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Robert Levin has long argued that Mozart would have made up new material while performing, and he follows the master in a series of dazzling recordings. Cadenzas are a concerto [...]

Byline: Zachary Woolfe Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith's new work about an ambitious minister's rise in the 1980s is that rarity in contemporary music: an original story. We've had [...]

Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith's new work about an ambitious minister's rise in the 1980s is that rarity in contemporary music: an original story. We've had ''The Shining'' and [...]

When listeners were given the power to program an orchestral concert, the results were surprising. I love the classical music canon, and I hate it. To be precise, I hate […]

When listeners were given the power to program an orchestral concert, the results were surprising. I love the classical music canon, and I hate it. To be precise, I hate [...]

Byline: Zachary Woolfe 'Un bel dì,' the title character's great aria in 'Madama Butterfly,' begins with the soprano singing a hovering G flat. Puccini writes in the score that the [...]

Byline: Zachary Woolfe In the mid-1700s, Christoph Willibald Gluck overthrew the musical excesses around him. A marathon double bill in France shows the vibrancy of his vision. A young woman [...]

The Aix Festival is presenting a new version of 'Samson,' a never-performed work by Rameau and Voltaire, two of France's most important cultural figures. Voltaire and Rameau looked so much […]

The Aix Festival is presenting a new version of “Samson,” a never-performed work by Rameau and Voltaire, two of France’s most important cultural figures. Voltaire and Rameau looked so much [...]

In the mid-1700s, Christoph Willibald Gluck overthrew the musical excesses around him. A marathon double bill in France shows the vibrancy of his vision. A young woman is offered as […]

The company has bet that new operas will attract new, more diverse audiences and revitalize a stale repertory. Is the gamble paying off? For years, the Metropolitan Opera -- the [...]

The company has bet that new operas will attract new, more diverse audiences and revitalize a stale repertory. Is the gamble paying off? For years, the Metropolitan Opera — the [...]

Byline: Zachary Woolfe The pandemic-derailed tenure of Jaap van Zweden, the orchestra's music director, was too short to give us a full sense of him, as man or maestro. Jaap, [...]

At the Park Avenue Armory, a five-hour selection of pieces from the 29-hour ''Licht'' cycle is best appreciated as a marathon performance. How often can you describe five hours of [...]

The pandemic-derailed tenure of Jaap van Zweden, the orchestra's music director, was too short to give us a full sense of him, as man or maestro. Jaap, we hardly knew [...]

At the Park Avenue Armory, a five-hour selection of pieces from the 29-hour “Licht” cycle is best appreciated as a marathon performance. How often can you describe five hours of [...]

Byline: Zachary Woolfe 'Natural History,' performed in Cincinnati, is a collaboration between the composer Michael Gordon and the Native American ensemble Steiger Butte Drum. Eleven members of Steiger Butte Drum [...]

Byline: Zachary Woolfe The Cleveland Orchestra's staging of Mozart's 'The Magic Flute' was a reminder that ensembles can help fill the gap as opera grows harder to find. It was [...]

''Natural History,'' performed in Cincinnati, is a collaboration between the composer Michael Gordon and the Native American ensemble Steiger Butte Drum. Eleven members of Steiger Butte Drum sat in a [...]

Byline: Zachary Woolfe During the second intermission of the Metropolitan Opera's gilded, gargantuan production of 'Turandot' one Friday last month, Donald Palumbo raced up to a tiny broadcast studio on [...]

The Cleveland Orchestra's staging of Mozart's ''The Magic Flute'' was a reminder that ensembles can help fill the gap as opera grows harder to find. It was that rarest of [...]

During the second intermission of the Metropolitan Opera's gilded, gargantuan production of ''Turandot'' one Friday last month, Donald Palumbo raced up to a tiny broadcast studio on the top floor [...]

An opera about Danny Chen, an Army private who died by suicide after experiencing racist hazing while serving, was performed in New York, his hometown. Thirteen years have passed since [...]

An opera about Danny Chen, an Army private who died by suicide after experiencing racist hazing while serving, was performed in New York, his hometown. Thirteen years have passed since [...]

Alsop has had enviable success, and was the first female conductor to lead a top American orchestra. She wants to take another step up. Marin Alsop's conducting students were taking [...]

Byline: Zachary Woolfe Alsop has had enviable success, and was the first female conductor to lead a top American orchestra. She wants to take another step up. Marin Alsop's conducting [...]

This week's program was supposed to feature the orchestra's principal oboe, but he and another player have been suspended amid misconduct allegations. It's rare that the most significant music in [...]

This week’s program was supposed to feature the orchestra’s principal oboe, but he and another player have been suspended amid misconduct allegations. It’s rare that the most significant music in [...]

Esa-Pekka Salonen is known for unusual, ambitious projects. But at the New York Philharmonic this week, he succeeded with standard repertory works. The conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen tends to get noticed [...]

Esa-Pekka Salonen is known for unusual, ambitious projects. But at the New York Philharmonic this week, he succeeded with standard repertory works. The conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen tends to get noticed [...]

Olga Neuwirth's ''Keyframes for a Hippogriff,'' a chaotic explosion of postmodernism, had its American premiere, conducted by Thomas Sondergard. The composer Olga Neuwirth doesn't tend to call her works anything [...]

Carnegie's intermittently illuminating festival ''Fall of the Weimar Republic'' has suffered from interjections of too much standard repertory. In the middle of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's suite of incidental music for [...]

Anthony Freud is leaving Lyric Opera of Chicago on good terms, though the company faces challenges in a strained environment for the performing arts. In 1975, Anthony Freud went to [...]

Anthony Freud is leaving Lyric Opera of Chicago on good terms, though the company faces challenges in a strained environment for the performing arts. In 1975, Anthony Freud went to [...]

After making history as the Metropolitan Opera's first work by a Black composer, Terence Blanchard's ''Fire'' is back -- with its showstopping step dance. The Metropolitan Opera premiere of ''Fire [...]

After making history as the Metropolitan Opera’s first work by a Black composer, Terence Blanchard’s “Fire” is back — with its showstopping step dance. The Metropolitan Opera premiere of “Fire [...]

The history and curiosity behind these operas, both set in Asia, complicate often simplistic criticisms of borrowing and stereotyping. A key relic of the genesis of Giacomo Puccini's two operas [...]

On Thursday, the richly talented 28-year-old maestro led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the first time since being named its next music director. On Thursday evening, when Klaus Mäkelä came [...]

On Thursday, the richly talented 28-year-old maestro led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the first time since being named its next music director. On Thursday evening, when Klaus Mäkelä came [...]

Byline: Zachary Woolfe The history and curiosity behind these operas, both set in Asia, complicate often simplistic criticisms of borrowing and stereotyping. A key relic of the genesis of Giacomo [...]

Patrick Carfizzi, a vibrant performer in supporting roles, has grabbed attention in a new production of Verdi's ''La Forza del Destino.'' Many boxes of pizza had been delivered to the [...]

Patrick Carfizzi, a vibrant performer in supporting roles, has grabbed attention in a new production of Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino.” Many boxes of pizza had been delivered to the [...]

Jaap van Zweden, the orchestra's music director, led new works by Joel Thompson and Tan Dun amid pieces by Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. When Jaap van Zweden, the music director [...]

Jaap van Zweden, the orchestra’s music director, led new works by Joel Thompson and Tan Dun amid pieces by Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. When Jaap van Zweden, the music director [...]

Jan Lisiecki, 28, is the elder statesman alongside Alexander Malofeev and Yunchan Lim in a trio of recent recital debuts at the hall. At 28, Jan Lisiecki can certainly be [...]

Jan Lisiecki, 28, is the elder statesman alongside Alexander Malofeev and Yunchan Lim in a trio of recent recital debuts at the hall. At 28, Jan Lisiecki can certainly be [...]

Byline: Zachary Woolfe Lise Davidsen, entering the Italian repertoire at the company, was part of a superb cast as Verdi's opera returned for the first time since 2006. As dramatic [...]

''Ðmigré,'' a bland oratorio about brothers who flee to China to escape Nazi persecution, was given its American premiere by the New York Philharmonic. In Handel's oratorio ''Israel in Egypt,'' [...]

“Émigré,” a bland oratorio about brothers who flee to China to escape Nazi persecution, was given its American premiere by the New York Philharmonic. In Handel’s oratorio “Israel in Egypt,” [...]