UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music—launched in 2007 and established by UC Regents in 2016 as the 12 th professional school at UCLA—has named its inaugural dean. She is Eileen Strempel, voice professor and senior VP for academic … » Read

Despite intense criticism from family members that it is rife with inaccuracies, the five-time Oscar nominated film Green Book has introduced the remarkable Don Shirley to a broad public. Born to Jamaican immigrants in Pensacola, FL, on Jan. 29, … » Read

The components of the Balanchine-Stravinsky Greek-themed trilogy Apollo (1928), Orpheus (1948) and Agon (1957) are infrequently seen together, perhaps because the middle ballet is not an outright crowd pleaser. But the sum of the whole is greater … » Read

Critic Anne Midgette recently published a piece about film music . Evidently, as a “serious classical music lover,” she had been told to disdain film music, but now, with special thanks to John Williams, she realizes that was wrong. … » Read

Let’s start with a little perspective. Leon Fleisher was born in San Francisco in 1928. He was playing piano before Hitler became Chancellor of Germany; he made his 1944 New York Philharmonic debut in the closing years of World War II under … » Read

The Minnesota Opera, not one to shy away from new and experimental work, has purchased the 350-seat Lab Theater in Minneapolis, a former 6,000-square foot warehouse originally opened in 1988 as a second stage for the Guthrie Theater. The former … » Read

When Brad Wells formed Roomful of Teeth in 2008, he set out “to build a new kind of instrument.” The ensemble he was creating would sing neither the standard choral repertoire nor songs from other vocal traditions. Traditional choral … » Read

LONDON—With careless synchronicity, no fewer than three UK opera companies are presenting Kátya Kabanová in the current season. I was under the impression that company bosses coordinated their plans, but apparently not. … » Read

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has unveiled programming for the first season of its Tanglewood Learning Institute (TLI), a series of public talks, master classes, film screenings, and workshops scheduled for the $33 million, four-building Linde … » Read

Opera Philadelphia continues to break new ground in 2019-20, offering two world and two company premieres in its third annual fall festival, O19, while sticking to the mainstays in its spring season with the Verdi Requiem and Madame Butterfly. … » Read