Juan Diego Flórez has left the role of Alfredo in the Met’s run of La Traviata earlier than scheduled. The company reports he is ill and so has withdrawn from the December 26 performance. Stephen Costello, already slated to sing … » Read

Australian arts patron Peter Weiss has provided a boost to the Sydney Opera House’s $202 million upgrade with a $1 million (AUD) gift to add two new rehearsal rooms and upgrade other existing rehearsal facilities. His gift will be of … » Read

Taken literally, “encore” means “again”—as in play it a second time. But most encores are not a repeat performance of a particular piece. Hilary Hahn’s repetition of the Chaconne from Bach’s Violin … » Read

In this, the season of giving and frenetic fund-raising, a Chicago-based reporter examines the irony of donating to an arts organization whose top executive’s compensation outpaces the average Joe’s by light years. He suggests using … » Read

Palm Beach Opera’s Benenson Young Artist Program has been assured of its continuation for the next five years, thanks to a $1 million gift from its namesake’s foundation. General Director Daniel Biaggi announced the news from the … » Read

Composer/conductor Tan Dun will assume the newly created position of dean of the Bard College Conservatory of Music next July. Dun, whose composing and conducting accolades include Grammy awards, Oscars, and the Grawemeyer, holds a masters degree … » Read

1. 170 Days in Nanking Nominated for Best New Opera. During the invasion of China by Japan in the 1930s, John H. D. Rabe, a representative for the German industrial firm Siemens who was based in Nanking (former  capital city of Nationalist … » Read

For years composer Julia Wolfe walked by 23-29 Washington Place, between Greene Street and Washington Square East in Greenwich Village, on her way to teaching classes in music composition at New York University. A small plaque on the Brown … » Read

Stephen Marc Beaudoin is a tenor in the 160-voice Washington Chorus. As of February 4, he is also the executive director. The group has been searching for a permanent exec since Dianne Peterson left in June of 2016 after over three decades in the … » Read

Two years ago, Chad Cooper turned his back on his 16-year Wall Street career as a managing director at Deutsche Bank to become executive director of the nearly insolvent Brooklyn Conservatory of Music (BCM). “I realized I could continue on … » Read