“When I am laid in earth,” Dido sings just before she dies at the end of Purcell’s famous opera. Rarely has the aria been heard in a more fittingly sepulchral setting than when the hour-long opera, composed in the 1680s, is … » Read

For the past four years, Lucy Wallace, a former dance major with a master’s degree in psychology, has spent a lot of time behind bars. Dance to Be Free—the program she co-founded—teaches dance to women in prison so they can … » Read

For the first time in a decade, the State of Illinois’s capital budget is proposing major expenditures in the arts. More than $60m out of a total of $45b has been identified for arts-related projects. The capital funds for the arts are … » Read

The Philadelphia Orchestra has received $55 million, the largest gift in its history, with five million unrestricted and the rest earmarked for the endowment. The gift, made through the California-based Silicon Valley Community Foundation, comes … » Read

Democratic lawmakers in Maryland are urging Republican Governor Larry Hogan [pictured] to release $1.6 million in funding set aside for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Eighteen senators and 54 delegates have signed a letter indicating that, … » Read

The Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Pittsburgh, and National symphonies have co-commissioned a “multimedia work that integrates film and pre-recorded sound with live orchestra performance” titled World’s Greatest Synth: The … » Read

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra has suddenly fired its director of artistic planning. Lam Fung, also a composer, had been in the job since 2017 and was its highest-ranking native-born employee. The orchestra offered no explanation; Lam Fung, … » Read

Kelly Tweeddale, president of Canada’s Vancouver Symphony and its School of Music, is to be the next executive director of the San Francisco Ballet, one of the three largest ballet companies in the U.S. She starts in September and succeeds … » Read

Too busy to commit to a multi-concert subscription, or too financially strapped to spring for more than a concert at a time? The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) has a solution for you. Music lovers unable to take advantage of the discounts … » Read

If you find the prospect of sitting through Wagner’s entire Ring cycle daunting, then you will at all costs want to avoid the Licht cycle of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Written over a 25-year-period beginning in 1978,  it includes an opera … » Read