 24-hour’s notice for an ailing colleague in Seattle Opera’s Tosca , but the 37-year-old lyric tenor has never been afraid of a challenge. I first came across … » Read

It seems only appropriate that Osmo Vänskä begins his final year as music director of the Minnesota Orchestra with a three-week Sibelius Festival that features all seven of the symphonies as well as two versions of the Violin Concerto … » Read

Orchestras can use a range of strategies to engage Spanish-speaking and other multilingual audiences, including artist and repertoire choices, targeted outreach activities, and multilingual websites. For some, the last of these can be … » Read

Executive Director Chicago Philharmonic One day after his  appointment as executive director of the Chicago Philharmonic on July 1, Terell Johnson attended a recording session by his new band in its home venue, the Harris Theater. … » Read

CHICAGO—Despite the upheavals of 2020, 2021 has turned out to be a very good year for composer Jessie Montgomery. In April the Chicago Symphony Orchestra named her to a three-year term as composer in residence. The orchestra performed her … » Read

Since the annual run of The Nutcracker performances is the key to most ballet companies’ survival, the outlook for going without the Sugar Plum Fairy for two consecutive seasons, or shortening her appearance in one of them anyway, is not … » Read

President and CEO Handel and Haydn Society David Snead faced a huge challenge as chief executive of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society in the summer of 2020. Because of COVID, Massachusetts officials had prohibited choral singing … » Read

Berlin-based writer  Olivia Giovetti has put together a remarkable list of classical singers’ Christmas albums and ranked them—no collections or roundups, simply “singer-driven” recordings. She accounts for “85 … » Read

The New World Symphony (NWS) will host a week-long, multi-disciplinary festival celebrating the history and influence of the Harlem Renaissance.  I Dream a World: The Harlem Renaissance and Beyond launches February 1 with poet Kevin Young … » Read