If you caught Philip Venables’s opera of Sarah Kane’s 4:48 Psychosis at last season’s NYC Prototype Festival, you’ll know he doesn’t fight shy of harrowing subject matter. Yet although Denis & Katya , which … » Read

BERLIN — Booing can be a badge of honor in Germany’s theaters, particularly when it comes to canonical works. That’s at least one way of regarding the vehement reactions that have greeted Frank Castorf’s new staging of La … » Read

NEW YORK (AP) — More than 60 years after Marian Anderson broke the color barrier at the Metropolitan Opera, black singers still face unique obstacles in building their careers within the industry. "We've made some strides, but not a whole … » Read

German conductor Anja Bihlmaier, recently named principal conductor of the Residentie Orchestra in the Hague, Holland, is to become principal guest conductor of Lahti (FI) Symphony Orchestra in autumn 2020. During the course of her three-year … » Read

That three white men wrote the most celebrated American opera about African Americans— Porgy and Bess —should not be considered evidence that there are not black composers with operas worthy of attention. Here are eight operas, some … » Read

Tanya Derksen, president of Orchestras Canada and of that country’s Regina Symphony Orchestra in Saskatchewan, will move into a new job with the Philadelphia Orchestra as of October 28. The position, which bears the title VP of Artistic … » Read

The idea of a choral setting of the U.S. Constitution sounds like a pretty dry couple of hours. But not only is Benjamin Yarmolinsky’s self-styled “secular oratorio” a cornucopia of catchy themes and variations, in the committed … » Read

When the Wichita Symphony Orchestra (WSO) kicks off its 2019-2020 season this weekend, its new concertmaster, Holly Mulcahy, will be front and center. She will partner with Timothy Jones, the WSO’s associate concertmaster, to perform … » Read

Violinist/conductor Jaime Laredo is to retire as music director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra at the end of the 2020-21 season. Laredo will have been at the helm for 20 seasons, having succeeded Kate Tamarkin in 2000 after she resigned. In … » Read

When a major glossy magazine like Vanity Fair writes about contemporary opera, you know something big must be afoot. The latter years of the 19 th century—the years of Verdi and Puccini—constituted a golden age for new operas, and now … » Read