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Joshua Bell And Jeremy Denk On 'Song Travels' Connect the dots between classical music and standards with the dynamic violin-and-piano duo. |
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Fridays are funnier with a classical cartoon at noon from Deceptive Cadence. |
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Andris Nelsons Named Music Director Of The Boston Symphony   The announcement that the 34-year-old Latvian conductor is taking the reins of the ensemble puts an end to years of uncertainty at the storied orchestra, following James Levine's 2011 resignation. |
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Spring For Music: Detroit Symphony Orchestra At Carnegie Hall Pink Martini singer Storm Large joins Leonard Slatkin and the orchestra for Kurt Weill's satirical Seven Deadly Sins, in a program bookended by composers who straddled the turn of the last century. Slatkin says Maurice Ravel and Sergei Rachmaninov struggled with the idea of being 20th-century composers while having hearts and souls grounded in prior traditions. The orchestra performs Ravel's La valse and two lesser-known Rachmaninov works. |
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Spring For Music: National Symphony Orchestra At Carnegie Hall Hear an evening of exciting and intriguing 20th-century Russian music — including Shostkovich, Schnittke and Shchedrin — that pays tribute to the orchestra's late and longtime leader, conductor and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. |
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Fridays are funnier with a classical cartoon at noon from Deceptive Cadence. |
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Come Dance The 'Rite Of Spring' With Us!  We're inviting you to create your own video using the last minute of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Dance it, animate it, improvise it, whatever you like — and then upload your creation to YouTube before May 28th. We'll be featuring some of the best videos on NPR Music in the weeks ahead. |
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An Evening With Nico Muhly, 'Two Boys' And Other Works Join us for an intimate concert inspired by Muhly's exciting, intrigue-filled opera Two Boys, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera. Muhly is joined by close friends including singers Paul Appleby and Jennifer Zetlan, violist Nadia Sirota and duo violinists Angela and Jennifer Chun. |
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Moms In Opera: Women On The Edge Just try rummaging through the standard repertoire to find a tender scene between a mother and child and you'll come up stymied. Why are so many operatic moms depicted as murderous women on the verge of a nervous breakdown? |
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'Show Boat' Steams On, Eternally American A revival of the Hammerstein-Kern classic showcases once again the rich tapestry and timeless themes of an American saga that changed the course of musical theater — and confronted audiences with painful truths about our history. |
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Do You Have To Nearly Kill Yourself To Become A Classical Musician?  A pianist ponders how far he's gone to learn to play his instrument — and suggests you try, too. Though James Rhodes says he encountered massive medical and marital problems in his quest, he believes even amateur music-making beats prepackaged entertainment. |
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The History And Politics Of Humanitarian Intervention Some are calling on President Barack Obama to intervene in Syria's civil war. Gary Bass, Princeton University professor and author of Freedom's Battle: The Origins of Humanitarian Intervention, talks about the political risks of humanitarian intervention. |
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Ólafur Arnalds, Live In Concert How can music be happy and sad at the same time? Listen to Arnalds' work and you'll hear it. This performance at New York City's (Le) Poisson Rouge re-imagines the Icelandic musician's magnificent work with a small orchestra: 28 musicians known as Ensemble LPR, along with guest singer Arnor Dan. |
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Nicola Benedetti: Tiny Desk Concert Watch the young violinist spin out music by John Williams and Bach in sweet and soulful tendrils of sound. Wielding a 1717 Gariel Strad worth $10 million, Benedetti performs with warmth and approachable grace that's simply enchanting. |
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Jean-Yves Thibaudet On 'Song Travels' The pianist covers Spanish composer Federico Mompou and American popular songwriter Alec Wilder. |
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Fridays are funnier with a classical cartoon at noon from Deceptive Cadence. |
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What Do You Get Valery Gergiev For His 60th Birthday?  Today marks the superstar conductor's birthday. So what do you get for the man with plum posts the world over? In the case of Russian president Vladimir Putin, you give him a newly resuscitated Soviet prize — and a brand-new theater. |
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Coaxing The Baby To Sleep: A Violinist's Hand-Picked Lullabies Rachel Barton Pine says that while recording an album of music designed to help babies sleep, it helped to keep her own infant daughter in mind. |
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Tristan Perich On Q2 Music's 'Spaces' The '1-Bit Symphony' composer makes big music with tiny electronics. A visit with the sound, visual and installation artist reveals hundreds of bins — from a carton marked "squeezing tools" (scissors, pliers) to one simply labeled "art." |
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Remembering Janos Starker, The Cellist 'Born To Be A Teacher'  Although renowned as a soloist and Grammy winner, the famed cellist devoted much of his life to teaching students at Indiana University. Starker died Sunday at age 88. |
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Janos Starker, A Master Of The Cello, Dies At 88  Cellist Janos Starker has died at 88, ending a life and career that saw him renowned for his skills as a soloist, his prodigious work with orchestras, and his commitment to teaching. Starker was born in Budapest in 1924; his path to international stardom included surviving a Nazi labor camp. |
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Madame Mao's Hollywood Fantasies See and hear examples of politically dogmatic — but extravagantly assembled — operas and ballets born during the Cultural Revolution. Glamorous photo stills by Zhang Yaxin of works like Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy were recently shown in Canada. |
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Fridays are funnier with a classical cartoon at noon, from Deceptive Cadence. |
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Music We Love Now: Three Must-Hear Piano Albums The young Ingolf Wunder shines in Mozart, Jorge Federico Osorio reintroduces a Mexican classic and Elisveta Blumina reveals the gentle side of Valentine Silvestrov in three compelling new piano recordings. |
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First Listen: David Lang, 'Death Speaks' With help from Franz Schubert and four stellar musicians, David Lang ponders the afterlife. Hear the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer's new album in its entirety. |
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A Moment With Pulitzer-Winning Composer Caroline Shaw The violinist, vocalist and composer says that writing a piece like her prize-winning Partita for 8 Voices begins with "having a sound in your head that you really want to hear." |
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Carnegie Hall Live: Dresden Staatskapelle Plays Bruckner When the venerable orchestra brings Bruckner's Eighth Symphony to New York, listeners will hear an ensemble comfortable with the composer's quirks and thrills. Hear what one critic calls a "mesmerizing experience." |
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Fridays are funnier with a classical cartoon at noon, from Deceptive Cadence. |
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How Do You Handle Loneliness On The Road?  The refreshingly open American mezzo Joyce DiDonato doles out some great advice — and not just to aspiring singers. In her latest YouTube video, she tackles subjects ranging from alienation to friendships to creating a life free from expectations of what's "right." |
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In 'Which Way,' A War Photographer In His Element Writer-director Sebastian Junger remembers his friend and colleague Tim Hetherington, killed in April 2011 by mortar fire in the Libyan city of Misrata. |
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On Independence Day, A Subdued Syrian Capital Damascus would normally host a parade on independence day. But the streets are largely empty, aside from jittery government security forces manning checkpoints. |
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The Conductor Who Gained Power By Giving It Up What impressed most about Colin Davis wasn't his extraordinarily broad view of music and art, his eloquent turns of phrase, or even his naughty sense of humor, but it was instead something less tangible — his sense of self. |
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China's Growing Debt Raises Alarms Robert Siegel speaks with Simon Rabinovitch, reporter for the Financial Times based in Beijing, about his piece on Chinese debt and why both outsiders and insiders are worried about China's economic situation. |
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Large Police Presence Surrounds Margaret Thatcher's Funeral Margaret Thatcher was laid to rest in a funeral attended by dignitaries from around the globe as well as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on Wednesday. It's the first funeral of a British politician attended by the Queen since Sir Winston Churchill's in 1965. |
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Morton Subotnick And Joan La Barbara On Q2 Music's 'Spaces' The pioneering electronic composer responsible for Silver Apples of the Moon turned 80 years old this week. Q2 Music visited with Subotnick and his wife, vocalist Joan La Barbara, in the couple's Greenwich Village apartment for this installment of their web series Spaces. |
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For Thatcher, 'A Great Calm' After A Life Of Controversy The former British prime minister was remembered Wednesday at a funeral in London. Queen Elizabeth II was among those in attendance. Thatcher died last week. She was 87. |
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IAEA Team Probes Fukushima's Radioactive Water A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency is in Japan visiting the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The visit comes a week after reports emerged that large amounts of radioactive water had leaked from reservoirs where it was being stored. |
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Appreciating A Pillar Of The Chicago Sound: Trumpeter Bud Herseth  The legendary musician, widely adored by brass players and fans around the globe, spent 53 years as the principal in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He died Saturday at age 91. Watch some of his performances, including an extraordinary Mahler Fifth Symphony. |
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India Refuses Permission For Country's First Playboy Club The Goa state government says it cannot grant permission for the new club, which was to be the first of eight to be built over the next three years in India. |
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Italy's Financial Crisis Means More (Bread) Dough At Home A third of Italians are now making pizza at home, and 19 percent are baking their own bread, an association of Italian farmers reports. Bakeries are adapting by by offering prepared food, and more importantly, sandwiches. |
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China Gives Breakdown Of Its Military, Criticizes U.S. For the first time, China gives numbers for its ground, air and naval forces. It also slams the U.S. for its shift to Asia. |
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IMF Lowers 2013 Economic Growth Forecasts The International Monetary Fund has lowered its projections for global economic growth, including in the United States, citing sharp cuts in government spending and the struggling eurozone. |
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Strong Earthquake Shakes Iran, Deaths Reported The estimated 7.8 magnitude temblor was felt across the region. Buildings swayed in India's capital. |
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Venezuela's Presidential Election Remains Disputed The government declared Nicolas Maduro the winner Sunday night. He's the man picked by the late Hugo Chavez to become president. Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles is challenging his narrow defeat. |
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Is The United States A 'Dispensable Nation'? In his new book, The Dispensable Nation, former State Department adviser Vali Nasr explores the state of U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan and beyond. Nasr says the U.S. "is happy ... to play a less important role, to no longer be the stabilizer." |
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Letters Of Heartbreak Find Some Love In Verona, Italy Each year, the town of Verona, Italy — home of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet — receives thousands of letters of unrequited love addressed to the play's star-crossed heroine. And each letter — more than 6,000 a year — is answered by hand by a team of secretaries at the Juliet Club. |
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Caroline Shaw, 30, Wins Pulitzer For Music  The versatile composer, violinist and vocalist is one of just a handful of female musicians to earn the prize — and, at age 30, the youngest music winner ever. Her 'Partita for 8 Voices' was written for the debut recording by the vocal ensemble with which she performs, Roomful of Teeth. |
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Germany Braces For Terrorism Trial For years, authorities failed to see links in the killings of nine immigrants and a German policewoman. Now, a trial that will focus on right-wing extremists is about to begin. |
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Maria Callas On The Move: A Diva Does D.C. After a week on the town, with visits to the White House, the Opera House and Ben's Chili Bowl, NPR Music's Diva-in-Residence (and cardboard cut-out) makes her way to our brand-new headquarters. |
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Venezuela Says Recount Likely After Chavez Heir's Close Win The initial vote count shows Nicolas Maduro with a scant edge over challenger Henrique Capriles. Maduro, who was Hugo Chavez's hand-picked successor, had been expected to win easily. |
