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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. |
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Retaliating Against U.S., Russia Bars 18 Americans The already-frayed relations between the U.S. and Russia have unraveled even more over the past several days. Russia has published a list of 18 Americans who will be barred from entering the country because of their alleged involvement in human rights violations. |
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Chavez Successor Wins Presidential Election In Venezuela, Hugo Chavez's hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, won a razor-thin victory in Sunday's special presidential election. He edged out the opposition's leader by only about 300,000 votes, electoral officials announced. |
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Remembering Colin Davis, A Conductor Beloved Late In Life   The English conductor was knighted in 1980 and won three Grammys — but did not reach the real heights of his career until he was in his sixties and seventies. Famed for his interpretations of Berlioz, Sibelius and Mozart as well as contemporary composers, he died at age 85 on Sunday. |
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China Reports 13 Bird Flu Deaths; Cases Climb To 60 Health officials in China say they've confirmed 11 new bird flu diagnoses, bringing the number of H7N9 infections to 60, according to the official Xinhua news agency. The virus, which began in eastern China, has now sickened at least one person in Beijing, and two in the central province of Henan. |
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Jetliner Crashes Into Sea Near Runway In Bali; All Aboard Safe More than 100 passengers survived a crash into the sea, after the Boeing 737 they were traveling on from West Java to Bali, Indonesia, missed the runway at Denpasar International Airport. The plane came to rest in shallow waters, simplifying rescue efforts. Photographs showed the Lion Air jet in the water, its fuselage broken just behind its wings. |
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Extreme Drama: The Life And Music Of Richard Wagner Marking the 200th anniversary of the controversial composer's birth, conductor Marin Alsop and friends rethink Wagner in a series of multimedia concerts. |
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Russia's Putin Announces $50 Billion In New Space Spending The Russian president says the part of the money will go to complete a new launch facility under construction in the country's far east. |
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Portrait Of The Heldentenor As A Young Man Fridays are funnier with a classical cartoon at noon, from Deceptive Cadence. |
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Kerry: U.S. Will Not Accept A Nuclear-Armed North Korea Secretary of State John Kerry is in Seoul, South Korea, at a time of escalating tension on the Korean peninsula. There are expectations that North Korea might soon launch a medium-range missile. |
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Tokyo String Quartet Bids Boston A Bittersweet Farewell After 43 seasons, the revered ensemble, born in Japan, calls it quits. Here, the players serenade Boston at WGBH, with a concert of music by Haydn, Bartok and Ravel. |
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A Real-Life Fight For Freedom In 'Nine Days' Fred Hiatt's new young-adult novel, Nine Days, is based on the real-life story of a Chinese dissident's daughter trying to solve the mystery of her father's disappearance. Ti-Anna Wang, the real-life woman who inspired the tale, says her father had been kidnapped by Chinese agents during a trip to Vietnam. |
 In a recent lecture on the arts, the eclectic cellist made a plea for the power of diversity. When artists from divergent disciplines commingle, Ma says, it creates a "time and space for transformation." |
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Fans of the AMC series know it uses pop music as well as any TV show. But Don Draper's world has its classical corners, too. In the the sixth season's opening episode, Chopin played a key role — as Beethoven had done in the previous season. |
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Vespers, Habaneras And Early Morning Walks: New Classical Albums From the radiant voices of a Latvian choir to a fresh young string quartet and a seasoned symphony, NPR's Tom Huizenga and host Jacki Lyden spin an eclectic mix of new classical releases. |
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Fridays are funnier with a classical cartoon at noon, from Deceptive Cadence. |
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Huberman's List: How A Violinist Saved Jews In World War II  The story of how legendary violinist Bronisław Huberman used his prestige and fame toward a heroic end inspired a documentary film. See the trailer and learn more about the founding of what became the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. |
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Remembering Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer Robert Ward  The composer is best remembered for his operatic retelling of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, which debuted at New York City Opera in 1961 and has since been staged all over the globe. Ward died Tuesday morning at age 95. |
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Live At Carnegie Hall: Jonathan Biss And The Elias String Quartet In an art form filled with tortured souls, Robert Schumann stands out — even more than 150 years after his death. Hear one of America's finest young pianists and an emerging English string quartet play music by the visionary composer, as well as music by Mozart and artists Schumann influenced. |
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Lochlannach Phil Lockout Jump-Started By Kickstarter A beloved regional orchestra in Minnesota ends months of labor difficulty by replacing union musicians with unpaid community members. Hear the result — you won't believe it. |
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Marching To 'Easter Monday On The White House Lawn'  One of John Philip Sousa's happiest marches depicts the day each year when kids rule in Washington. |
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Singing The Praises Of Pre-Dawn Walks Winter Morning Walks, an album featuring jazz composer Maria Schneider and soprano Dawn Upshaw, revolves around meditations on nature and beauty by former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. All three artists have had battles with cancer — when, Schneider says, "everything in life becomes heightened." |
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Jace Clayton Revives A Forgotten Voice From New York's Vanguard  Even among experimentalists like Philip Glass and Steve Reich, the composer Julius Eastman stood out: black, gay and politically provocative. Clayton's new album is a tribute to the singular artist who burned out too early. |
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Marches Madness: Rubbing Aladdin's Lamp  Carl Nielsen could have used a little more luck after he composed stunningly original music for a theatrical version of the Aladdin story. The director cut and jumbled the score. But in the end, the Danish composer rescued his music by turning it into a popular suite. |
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Fridays are funnier with a classical cartoon at noon, from Deceptive Cadence. |
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Marches Madness: Spielberg's Symphonist  As Hollywood grew increasingly computerized, one man stuck to his Romantic guns. Thanks to John Williams, aliens, wizards, dinosaurs and even humans have cruised across the screen to his sweeping, richly scored orchestral melodies. See Williams conduct the jolly march from the comedy 1941. |
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The Good Friday 5: Musical Passion Stories You Must Hear Before Easter, hear five powerful and diverse musical portrayals of Jesus' last days and crucifixion, from Bach's monumental St. Matthew to Golijov's brilliant Latin American mashup to a dark and terrifying Russian vision from Sofia Gubaidulina. |
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Long After Its Fall, Berlin Wall Is Focus Of New Protests A developer wants to knock down a remnant of the Berlin Wall to make way for luxury apartments. Some Berlin protesters — and actor David Hasselhoff — have been trying to stop it. |
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With Cyprus On The Ropes, Which Country Will Become The Next Tax Shelter? Robert Siegel talks to Joseph Cotterill, writer for the Financial Times, about what may happen if the European Union's bailout plan for Cyprus succeeds and which country may be poised to take on the role as the next Cayman Islands of Eastern Europe. |
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Divisions Remain In Syrian Rebel Coalition Robert Siegel talks to professor Joshua Landis about the leadership and future of the shaky Syrian opposition coalition. |
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In Crackdown, Some Russian Groups Labeled As 'Foreign Agents' A new law places the tag on human rights and other private groups that receive funding from abroad. In Russia, the label is nearly synonymous with "spy." Critics say the law is part of an effort by President Vladimir Putin to stifle dissent. |
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Marches Madness: 'Turkish' Mozart, Jazzed By An Expert  Meta music: Mozart's Orientalist fantasy, tweaked by Turkish pianist and composer Fazil Say. |
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A Struggle To Fit In And Overcome Stereotypes In 'Ghana Must Go' In Taiye Selasi's debut novel, members of the Sai family have trouble assimilating both in the United States and while in Ghana for the patriarch's funeral. Host Michel Martin speaks with Selasi about her novel and the immigrant experience. |
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Myanmar Imposes New Curfews Amid Anti-Muslim Violence The latest violence began following an argument between a Muslim goldsmith and his Buddhist customers in a central city. Ethnic violence in the former Burma comes as the government introduces democratic reforms after decades of military rule. |
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Marches Madness: Royal Wedding Edition  Hear the march that accompanied the wedding of William and Kate — and Charles and Diana: William Walton's Crown Imperial, originally written for the Duke of Windsor. |
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Beyond 'Dayenu': What's Your Music Of Liberation? With Passover beginning, Jews around the world prepared to commemorate this major holiday with food, prayers and songs. We're on the hunt for music that helps spool out stories of enslavement and liberation. |
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Marches Madness: From Trash Can To Flagpole  With its bright beat and direct quote from The Star Spangled Banner, Edwin Bagley's National Emblem march is an American favorite — that almost made the trash bin. |
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Merritt And Dinnerstein, A Musical Odd Couple, On Bridging Their Worlds Singer-songwriter Tift Merritt and classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein say the challenge of their new collaborative album, Night, was creating a language they could both speak. They discuss the project and perform live. |
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Marches Madness: A Dancer's Joy  Meredith Monk's march lives up to its "Light" name — it's a pure distillation of joy. |
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Fridays are funnier with a classical cartoon at noon, from Deceptive Cadence. |
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Remembering Risë Stevens, A Star Of Opera And Pop Culture  The mezzo-soprano with the smoky, sultry voice defined Carmen for generations — and earned Hollywood fame at the prime of her career. Stevens died Wednesday at 99. |
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Marches Madness: Mahler's Twisted Nursery Rhyme  The idea of transforming the children's song "Frère Jacques" into a funeral march was both creepy and ingenious, making Gustav Mahler's very first symphony a bold game changer. |
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Marches Madness: Hurray For Taxes!  A tiny tax hike between the World Wars started a musical revolution. Hear a community band from Wisconsin play the Iowa Band Law March, which celebrates municipal support of music. |
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Marches Madness: High-Stepping To Scott Joplin  While Scott Joplin was the king of ragtime, he had his heart set on writing opera. His only surviving score, Treemonisha, ends with a slow march that's "happy as a bird in June." |
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Music We Love Now: New Albums Of Bach, Beethoven And Brahms New albums of music by the "Three Bs" prove that going back to the basics has its advantages. Hear a sweet-toned violin concerto, an audacious piano sonata and a solo cello suite caressed by a lute. |
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Marches Madness: Freshly Squeezed Oranges In 4/4 Time  If you fell in love with oranges, would you scour the world to find them? Prokofiev's absurdist, citrus-scented opera features zany plot lines, curious characters and one little march that made it big. |
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How Does A Jewish Artist Tell The Ultimate Christian Story?  How does an Argentine Jewish artist approach the ultimate Christian narrative? MacArthur "genius" Osvaldo Golijov says it's by creating a "Latin American Jesus." His Passion According to St. Mark was recently staged at Carnegie Hall with a diverse group of singers from New York schools. |
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Marches Madness: Beware Friday The 15th! You read that right. Forget Friday the 13th and beware the Ides of March instead. (It was great advice, even if Julius Caesar didn't take it.) Comfort yourself in the glory that was Rome, courtesy of Respighi's blazing "Pines of the Appian Way" — performed on another momentous occasion. |
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Fridays are funnier with a classical cartoon at noon, from Deceptive Cadence. |
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The Classical Pianist With 55 Million YouTube Hits  Ukrainian pianist Valentina Lisitsa decided to rev up her stalled-out career in a very 21st-century way: by putting up dozens of videos of herself playing core repertoire. Now she's a superstar by any traditional standard. Do her major-label recordings matter? |
