Anastasia Tsioulcas
Anastasia Tsioulcas is a reporter on NPR's Arts desk. She is intensely interested in the arts at the intersection of culture, politics, economics and identity, and primarily reports on music. Recently, she has extensively covered gender issues and #MeToo in the music industry, including backstage tumult and alleged secret deals in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against megastar singer Plácido Domingo; gender inequity issues at the Grammy Awards and the myriad accusations of sexual misconduct against singer R. Kelly.
On happier days, Tsioulcas has celebrated the life of the late Aretha Franklin, traveled to Havana to profile musicians and dancers, revealed the hidden artistry of an Indian virtuoso who spent 60 years in her apartment and brought listeners into the creative process of composers Steve Reich and Terry Riley.
Tsioulcas was formerly a reporter and producer for NPR Music, where she covered breaking news in the music industry as well as a wide range of musical genres and artists. She has also produced episodes for NPR Music's much-lauded Tiny Desk concert series, and has hosted live concerts from venues like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge. She also commissioned and produced several world premieres on behalf of NPR Music, including a live event that brought together 350 musicians to debut a new work together. As a video producer, she created high-profile video shorts for NPR Music, including performances by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a Brooklyn theatrical props warehouse and pianist Yuja Wang in an icy-cold Steinway & Sons piano factory.
Tsioulcas has also reported from north and west Africa, south Asia, and across Europe for NPR and other outlets. Prior to joining NPR in 2011, she was widely published as a writer and critic on both classical and world music, and was the North America editor for Gramophone Magazine and the classical music columnist for Billboard.
Born in Boston and based in New York, Tsioulcas is a lapsed classical violinist and violist (shoutout to all the overlooked violists!). She graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University with a B.A. in comparative religion.
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A fictional tale of the real-life Jewish community in Shanghai during World War II — with a cross-cultural love story at its heart — is premiering at the New York Philharmonic on Thursday. -
Actors Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan give warm, deeply sympathetic performances as wide-ranging musician Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre Cohn, in a biopic directed by Cooper. -
An opera about civil rights leader Malcolm X opens Friday — nearly 40 years after X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X premiered. The creative team says its message feels more relevant than ever. -
A new live stage show features actor John Malkovich transformed into some of the meanest music critics ever — in real reviews skewering the work of great composers like Beethoven, Brahms and Chopin. -
WCPE had deemed operas dealing with race and LGBTQ issues "unsuitable" for broadcast. They reversed course "after careful deliberation...and hearing from our supporters, listeners and the public." -
The opera star who once sang on stages around the world suddenly pleaded guilty to sexual assault on Friday. The assaulted man, singer Samuel Schultz, reflects on the experiences he has endured. -
Octavia Butler's novel Parable of the Sower — depicting a dystopian U.S. in 2024 — was published 30 years ago. Toshi Reagon's new musical retelling explores the web of past, present and future. -
Composer Robert Beaser has been fired from the renowned performing arts conservatory after an independent investigation found that he had broken Juilliard policies and "misrepresented facts." -
Apple recently launched a standalone streaming service for classical music exploration, including guided playlists, exclusive content and detailed metadata. Does Apple Music Classical deliver? -
The influential Japanese composer died March 28 from cancer. A wide-ranging musician, the Yellow Magic Orchestra co-founder was a synth-pop idol and the writer of sweeping movie scores.
