classical music

Giovanna d’Arco, which premiered at La Scala in 1845, was an instant popular success. It is said that within a few weeks of the premiere the favourite melodies from Giovanna were being ground out on the […]

There’s no reason to read anything political into this, but the Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian has cancelled a week with the Cleveland Orchestra this month, ‘because of personal reasons’. Here’s the official statement: The Cleveland […]

Message from the excellent French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras: ‘After last week’s horrific spectacle at the White House—staged to humiliate President Zelensky—and the U.S.’s rapid shift away from the fundamental freedoms and democratic ideals that Europe […]

The formative director of Saint-Etienne opera, Jean Louis Pichon, has been found dead at his home, local media have reported. He was 77. The cause of death is under investigation. Pichon ran his hometown opera […]

The former Philly Pops, preently the No Name Pops, has picked Christopher Dragon as chief condcutor. Dragon, 34, is presently resident conductor at the Colorado Symphony and music director of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra. He’s […]

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has appointed Wenhan Jiang as co-principal violist, taking him from the Ulster Orchestra, where he wsas principal viola. It’s the touring that excites him: ‘Wien – Hamburg – Hannover – Köln […]

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, founded in 1968 with Neville Marriner as conductor, has played for most of its existence around and about, but never in town. Its venues have been Wallis Annenberg Center (Beverly […]

The New York shipping magnate Elias N. Kulukundis has donated most of his lifetime Bach family collection to the Bach Archive in Leipzig. It includes the autograph score of Johann Christian Bach’s opera Zanaida, letters […]

The musical has cancelled a two-month Washington run during the 2026 American anniversary year. Its creator Lin-Manuel Miranda said: ‘The Kennedy Center is for all of us, and it pains me deeply that they took […]