Latest Classical from NPR Music

Gods And Monsters: 5 Unforgettable Wagner Moments

Tom Huizenga — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:06:00 +0000

How much do you know about Richard Wagner? Probably two unfavorable facts: He wrote very long, grandiose operas and was Hitler's favorite composer. As true as they are, those simple examples barely hint at the complexity of this endlessly creative and confounding artist.

Two centuries after Wagner's birth (he was born in Leipzig May 22, 1813), the man and his music continue to beguile and bewilder fans, detractors and critics.

Polly Want An Ostinato?

Pablo Helguera — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:40:00 +0000

Got an idea for a classical cartoon or a reaction to this one? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Pablo Helguera is a New York-based artist working with sculpture, drawing, photography and performance. His new book is Helguera's Artunes. You can see more of his work atArtworld Salon and on his own site.

Andris Nelsons Named Music Director Of The Boston Symphony

Anastasia Tsioulcas — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:08:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyjr4A_9haI

Will Work For Feed

Pablo Helguera — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:58:00 +0000

Got an idea for a classical cartoon? Leave it in the comments section.

Pablo Helguera is a New York-based artist working with sculpture, drawing, photography and performance. You can see more of his work at Artworld Salon and on his own site.

Come Dance The 'Rite Of Spring' With Us!

editor — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:54:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF1OQkHybEQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7pV2cX0qxs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3hcSoIcY4o

Live From LPR: An Evening With Nico Muhly And Friends

editor — Thu, 09 May 2013 19:09:00 +0000

Opera audiences are well acquainted with all manners of intrigue — whether political, romantic or psychological. The exciting American composer Nico Muhly is updating that paradigm to the 21st century with his opera Two Boys.

This work, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, is loosely based on a true story from the 1990s, just at the birth of online culture.

Moms In Opera: Women On The Edge

Tom Huizenga — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:20:00 +0000

We love mothers for all the Hallmark reasons: for their compassion and patience, not to mention giving birth. But some moms aren't exactly greeting card friendly — and none less so than those who live in the opera house.

This is opera, after all, so we expect the outrageous. But operatic moms seem to be disproportionately portrayed as murderers, harpies or generally women on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Your Normas, Medeas, Butterflies, Queens of the Night and Clytemnestras.

But dads are found in all kinds of touching musical moments.

Spring for Music: National Symphony Orchestra

editor — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:40:00 +0000

Program:

SHCHEDRIN: Slava, Slava

SCHNITTKE: Viola Concerto

SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5

National Symphony Orchestra

Christoph Eschenbach, music director

David Aaron Carpenter, viola

When the National Symphony Orchestra closes out the third edition of the Spring for Music festival on Saturday night, it marks the return of an ensemble that is an all-too-rare guest in New York's concert halls; they last appeared at Carnegie Hall in 2006.

Do You Have To Nearly Kill Yourself To Become A Classical Musician?

editor — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:45:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXa_iycbnQM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9dEgXR1iWE

Ólafur Arnalds, Live In Concert

Bob Boilen — Tue, 07 May 2013 14:57:00 +0000

How can music be happy and sad at the same time? Listen to Olafur Arnalds and you'll hear it. Depending on your mood, the tone changes, and a song that may have been uplifting one day sounds like an elegy the next. It's spacious, undeniably beautiful work. Much of the music performed in this concert, recorded on April 18 at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City, is drawn from the Icelandic musician's recent album For Now I Am Winter.