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A group of sixth, seventh and eighth grade students realized there was no children's book about the composer Florence Price. So they wrote, illustrated and published their own. -
Renee Klahr/Think of the best songs of 2021 as a playlist catering to the most basic human urges. Within it, booties were called, muffins were buttered and bloody revenge was contemplated. It was quite a year.
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Few people today remember E.T.A. Hoffmann, but most everyone is familiar with his most famous creation: The Nutcracker. NPR's Robert Siegel traces the history of everyone's favorite Christmas ballet all the way back to its much darker original version. -
The flow of good classical Christmas albums seems to have slowed to a trickle. And that's got one holiday listener longing for holiday albums from years past, from Jessye Norman's Christmastide, Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite and carols led by Robert Shaw.
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The inspirational El Sistema music education program, developed in Venezuela, has Sao Paulo Symphony conductor Marin Alsop fantasizing about a better musical world. Her other orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, is bringing similar opportunities to Charm City children.
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Fridays are funnier with a classical cartoon at noon, from Deceptive Cadence.
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A pair of revealing interviews, peacocks who talk and support — moral and financial — for orchestras: your guide to what you must know in classical music this week. Plus: the Schumann 'brand' and Dave Brubeck's encounter with Schoenberg, who wouldn't take even two.
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An upcoming documentary highlights an extraordinary orchestra in Paraguay, whose young members play instruments made out of trash in a slum built on top of a landfill. Watch the trailer.
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Cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist-composer Thomas Adès play together with uncommon instinct and energy. They shine in a recital of disparate pieces, culminating in a world-premiere recording of an eclectic new work by Adès.
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Myrlie Evers-Williams is the widow of assassinated civil rights activist Medgar Evers. After her husband's death, she became a noted activist herself. But music has always been one of her loves, and she's about to fulfill a longtime dream on the Carnegie stage.
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The Dutch violinist and conductor, often called "The King of the Waltz," is one of the most commercially successful classical artists in history. His latest release is an album and DVD of Christmas music called Home for the Holidays.
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Fridays are funnier with a classical cartoon at noon, from Deceptive Cadence.
