Category: Classical Music

He Made the Met Opera’s Chorus the Best in the World

Donald Palumbo, a mild-mannered but relentless perfectionist, is stepping down after 17 years as the company’s chorus master.
After Outcry, Concertgebouw Will Allow Jerusalem Quartet to Perform

The Dutch concert hall reversed course after facing criticism for canceling performances by the Israeli ensemble because of security concerns.
Barbara Hannigan, Daring Singer and Maestro, to Lead Iceland Symphony

Hannigan, the rare artist to have a career as a soprano and a conductor, will assume a full-time conducting post for the first time.
A Night to Remember at the Opera, Complete With a Phantom

About 130 children took part in a sleepover at Rome’s opera house, part of a campaign to make up for a lack of music education by making the theater and the art form more familiar and accessible.
Review: An Absent Player in the Spotlight at the Philharmonic

This week’s program was supposed to feature the orchestra’s principal oboe, but he and another player have been suspended amid misconduct allegations.
Lead in Beethoven’s Hair Offers New Clues to Mystery of His Deafness

Using powerful technologies, scientists found staggering amounts of lead and other toxic substances in the composer’s hair that may have come from wine, or other sources.
Coming Soon to Little Island: An Arts Festival With Powerful Backers

The mogul Barry Diller, who paid for the park, will finance a summer season of music, dance, theater and more, shaped in part by the Broadway producer Scott Rudin.
Can Marin Alsop Shatter Another Glass Ceiling?

Alsop has had enviable success, and was the first female conductor to lead a top American orchestra. She wants to take another step up.
Review: A Conductor Surprises by Embracing the Ordinary

Esa-Pekka Salonen is known for unusual, ambitious projects. But at the New York Philharmonic this week, he succeeded with standard repertory works.
2 Players Sue Philharmonic, Saying They Were Wrongfully Suspended

Matthew Muckey and Liang Wang said they were sidelined without cause by the New York Philharmonic after a recent magazine article detailed allegations of misconduct against them.
Kim Noltemy, Orchestra Veteran, Is Tapped to Lead L.A. Philharmonic

Noltemy, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s chief executive, will take the helm of the Philharmonic as it searches for its next music director.
Gerstein’s ‘Music in Time of War’ Pairs Debussy and Komitas

Kirill Gerstein’s immense recording project “Music in Time of War” surveys works by artists who witnessed World War I and the Armenian genocide.