A Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who served an influential tenure on the music faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, Richard Wernick died on April 25 at his home in Haverford, PA. He was 91.

In a fraught moment for two institutions behind the awards, this year's NEA Jazz Masters ceremony celebrated musicians who have upheld the genre's legacy while looking anxiously toward an uncertain future.

The centerpiece event of International Jazz Day takes place in Abu Dhabi, with a global musical cast. Catch them in the All-Star Global Concert at 4 p.m. EDT on April 30, here at wrti.org.

Hear the first single from Joshua Redman's new album, a ruminative piece called "A Message to Unsend." For Redman, it's a testament to the judicious restraint of a dynamic young band.

His wife, Fresh Air host Terry Gross, said the longtime contributor to The Village Voice and NPR had been living with emphysema and Parkinson's disease.

"Opera is a collision, and it was conceived as a real innovation," says Anthony Roth Costanzo, leader of Opera Philadelphia, whose 2025-26 season was designed with those ideals in mind.

Bassist Christian McBride has formed a new band, Ursa Major, around an ideal of stylistic flexibility. It features younger players who grew up watching his peer group stretch, as he explains in this conversation with WRTI's Nate Chinen.

"Steppin' Out" is the first salvo on Big Shoulders Records, Kurt Elling's new independent label. Hear it now, only at WRTI.

At 100, Marshall Allen has a new live album on the way. WRTI is proud to premiere the first single, featuring James McNew of Yo La Tengo and Charlie Hall of The War on Drugs.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks to Deborah Rutter, former head of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in her first interview since the board installed President Trump as its new chair.