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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The group is celebrating its 25th anniversary by commissioning new pieces of contemporary classical music — and pushing the composers who write for the ensemble to broaden their own points of view. -
An avid amateur musician, France's next president studied at the conservatory in his native Amiens as a child.
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Long reticent to address the turmoil in his native country, conductor Gustavo Dudamel posted a lengthy open letter to the Venezuelan president and government today.
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Stream a compilation of cosmically scaled, rarely heard sounds from a largely unheralded master.
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After publishing a video made to help other Russian LGBT youth feel less isolated, Artem Kolesov has received supportive messages from all over the world. But he's also facing threats of violence.
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After the death of Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko on April 1, we revisit a 2000 feature about his most famous work, 'Babi Yar,' and the collaboration it inspired with composer Dmitri Shostakovich.
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After having worked his way up from packing records at a warehouse, he had decades of success collaborating with artists like George Benson, Diana Krall, Paul McCartney and Natalie Cole.
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Want to boost those neural pathways? TED Ed offers practical suggestions: Practice in concentrated bursts, work through passages slooowly -- and step away from Facebook.
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The conductor who worked with the Minneapolis symphony for more than 50 years — and brought them to national prominence — died Tuesday at age 93.
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Opera star Joyce DiDonato does more than sing — she lends her voice to social causes. Watch her new video, a haunting depiction of a woman trapped in conflict.
