Latest Classical music News
Music Review: Billie Eilish's 'Hit Me Hard and Soft' is zealous outsider pop in a league of her own
“Am I acting my age now?” Billie Eilish, 22, wonders aloud on the opening track to her ambitious third album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft.” "Am I already on the way out?” The 10-track release sees a once-in-a-generation pop performer once again rewriting the...
Rock band Cage the Elephant emerge from loss and hospitalization with new album 'Neon Pill'
NEW YORK (AP) — To say Cage the Elephant's latest album had a turbulent birth would be an understatement. The band dealt with the deaths of loved ones, the pandemic and their lead singer's arrest and hospitalization. “It’s no secret that I had a medical crisis,” Matt Shultz...
Fans flock to Paris to cheer as Lise Davidsen becomes classical music's Taylor Swift
PARIS (AP) — Taylor Swift isn't the only singer fans are flocking to Paris to hear. Lise Davidsen has become classical music’s biggest draw, attracting crowds to the Paris Opéra for her first performances in the title role of Strauss’ “Salome” during the same week Swift...
Washington Opera offers new ending to Puccini's final work
NEW YORK (AP) — Ever since Giacomo Puccini died without finishing his last opera, “Turandot,” audiences have thrilled to its soaring melodies like “Nessun Dorma,” but also perhaps lamented the lack of a proper ending. Now the Washington National Opera is offering an...
North West joins starry concert event of 'The Lion King' at Hollywood Bowl
LOS ANGELES (AP) — North West, the daughter of Kim Kardashian and Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, is going from “Paw Patrol” to another animal project: A starry “Lion King” concert. West joins a cast that includes Heather Headley, Billy Eichner, Bradley Gibson,...
Music Review: Kings of Leon electrify with new album that nods to the past, 'Can We Please Have Fun'
Kings of Leon pose an existential question to listeners on the first single from their new album: Are you a mustang or are you a kitty? Well, turning that around: Which Kings of Leon are we getting now? The purring arena-rockers or an edgy, untamed stallion? Judging from the 12...
Met Opera hosts 4 female conductors in landmark week. From its founding to 2016, there were only 4
NEW YORK (AP) — Oksana Lyniv, Speranza Scappucci, Marin Alsop and Xian Zhang filled their lockers in the guest conductors’ dressing room off the Metropolitan Opera’s orchestra pit. Just four women had led the orchestra from 1883 through 2016, but four took the baton in a landmark week from...
Music Review: Brad Mehldau connects Bach, Fauré to jazz on albums, 'After Bach II' and 'Après Fauré'
Grammy-award winning jazz pianist Brad Mehldau connects the dots as though they were so many 16th notes. His two new albums, “After Bach II” and “Après Fauré,” use classical music as a foundation for solo explorations that draw a through line from Art Tatum to Thelonious...
Music Review: Dua Lipa's 'Radical Optimism' is controlled dance pop
NEW YORK (AP) — In the chorus of “Whatcha Doing," the fifth track on Dua Lipa's latest album, she sings: “But if control is my religion / And I'm headed for collision / Lost my 20/20 vision," referencing the unexpected pull of a new partner. That sentiment proves true on...
Duane Eddy, twangy guitar hero of early rock, dead at age 86
NEW YORK (AP) — Duane Eddy, a pioneering guitar hero whose reverberating electric sound on instrumentals such as "Rebel Rouser" and “Peter Gunn” helped put the twang in early rock 'n' roll and influenced George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen and countless other musicians, has died at age 86. ...
