Musicalizing difficult subject matter can pose tough challenges. These two recordings are good examples of when composers get it right. Songs in Flight Shawn E. Okpebholo’s Songs in Flight was inspired by Freedom on the Move, a database … » Read

After a year of negotiations aimed at maintaining the Welsh National Opera (WNO) as a full-time company and stopping a proposed 15 percent pay cut to the orchestra, 97 percent of the musicians of the Welsh National Opera (WNO) have voted to … » Read

LOS ANGELES—Carlos Simon’s Good News Mass , a de facto 50-minute symphonic gospel service combining aspects of the Catholic Mass and Pentecostal fervor, had its world premiere at Walt Disney Concert Hall on April 17. A co-commission … » Read

The Jacksonville (FL) Symphony has announced a $3 million gift from the Terry Family Foundation, the ensemble’s third multi-million-dollar gift in the past five months. Previous donations of $5 million and $3 million were received in … » Read

James Santilli, former chief marketing officer for the Pittsburgh Penguins, is the new senior VP and “Chief Revenue and Experience Officer” (CREO) for the Pittsburgh Symphony. He will plot strategies to generate revenue and … » Read

“It’s frustrating... just gone overnight.” This terse lament from a student at Jacksonville University (JU) sums up the feelings of students impacted by the April 15 announcement of a dramatic reconfiguring of the school’s … » Read

The reduction of the professional staff at the Kennedy Center by the new management team continued on April 18, when at least six people were laid off. Details are unclear, but confirmed as out are Derek Johnson, vice president of marketing; … » Read

New Sounds has dodged another bullet. On the air since 1982, the late-night WNYC program of contemporary and world music hosted by John Schaefer has once again survived attempts to kill it. In 2019, public pressure from longtime fans forced host … » Read

The Solti Foundation U.S. honors its 25th anniversary by presenting the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award to Holly Hyun Choe, who next year becomes principal conductor and musical advisor of Norwegian Radio Orchestra. A 2006 Solti Career Assistant … » Read

Classical and contemporary music can make for awkward bedfellows, but these two recent recordings show how one genre can really illuminate the another. Schubert/Beatles draws unpredicted parallels between the father of the German Lied and the … » Read