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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Check out our favorite videos from our Rite of Spring call, ranging from beautiful to nutty, live action to stop motion, porcine to feline. No cats, bananas or cyborgs were harmed in the making of these motion pictures — though grass and weeds got what was coming to them.
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Composer and pianist Vijay Iyer and filmmaker Prashant Bhargava transport Igor Stravinsky's imagined springtime religious ritual to India, where such a celebration is real: the joyous Hindu holiday called Holi. Watch excerpts of the film and hear the entire musical performance.
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Composer and artist Stephen Malinowski has created an incredibly illuminating — but very easy to understand — path into exploring Stravinsky's music, thanks to what he calls his "Music Animation Machine."
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We've gotten some really funny and creative entries so far in our video project celebrating the Rite of Spring centennial. Where's yours? Check out some videos, grab the music and get cracking — you only have until Tuesday, May 28. -
We're inviting you to create your own video using the last minute of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Dance it, animate it, improvise it, whatever you like — and then upload your creation to YouTube before May 28th. We'll be featuring some of the best videos on NPR Music in the weeks ahead.
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Watch an intimate concert inspired by Muhly's exciting, intrigue-filled opera Two Boys, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera.
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The announcement that the 34-year-old Latvian conductor is taking the reins of the ensemble puts an end to years of uncertainty at the storied orchestra, following James Levine's 2011 resignation.
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A pianist ponders how far he's gone to learn to play his instrument — and suggests you try, too. Though James Rhodes says he encountered massive medical and marital problems in his quest, he believes even amateur music-making beats prepackaged entertainment.
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Watch the young violinist spin out music by John Williams and Bach in sweet and soulful tendrils of sound. Wielding a 1717 Gariel Strad worth $10 million, Benedetti performs with warmth and approachable grace that's simply enchanting.
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Today marks the superstar conductor's birthday. So what do you get for the man with plum posts the world over? In the case of Russian president Vladimir Putin, you give him a newly resuscitated Soviet prize — and a brand-new theater.
