Opera director Harry Kupfer, who oversaw the Komische Opera for over 20 years, died in Berlin on December 30, 2019, “after a lengthy illness,” according to his management agency, Arsis.  He was 84. Born in Berlin on August 12, … » Read

One man’s garbage can become another man’s inspiration. When Favio Chavez arrived at the Cateura landfill near Paraguay's capital of Asuncion, he was an environmental consultant intent on creating a recycling project. The project came … » Read

Having  denied the Sarasota Orchestra’s bid to build a new concert hall on seven acres of a 39-acre public park (favoring some well-organized tennis players’ opposition to it), the four Sarasota city commissioners are now asking … » Read

Soundstreams, which self-defines as “the largest global presenter of new Canadian music,” has a new executive director. He is arts consultant Menon Dwarka, whose background includes stints as music program director at the Harlem … » Read

Ivan Hewett, classical music critic for The Telegraph , doesn’t especially like the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s (VPO) New Year’s Day Concert, which reaches more than 60 million viewers in almost a hundred countries around … » Read

In a year-end roundup rife with local boosterism (the Los Angeles Philharmonic is “surely the most successful arts organization of the century"), Los Angeles Times critic Mark Swed notes the town’s “near-contagious institutional … » Read

In its year-end review of classical music, The San Francisco Chronicle , makes the case that it’s been a great year for women. “Maybe,” writes critic Joshua Kosman, “we [can] even give Bach and Beethoven and the rest of … » Read

Calling the soon-to-end decade “transformative” for classical music, the Chicago Sun-Times points out a few highlights in more or less in chronological order. They begin—literally—with the arrival on September 19, 2010, of … » Read

For opera to retain its relevance today it needs to be either timely or timeless. Alban Berg’s Wozzeck (1925), based on Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck , one of the most ahead-of-its-time plays ever written, happens to be both. An … » Read

SAN FRANCISCO — It was a tumultuous year in the opera world, a year in which sexual harassment allegations against superstar Plácido Domingo prompted his disappearance from American stages and sparked deep soul-searching. Opera … » Read