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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Hear eighth blackbird play Grammy winning music by Stephen Hartke. And the hosts of Deceptive Cadence team up to examine the classical winners at the 55th Grammy Awards, from two very belated Lifetime Achievement honors to the nonsense of the "Classical Compendium" category. -
The nephew of African-American contralto Marian Anderson was a trailblazer in his own right, an acclaimed conductor in an age when few black men led major orchestras. His international performing, recording and teaching career blossomed despite significant physical challenges.
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A intense but modestly scaled new opera called Sumeia's Song, written by rising young Arab-American composer Mohammed Fairouz, offers clues into how chamber-sized presentations can be successfully both financially and artistically. And Philip Glass' new Walt Disney opera streams for free Wednesday.
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A moving essay in the New York Times by pianist Sara Davis Buechner poses many questions, including this: Is the American classical music community more unwilling than others to accept a transgendered performer?
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The FAA changes its tune regarding instruments on planes, the passing of "conduction" innovator Butch Morris, the stats on coughing at concerts and what the New Jersey Symphony board wasn't told about Richard Dare. Plus: violinist vs. composer and a music retailer's staff retaliates on Twitter.
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Watch one of today's top string quartets delve deep at a Brooklyn bookstore to play the dark-hued second movement of Felix Mendelssohn's Op. 80 string quartet.
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Anne Akiko Meyer's newest super-pricey fiddle and leadership changes from the Munich Philharmonic to the London Symphony to The New York Times. Plus: Classical music might be good for your heart and a demonstration of teamwork but still detrimental to your safety behind the wheel.
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A new study from London Metropolitan University in the U.K. posits that classical music makes for unsafe driving — that it's safer to listen to hip-hop or heavy metal than Handel, Haydn or Holst.
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A new face for the Houston Symphony, an acid attack on the Bolshoi Ballet chief and that nine-day tenure in NJ: a digest guide to all the news you need to know. Also, Rochesterians rally to reinstate Remmereit and Bizet's getting the Bollywood treatment.
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The Berlin Phil's Simon Rattle says the clock is ticking and the Chicago Symphony's Riccardo Muti has the flu. All the classical music world's news, collected for your pleasure. Plus: Sotheby's lets others sell violins and a tenor gripes about models.
