Latest Classical music News
Lin-Manuel Miranda launches R.I.S.E. Network to improve diversity on Broadway
NEW YORK (AP) — “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda hopes to increase diversity on Broadway and in theaters across the country with a new initiative announced Thursday. The Representation, Inclusion and Support for Employment Theater Network – or R.I.S.E. Network, for short...
Three sopranos discuss their roles in Strauss’s most complex opera
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Part fairy tale, part psychodrama, Richard Strauss’s “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” (The Woman Without a Shadow) calls for three big-voiced sopranos who can do justice to a long and difficult score. That’s one reason the opera, which premiered in 1919, is a...
George Winston, million-selling pianist known for his melodic style, dead at age 73
NEW YORK (AP) — George Winston, the Grammy-winning pianist who blended jazz, classical, folk and other stylings on such million-selling albums as “Autumn,” “Winter Into Spring" and “December,” has died at age 73. According to an announcement on his website...
'The Righteous,' an opera set among American Southwest church communities, to premiere in 2024
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The Santa Fe Opera will present the world premiere of “The Righteous” by composer Gregory Spears with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy K. Smith on July 13 next year. The opera, set among church communities in the American Southwest, stars...
Astrud Gilberto, singer of 'The Girl from Ipanema,' dead at 83
NEW YORK (AP) — Astrud Gilberto, the Brazilian singer, songwriter and entertainer whose off-hand, English-language cameo on “The Girl from Ipanema” made her a worldwide voice of bossa nova, has died at age 83. Musician Paul Ricci, a family friend, confirmed that she died...
Music Review: Janelle Monáe embraces sexy fun on album 'The Age of Pleasure'
“The Age of Pleasure” by Janelle Monáe (Atlantic Records) A girl’s gotta relax. A girl’s gotta go with the funk. A girl’s gotta have her fun. Janelle Monáe’s fourth studio album “The Age of Pleasure” is a study in sexy chill by the pool in the sun. ...
Book Review: ‘Mozart in Motion’ by Patrick Mackie seeks to bring composer to life in new ways
“Mozart in Motion: His Work and His World in Pieces” by Patrick Mackie (Macmillan Publishers). Writing a biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart nowadays is no easy task. The daunting list of predecessors, which spans centuries, who have already undertaken the assignment complicates...
Acclaimed composer Kaija Saariaho dies at age 70 of brain tumor
Kaija Saariaho, who wrote acclaimed works that made her the among the most prominent composers of the 21st century, died Friday. She was 70. Saariaho died at her apartment in Paris, her family said in a statement posted on her Facebook page. She had been diagnosed in February 2021...
Festival at Greece’s ancient theaters dedicated to Maria Callas and century since her birth
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The music from “Madame Butterfly” and other major operas is known to Greek audiences largely through the recorded performances of Maria Callas, the U.S.-born Greek artist who died in 1977 and is still revered here. For theatergoers in Athens, watching the...
Heyward to become music director of Mostly Mozart, which will get new name
NEW YORK (AP) — Jonathon Heyward will succeed Louis Langrée as music director of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Orchestra, which will be given a new and as yet undetermined name by the summer of 2024. The 30-year-old conductor will start a three-year contract in 2024, the...
