Category: NPR Music: Classical

To mark the 150th anniversary of the maverick American composer’s birth, pianist Jeremy Denk releases an Ives tribute album that educates, delights and confounds.

Whether she’s singing in the world’s great opera houses, the White House or in prisons, the celebrated mezzo-soprano and U.S. Global Music Ambassador understands how music can move people.

Adam Abeshouse was diagnosed with bile duct cancer last spring. His star classical music clients, including Joshua Bell, Simone Dinnerstein, Jeremy Denk, and Lara Downes, wanted to say goodbye.

The self-described “surreal blues poet” savors the significance of words and the noisy poetry of city life.

In The Listeners, a seductive cult leader and an unexplainable noise divides an innocent community and warps reality. Mazzoli’s opera receives its U.S. premiere in Philadelphia.

Rapper RZA, who helped launch the Wu-Tang Clan hip hop group in the 1990s, tries his hand in classical music by composing for a ballet inspired by Greek musical scales during the pandemic.

A box set featuring previously unreleased recordings sheds new light on the life and legacy of Paul Robeson, a bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional football player and activist.

As music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Heyward is the youngest to lead a major American orchestra and the first Black music director in the organization’s 107-year history.

NPR’s A Martínez speaks with Bryce Dessner, a member of the rock band The National, about his classical music debut. The album — “Solos” — comes out Friday on Sony Classical.

A new album from the guitarist for the rock band The National spotlights pieces he’s written for friends like Katia Labèque, Colin Currie and Pekka Kuusisto.